SteamWorld Build review – tinker with a tiny township full of robots in hats

Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox; The Station/Thunderful Games
Westworld meets Dungeon Keeper in this characterful city-builder, where you design the perfect town for a population of robots

I’m building a farm for robocows, which will be made into roboburgers to feed a population of steam-powered humanoid robots. None of this makes sense, but who cares. Games in this charming robopunk series have always placed characterful quirkiness above realism, and they’re all the better for it.

SteamWorld has a history of swapping genres, with the steambots going from space shootouts in one game to fantasy role-playing in the next. This time around we’re served a hybrid of city-builder and dungeon-crawler. Initially you’re tasked with building a settlement for your steambots in a wild west-style desert, setting up production chains in a style reminiscent of The Settlers. A forester produces logs, which are processed by a lumber mill to make boards, which are then used to make buildings, and so on.

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