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Has everybody been playing Hearthstone? SteamWorld Heist tips its hat to Blizzard's CCG at the end of each mission, when you scan through the loot you've just robbed from whichever procedurally-generated space hulk you've been infiltrating, and open up the goody bags and treasure chests to see what's inside. There's a shudder as each package reveals its contents, and a flash of colourful light if you've found something really special. In reality it's just blasters and armour and assorted back-up items, but that light, that shudder, makes it all so thrilling. Very few games, I suspect, wouldn't benefit from a little pack-opening spirit.Most of the time, however, SteamWorld Heist channels other influences. This is a turn-based tactics adventure, so there's plenty of XCOM in here, not least in the ceaselessly empowering system that trades a muddle of action points for the simple idea that each unit can do two things in a turn - move and move, move and shoot, move and lob a grenade. There's also a little Disgaea or Fire Emblem or what-have-you in the perks that can be found by nestling the right units next to each other at the right time to share a bonus. More than anything though, developer Image & Form is focusing in on its own sensibilities. As with SteamWorld Dig, Heist takes a recognisable idea and reduces it beautifully to its most pleasing elements. Then it twists those elements in an unusual way to make the whole thing seem fresh.
And on this occasion, that means turn-based battling seen from a 2D side-scrolling perspective. You lead a rattling party of space-robot-cowboy-pirates on a mission to plunder the galaxy for righteous causes, one mega-ship at a time. Inside, these things are a mass of gantries and ladders and tractor beams, all rendered with a wonderful eye for comic detail, and once you've achieved your goal - it could be killing everyone, looting everything, destroying generators, taking out a boss, or any number of other things - you have to beat it to the exit too. Movement ranges are conveyed very simply with different-coloured highlights, and, as with XCOM, cover is crucial if you want to win the day. The twist that the side-on perspective allows for, however, is that you can set RNG aside for the most part and aim your shots, making use of ricocheting bullets at the same time.
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