IndieRPGStrategy
SteamWorld Heist II
Give it 20 hours
Gets good by 20h then rated almost like by veterans
Reach the ending 29% of players who started
Started playing 88% of owners
Steam reviews 93% positive of 2,516
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 3 reviews are negative (30%); after 20h it's 1 in 50 (2%).
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- 28% of players who start reach the ending.
- The biggest drop-off is between “Sub-Optimal” (Reclaim your submarine!) and “Mechanical Emancipation” (Rescue Edna Bearing!): from 100% to 73% of starters.
- 88% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 2,524 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 32.4h for positive, 10.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (88.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Sub-Optimal Reclaim your submarine! 100%
- Mechanical Emancipation Rescue Edna Bearing! Most players quit here 73% −27
- Pressure Handled Get a new air tank for your submarine! 57% −16
- An Ancient Rite Try to appeal to reason at the parley! 46% −10
- Arctic Adventurer Brave Arctica's harsh waters! 45% −1
- Taming of a Tempest Defeat the frightening Tempest Morgan! 38% −8
- Reuniting the Band Get your crew back together again! 37% −1
- Fabulous Fighting Skills Best the fabulous Admiral Piston! 34% −2
- Deeper than any Steambot Before Enter Atomic City! 34% −1
- What Comes Around, Goes Around Handle the treacherous Kraken Keepers once and for all! 29% −4
- Krakenbane the Second Face the fearsome Kraken and rescue your friend! 29% −1
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (34)
story milestone ending side
- Sub-Optimal Reclaim your submarine! 100%
- Hat-hunter Get a new hat. 96%
- Spend Gallons to make Gallons Purchase an item. 81%
- Mechanical Emancipation Rescue Edna Bearing! 73%
- Inflating that Resumé Equip an ability from a second job. 68%
- Pressure Handled Get a new air tank for your submarine! 57%
- An Ancient Rite Try to appeal to reason at the parley! 46%
- Arctic Adventurer Brave Arctica's harsh waters! 45%
- Never Gonna Let You Down Heal crewmates for a total of 100 HP. 44%
- Taming of a Tempest Defeat the frightening Tempest Morgan! 38%
- Reuniting the Band Get your crew back together again! 37%
- Hey, Big Spender! Spend 10,000 gallons. 36%
- Fabulous Fighting Skills Best the fabulous Admiral Piston! 34%
- Deeper than any Steambot Before Enter Atomic City! 34%
- Artifact Afficionado Locate all artifacts. 31%
- What Comes Around, Goes Around Handle the treacherous Kraken Keepers once and for all! 29%
- Flagship Hunter Defeat all flagships. 29%
- Krakenbane the Second Face the fearsome Kraken and rescue your friend! 29%
- Gonna Need a Bigger Boat Recruit all crewmates. 27%
- Harvest Goon Scrap 10 enemies with one crewmate within one turn. 25%
- Mission Possible Complete all missions in the game. 24%
- Hat Trick Shoot off three hats with one shot. 20%
- Close to Cogliness Get all 7 Coglike gears. 20%
- Adequate Preparations Get all ship upgrades. 17%
- I'm Rubber, You're Glue Bounce back a projectile and destroy an enemy ship. 16%
- Burning the Midnight Oil Complete four missions in a single day. 10%
- Brute Force Deal 25 or more damage with a single hit. 8.3%
- Acceptable Losses Complete the game with at most 4 crewmates dying. 8.0%
- Unsinkable Complete the game without dying on the World Map. 6.0%
- Against All Odds Go from 1 HP to full HP in a single turn. 5.9%
- Running at Full Steam Complete the game before 35 days have passed. 4.2%
- Renaissance Bot Get a Crewmate to maximum level in all jobs. 3.3%
- Unfortunate Soul Apply Hobble, Break, Chilled and Burning on the same enemy. 2.0%
- SteamWorld's next Top Model Collect all hats. 1.1%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.