Long have I awaited the next wonderful installment in the Steamworld franchise. I had assumed the next great game we'd be seeing from Image & Form Games would be Steamworld Dig 3, but, oh man was I excited to learn that the next title was going to be an RPG!
To my great surprise Image & Form was willing and ready to work with me again! So without further ado let's dive into my hands on review with Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech!
Now full disclaimer, while I was given ample time to play this title and probably finish it, with my normal streaming schedule + being a dad + FT work + House work, at time of writing I did not finish this game. I did, however, make it to the end of the Streaming Embargo limitation, which is chapters 1-12, and have roughly 10-12 hours. I've also been playing on double speed the entire time.
This review will be is as spoiler free as possible. There is only one instance of a true spoiler, according to my definition, and it as the end of Section 3 in all black.
The categories for this review are as follows:
- What is Steamworld Quest?
- The Story
- The Battle System
- Likes / Dislikes / Wish List Items
- Overall / Score
- Final Remarks
What is Steamworld Quest?
From the Image & Form Games website:
SteamWorld Quest is the roleplaying card game you’ve been waiting for! Lead a party of aspiring heroes through a hand-drawn world and build, craft and upgrade your party’s decks in order to stop an ancient menace…And that about sums it up. More or less you'll guide a wide range of characters through an engaging story narrative exploring a wide variety of areas in mission style maps going from point A to point B with plenty of secrets to be found along the way. You can also find, customize, and upgrade your cards for the deck. But I'll explain how the battles work in that section.
The Story
Reminder: At time of writing I have yet to finish the main story mode. I usually write post reviews though, so look forward to that.
If this is your first time experiencing a Steamworld game then buckle up. You're in for a real treat with the writing. Image & Form has this incredible style of writing for their games that feels extremely unique to them alone. The tone, pacing, and jokes are all far beyond most games in terms of enjoy ability. I had so many laughs along the way. Not to mention they make a lot of nods and jabs at the RPG genre along the way. There's a very certain set of bots early in the story that I'm thinking about that just made me burst out laughing when I caught the nod to where its from.
For the 12 hours or so that I've sank in to the title I'm always wanting to jump right into the next part of the story. I've never thought it doesn't make sense, or this is weird, or that it was boring. I've only been eager and ready for more!
The Battle System
While the website, developers, and others will say "its a card based battle system" that really doesn't do it any justice. A lot of RPG fans get really turned off when they hear the words RPG and Cards together. Heck just reading through the AMA Image & Form held today you can see people worried about that aspect of the game.
But let me help you stow those fears. Yes, at its core Steamworld Quest uses a card battle system, but I see it more as an ability system. Each character you use in your active party must have 8 cards. There are no rules or limitation to what cards you put in, if you have doubles, or triples even, throw them in if you want! The only stipulation is that you have to have 8 cards per active party member.
Your active party is usually 3 characters with a combined deck of 24. No there is no perma-discarding, or discarding until the battle ends (unless the card says otherwise, but I haven't found one yet). As you go through the game you will find cards and can craft cards from the merchant cart via materials and a fee. You can also upgrade cards after awhile and those just simply require materials. This will improve the card overall.
This style of system offers a lot of strategy options and some character have amazing synergy together. At the very end of this section I'll post what my preferred party make up is in all black. That way you can safely navigate past it, or highlight it to see what it is.
You will want to soak in what areas and enemies you're encountering as some cards won't work as well in one area. Maybe the last area you were in had enemies that were weak to fire, but the new area doesn't and instead they're weak to ice. Well there probably isn't much point to keep your fire cards in the deck right now, swap them out for some better options, or don't. It's up to you. The best thing is that you can change on the fly, out of battle, whenever you want. Same with swapping active party members.
There are three more things to keep notice when doing battles.
One is the steam gears. Some gears will generate steam gears. Think of these like "stand attacks" a general sword swing, a punch, a book bash, etc.There are other cards that can generate steam gears though. Why does that matter? Well there are certain skill cards that require so many steam gears. Different cards require a different amount of steam gears ranging anywhere from 1-All.
Two. Some cards combo with one another. Again, I won't say what does with what but in these scenarios a card might do more damage or give you a status buff if a certain character's card is played before the current one. So for example say you're using the Red Character Card Ham, and it does 100% physical damage, but, if Blue Character has any of their cards played before it, then Ham will do 150% physical damage. All the cards are color coded to reflect which character they belong to. So it's pretty easy to know what belong to who.
Also, if you play 3 cards from the same character they will perform a 4th action based off their currently equipped weapon.
Also, if you play 3 cards from the same character they will perform a 4th action based off their currently equipped weapon.
Three. You can redraw twice per turn. So if you end up with all skill cards, or if someone gets KO'd you can discard their cards and try to get something you can use. Again no cards are gone forever, at least I haven't seen any yet, so they will make their way through the deck again at some point.
You do earn EXP and level up. I did reach out to Image & Form at one point because I felt I was under level playing on Normal mode. But they said that's the flow of the game. Everything will feel like a little bit of challenge and that the game is more about having good synergy and using the right cards for the situation vs just levels alone. But gear does help a lot, so keep your area in mind and accessories closer.
Team:
Galleo, Orik, and Tarah & Thayne
Deck:Galleo:
- Steam Punch x4
- Blindside
- Mend
- Overcharge
- Quick Fix
- Super Soaker
Orik:
- Lai Cut x4
- Cyclone Slash
- Fasination
- Open Wound
- Tengu Dance
Tarah & Thayne
- Envenom
- Axe Chop x3
- Cutpurse
- Dagger Toss
- Doom
- Twin Combo
Equipment:
Galleo:
- Phalanx Knuckles
- Journeyman Badge
- Health +20%
- Str + 10%
- Mag + 10%
- Silver Bracer
- Health + 35%
Orik:
- Storming Mikazuki
- Black Belt
- Small chance to Counter for 100% STR Physical Damage
- Stone Compass
- Health +10%
- Null Confuse
Tarah & Thayne
- Nightshade
- Zephyr Cape
- Dodge+
- Leaf Fossil
- Health +10%
- Null Poison
Why:
Galleo has a high HP pool and defense, plus with Blindside I can have him provoke (in some instances) health, I can also heal with overcharge + do damage for anything past max HP. Orik and Tarah & Thayne Combo together really well. not just with their combo abilities of Dagger Toss, boosting dodge, and Open Wound, 100% chance of poison, envenom pairs AWESOME with Cyclone Slash and Cyclone Slash always pairs amazingly with Doom.
Likes / Dislikes / Wish List Items
Likes:
- Great game play pacing
- not too much exploring options
- not too little
- never felt like there were too many battles
- Music Score
- Characters
- Writing
- Visual Designs
- Bot Audio Chatter
- Battle System (LOVED IT)
- Chapter Select Screen
- You return to any previous chapter
Dislikes:
- Too many good characters
- too hard to pick who to use in fights because I liked EVERYONE
Wish List Items:
- Make Rusty Playable (spoilers any Steamworld will have this if he isn't playable)
- Re-balance game so I can use all party members (joking, but maybe a fun dlc challenge mode?)
- Triple or Quadruple Speed
- only because of my busy schedule, and embargo, its hard for me to find "extra time" to game off stream. Going faster would've helped (seriously I was playing on my lunch breaks and every free moment I had)
- Title Screen Music Mode / Theater Mode
- Again haven't finished the game so not sure if they're a reward or not, but would be cool to re-watch scenes and listen to the great music in the game
Overall / Score
Score: 10/10
It does what no RPG before it has done, made card battles fun, unique, and not a major pain. To me they don't even feel like a card battle, even though they are. This title made me laugh so many times and I still cannot get over the great cast or characters. A must own for any Steamworld or RPG fan.Final Thoughts
I believe everyone would enjoy this game. It has amazing jokes, great writing, easy to pick up, but complex, battle mechanics, and just so much replay ability to it. But what will fans think?
Series Fans:
If you're already a Steamworld / Image & Form fan, buy this! It is a MUST OWN for you! Heck you probably already pre-ordered and are just counting down the seconds to start.
Genre Fans:
If you like RPGs or JRPGs this is a game you are not going to want to pass on. Great writing, simple but DEEP battle mechanics, and a card battle system that doesn't feel like one and is actually fun.
New Fans:
I personally believe this is one of those titles that anyone could pick up an play. Chapters don't take more than 30-45 minutes (I was on double speed the entire game), the story is easy to follow, the characters are unique and lovable, and the battle system is easy to navigate with borderline no need to ever level grind at all. If you like witty writing, RPGs, and good music, you'll love not just Steamworld Quest but the entire Steamworld series.
A note to the Developers
I just wanted to extend the warmest of joyful thank yous. Not just as a reviewer/streamer for the opportunity to play early and produce content early, but more so as a fan. I fell in love with Steamworld Dig the second I picked it up. Heck, I beat it the night I bought it because I couldn't put it down! Then on my flight home I played through it again. Your entire team puts so much love and work into these titles and it just shines through and I really wanted to take this time to thank you and your staff for all that they do. It has been an immense pleasure, honor, and privileged to work with your studio as many times as I have and get to play these beautifully sculpted master pieces. I have been in love with Steamworld Quest since the day you announced it and Galleo is my Spirit Bot!
I hope you all have an amazing and successful launch! Hope you all get some time to rest before the next big thing. Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions via the AMA and Twitter DMs and here's hoping we can work together again soon!
Chuck 'Chukkaque'
PS Anxiously awaiting Steamworld Dig 3
PSS Please make a Stardew Valley style Steamworld game soon
PSSS One day I'll play Steamworld Heist on Switch (I've never played it)
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