Steambot Chronicles
is no reskinned Grand Theft Auto.
The colorful aesthetic is deserving of mention, but it is often all that gets mentioned. Yes, it’s something of a miracle that Steambot is an anime sandbox game that avoids both anime and sandbox tropes, but it surprises in another department: combat. Inside this sprawling world is a mini-Street Fighter. To fight an opponent with ranged capability is to try patiently to get in on Dhalsim. To combat a Trot with a shield and melee weapon is to try to keep Zangief out. Both necessitate judicious dashing—useful for avoiding an attack, but venerable. The Trot and its weapons, snappy and responsive, could easily carry a leaner, more traditional arcade-style standard action game. The only downside to how wonderful the Trot combat feels is that it makes the game’s other available money-making options (pool, archaeology, music, etc.) tedious by comparison.
Steambot Chronicles wants to be played and is sad when it’s not, but it’s a relationship that takes a little work. The map is nondescript, loading times are frequent, exploration is encumbered by the constant need for refueling, and the camera can be disobedient. Today’s hardware and advances would correct most of these. So why haven’t we seen anything like Steambot since 2006? It did have a few quiet sequels that were essentially jankier, glitchier versions of the PS2 game. The 2009 PSP game, Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament, actually had worse load times. The planned sequel was announced in 2006 and spent several years in development hell before being cancelled alongside other promising Irem titles following the 2011 tsunami. Irem has not shown interest in developing another game. No other developer has voiced interest in carrying the torch.
The most obvious reason is that Steambot sold very poorly and mass murderfests like Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed sell very well. A proper Steambot sequel or even a serviceable copycat would be a huge gamble on something without precedent for profitability, requiring a large budget and programmers from more disciplines than typical of an action game. The amount of manpower and money needed likely precludes the indie development crowd, the only adventurous faction of developers left. For now, anyway.
The colorful aesthetic is deserving of mention, but it is often all that gets mentioned. Yes, it’s something of a miracle that Steambot is an anime sandbox game that avoids both anime and sandbox tropes, but it surprises in another department: combat. Inside this sprawling world is a mini-Street Fighter. To fight an opponent with ranged capability is to try patiently to get in on Dhalsim. To combat a Trot with a shield and melee weapon is to try to keep Zangief out. Both necessitate judicious dashing—useful for avoiding an attack, but venerable. The Trot and its weapons, snappy and responsive, could easily carry a leaner, more traditional arcade-style standard action game. The only downside to how wonderful the Trot combat feels is that it makes the game’s other available money-making options (pool, archaeology, music, etc.) tedious by comparison.
Steambot Chronicles wants to be played and is sad when it’s not, but it’s a relationship that takes a little work. The map is nondescript, loading times are frequent, exploration is encumbered by the constant need for refueling, and the camera can be disobedient. Today’s hardware and advances would correct most of these. So why haven’t we seen anything like Steambot since 2006? It did have a few quiet sequels that were essentially jankier, glitchier versions of the PS2 game. The 2009 PSP game, Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament, actually had worse load times. The planned sequel was announced in 2006 and spent several years in development hell before being cancelled alongside other promising Irem titles following the 2011 tsunami. Irem has not shown interest in developing another game. No other developer has voiced interest in carrying the torch.
The most obvious reason is that Steambot sold very poorly and mass murderfests like Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed sell very well. A proper Steambot sequel or even a serviceable copycat would be a huge gamble on something without precedent for profitability, requiring a large budget and programmers from more disciplines than typical of an action game. The amount of manpower and money needed likely precludes the indie development crowd, the only adventurous faction of developers left. For now, anyway.
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