Thunderful has three unannounced SteamWorld games in the works alongside Headhunter
Including a city builder and puzzle game.
Thunderful Games, the studio formed after the merger of developers Zoink and Image & Form, has confirmed it currently has four SteamWorld titles in the works, including the previously announced SteamWorld Headhunter.
Headhunter - a "stylised and colourful, third-person co-op action adventure" that was announced last November - initially looked like it would be the sixth entry in the celebrated series, following on from SteamWorld Tower Defense, SteamWorld Dig, SteamWorld Heist, SteamWorld Dig 2, and SteamWorld Quest. That may no longer be the case, however.
According to Thunderful's latest earnings report (thanks IGN), Headhunter, which is now scheduled for a 2023 release, won't be the only SteamWorld title coming that year. An accompany release schedule reveals that Thunderful has three additional, currently unannounced SteamWorld games in development, with two of those also due in 2023.
One of those titles, codenamed Strawberry in Thunderful's report, is described as a puzzle game for mobile devices, while a second, codenamed Coffee, is a city builder set for launch on PC and unspecified consoles. Headhunter is the final SteamWorld game listed for release in 2023, but there's still more to come; 2024 will usher in a project currently being referred to as Caramel and described as a "turned-based tactical shooter/strategy" game.
That, then, is an awful lot for SteamWorld fans to look forward to over the next few years. But if you need something to tide you over until 2023, there's always Thunderful's The Gunk, which saw the SteamWorld team taking its first steps into 3D last year.
"I started The Gunk worrying about how one of the great 2D design teams would cope with three dimensions," said Christian Donlan in his Recommended review. "The truth is they cope so effortlessly that I just spent the next four or five hours gloriously lost in what they had built."