So i have been playing the demo a bit now, and my opinion so far is a bit meh. it is not bad, but i struggel to find something I like about it as well.
It is not as cute or have such uniqe look as the other SteamWorld games. Partly this is due to have a very high up view point, but i also did no think the look was distinct enough. I have been playing Timberborn a lot, and the graphics here are distinct, based around wood and water, and the bevers are very qute, you can see them running on all four, or the tail as they swim and so on. SW: Build, it lacks this distinct look. The buildings look like shacks as seen in many other post-apocatlypitc bulders. the charcters are too small to have details. it just looks a little bland.
I did not like that new buildings / tech is looked behind the numbers of settlers you have. There is not much balance of growth, just build as long as you have material to unlock the progression. There is no tech three ot any such thing, just keep getting in citizens (no matter how many of them do not have a job). This makes the game very...uniform? the main point is just to smack down recidens until the next level is unlocked. Yes, it does change a bit later, when you convert "normal" workers tto engineers, but it is still just a numbers game.
The USP here, then, will be the mix of over-world and mine. The over-world is like a scaled down city builder, with a much more focus on numbers then balance. The mine is very much dungeon keeper, but without the attack and defence. just keep expanding. You do need to take in mind the integrity of the mine, but again it is extremly simplistic, all you need is just to smack down a wooden pillart and all is good. The problem I have here is that the over-world and the mine are too far removed in terms of game-play. There are no smiliarities at all between them. It is like someone have taken two different games and just smashed them together and called that a day.
There are a qoule of good things here as well. It is cute in its own way, though not unique. There are few good graphical touches, it is not bad to look at and things are distinct enough to easily and quickly recognise. The blue lines makes it easy to see how far the influenced of builds go (thouggh they act a little strangge now and then, bbut this is not the final game so bugs are expected). The idea betwen he mine and the town is good, just need more cohesion. I like that since they are steambots, they do not need food, but they need water and coal. Howver, on the othernhnd, it does not makes sens that the engineers need moonshine, it does nothing for a ropbot, in the other SW games it was the human troggs that drank it (if I remember correct).
Bottom line, there are some few goof touches here, but nothing that will take me away from games like Tikmberborn or Dungeon Keeper. I will keep an eye on it, but the direction it has now just don;t quite do it for me.
