SteamWorld Build

SteamWorld Build drops players into a dying planet and tasks them with establishing a thriving steampunk settlement in order to escape to the stars. As the mayor of this rugged town filled with steambots, you’ll be digging for resources, managing bot happiness, and defending your borders from alien creatures.

With fun Western visuals and robust city-building mechanics, SteamWorld Build is an enjoyable mashup of SimCity and Wild West antics. What I enjoyed most about SteamWorld Build was the character and charm of its steampunk setting. The game features colorful saloons, steam-powered mines, and quirky robot citizens.

As you guide your town’s growth, you’ll gradually expand along frontier-style trains while unlocking new steamfolk attracted by your prospering community. The cartoony art style gives Build a lively personality missing from some sterile city-builders.

Rewarding Resource Management

Managing resources is key to success in Build. You’ll need to juggle multiple resource chains, ensuring you have enough water, coal, metal and gold to supply various crafting buildings. Citizens also have complex needs like snacks, upgrades, and leisure, requiring careful monitoring less they decamp your town.

SteamWorld Build rewards planning – stockpiling resources allows rapid expansion, but overextending can leave your bots crying. There’s an addictive loop of exploring resource-rich terrain, returning home to process goods, then venturing further outward. The resource web can feel a bit overwhelming early on compared to more simplified city-builders, but it soon becomes second nature.

Monster Madness

As you tunnel deeper beneath your town seeking precious ores, you risk awakening subterranean creatures defending their lair. SteamWorld Build incorporates tower defense elements, letting you construct turrets and other defenses to fend off adorable but deadly aliens in mining expeditions.

These tense battles provide a fun change of pace from peaceful building and resource gathering. I also enjoyed unlocking steambots trained specifically for combat to assist my defenses. It becomes almost necessary to have a bot squad patrolling your mines once the monsters start pouring in.

Personality Overshadows Limited Customization

With predefined building plots and steambot types, Build offers less customization than games like Cities Skylines. However, the pre-built city blocks snap together cleanly, and the charming bots bring infectious joy to your town.

SteamWorld Build also features several playable maps and difficulty options to encourage replayability. Ultimately, Build prioritizes personality and challenge over deep creative freedom – an understandable tradeoff. If you're not looking for a deep simulation of city planning mechanics or anything that would pose some serious competition for Cities Skylines, this is precisely the game for you.

Despite some limitations in customization, SteamWorld Build’s charming personality carried me through dozens of hours constructing my bustling robot utopia.

Pros

• Vibrant steampunk aesthetic
• Engaging resource management
• Lovable character designs

Cons

• Less customization than some city-builders
• Can feel repetitive in late-game