SteamWorld Build, the new installment in the series in the city-building genre, announced

It was hard to know what to expect when Thunderful told us last week that it would reveal the future of SteamWorld games, but we knew we were in for a surprise. That’s what makes the ad so brilliant, as it fits right in even as it steps outside of the genre they’d previously settled on.

Because SteamWorld Build is, as you may have guessed from its name, a city-building game that will be released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch later this year. One of the things that sets it apart from Anno 1800, SimCity and the like is its variety of levels. What I mean by this? So even though you’re building a cool-looking city on the surface, a lot of your diggers will be mining for resources and fighting enemies below.

That’s how it is. This is not the kind of city builder where your only challenge is to gather enough resources quickly, as mining will awaken monsters that lie dormant below the surface. So why keep digging lower and lower?

The reason is that our world is doomed, so one of the reasons you spend so much time on the surface is to build a rocket. Not exactly a pleasant thought, so you’ll also have to keep the steambots away from danger by keeping them happy with saloons, restaurants and so on.

Simply put, SteamWorld Build looks like a great mix of dungeon crawling and city building with the great style and accessibility of SteamWorld.

Do you like the idea? Then I have some amazing news: you can play it right now thanks to a demo on Steam, so get digging and building now.