A Tale of Three Robots – review of the game “SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech”

Let’s take a look at the past

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is an RPG game. We will also find elements of turn-based strategy and card games here. It was created by Image & Form Games studio and published by Thunderful Publishing. The title, however, is not entirely new. We are dealing here with a spin-off. Its origins can be found in 2010, when we could play SteamWorld Tower Defense on the Nintendo DS. The world and history presented in it, although still fledgling at the time, liked the players so much that SteamWorld Dig and SteamWorld Dig 2 , as well as SteamWorld Heist soon appeared on the market.. These titles could also be tested by PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and standard PC users. The creators of all productions were the already mentioned Swedish studio Image & Form Games.

Steampunk fairy tale

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is set, like the previous titles in this series, in a steampunk world inhabited by robots. Contrary to many classic visions of such a world, the story does not take place in the Victorian era, but much earlier, that is, somewhere around the end of the Middle Ages. Our heroes are humanoid machines in the form of the knight Armilly, the sorceress Copernicus and the blacksmith Galleo. They travel the world to fight evil. Along the way, using magic, swords and fists, they will have to defeat giant wasps and spiders, goblins, orcs or sorcerers, and the commander of this army, the Void. Of course, every enemy, just like our characters, is mechanized and metal. So, will we be able to save this fantastic land?

The ace of the sleeve

W SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech our task will be to explore the extremely colorful world, collect items or talk to the characters we meet. The most important thing, however, will be fighting the Void army. Almost on every board we will encounter one or more enemies who will not want to negotiate with us, but will simply attack us. Then we will switch to turn-based mode. Although our heroes have weapons in the form of magic and swords, we need cards to fight. We get some of them at the start. The next ones are acquired or bought during the expedition. On them it is written what the robots we are going to do. They can attack and cut, set fire to, freeze, stun or poison enemies, but they can also heal, inspire or defend their friends. We get six cards from our deck, of which we can use three in each round. If we are not satisfied with the selected ones, we can exchange two of them for another, selected randomly. At the same time, we need to think carefully about our strategy, because we often have to use the weaker cards first, which will give us the energy needed to use the stronger ones. By the way, if we manage to make a combo, that is, put up three cards of the same hero (each of them has its own deck mixed with sets of the others), our robot will be able to make a special, fourth move. When our turn is over, then the opponents begin. Each of them will use their own card, and if one side still has characters on the board, a new turn and another hand will begin. After the fight is over, we receive experience points needed to advance to higher levels and the ability to use new, stronger cards.

A world full of humor

As for the technical issues, in SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech,  we will see beautiful, colorful and two-dimensional graphics as the first. In all the characters we meet, we will be delighted with the multitude of small details and the smoothness of movements. The background behind them looks like children’s books. In turn, the boards appearing in the videos announcing the next chapter of the adventure were hand-painted, which deserves additional recognition.

In the game, although we focus mainly on combat, there is no bloodshed, and the defeated enemies simply disappear, making it also suitable for younger ones. It was also framed with pleasant music, suited both to the world and the events on the screen. Only the sounds made by robots, which are not words we know, can be a bit irritating. However, the dialogues themselves, mainly between the robots controlled by us, and appearing at the bottom of the reading screen, are already great. There is a lot of humor in them that makes you smile and sometimes even snort. It is a pity that the title was not published in Polish and people unfamiliar with English, French, Russian, Italian or Spanish will not be able to fully appreciate the ideas of the creators. Fortunately, the gameplay itself is so simple that even without knowledge of foreign languages, you can play it and have fun. But we will only be doomed to fight.

Addictive but monotonous?

SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech it’s a really great title worth knowing. Beautiful graphics will captivate you, and the world itself and history will fascinate you. For those who know foreign languages, reading dialogues filled with jokes will also be a lot of fun. However, the fight itself, planning your strategy, defeating enemies, upgrading your heroes and acquiring new cards will be the most absorbing. Unfortunately, the biggest problem here is that after leaving it, we won’t necessarily want to come back right away. In this production, first of all, we move forward and fight the next rival with cards. Next move and fight. Over and over again. It is so strange that, already in the game, we think: “I will kill one more and I’m finished”, and instead of leaving, we move on, because it is a quick fight and one more can be fought. When we break away, it comes to mind more: “Again, should I pick cards and fight?” and we give up the idea. Ultimately, however, it should be said that there are more pluses in it and it is worth reaching for it. So if you like RPG, steampunk, turn-based strategy or you are a fan of the world known from previous versionsSteamWorld , then also reach for Hand of  Gilgamech. You will not regret it.