SteamWorld Collection (Nintendo eShop Selects)

Description

SteamWorld Collection features two connected chapters from a world inhabited by steam-powered robots after the decline of humanity. In SteamWorld Dig, the solitary miner Rusty arrives in Tumbleton to inherit his uncle’s mine, uncovering an ancient danger as he descends beneath the failing frontier settlement. SteamWorld Heist moves the setting into space, where Captain Piper Faraday assembles a crew of robot smugglers and pirates to pursue dwindling water supplies across a fractured frontier. Both stories mix mechanical decay, dry humour, and Western imagery, but approach their worlds from sharply different directions.

SteamWorld Dig combines platforming, mining, resource management, and ability-gated exploration, with Rusty excavating minerals, returning to town to sell them, purchasing upgrades, and opening routes into increasingly dangerous caverns. SteamWorld Heist uses turn-based side-scrolling battles aboard enemy spacecraft, allowing players to position crew members behind cover and manually aim firearms for carefully angled shots and ricochets. Recruited robots develop individual abilities and carry interchangeable weapons, equipment, and hats. The included SteamWorld Heist: The Outsider content adds a recruitable ally, further missions, weapons, equipment, and headwear, while the Wii U GamePad and Pro Controller support conventional play.

SteamWorld Collection received strong contemporary reviews on Wii U, with praise for the first game’s addictive excavation loop, controlled progression, and Western presentation, while the second was commended for its tactical depth, manual aiming, and satisfying ricochet system.

The Nintendo eShop Selects was a short-lived budget release range that saw digital-only titles released on physical disc in PAL territories. SteamWorld Collection and FAST Racing NEO were the only two titles, released the same day. These have helped preserve a handful of the best eShop titles, particularly after the Wii U eShop stopped accepting purchases in March 2023.