Image & Form’s Steamworld Heist launching December 10 on 3DS

Since winning one of our PRESTIGIOUS Team Choice Awards at PAX East 2015 earlier this year, we’ve been keeping an eye on Steamworld Heist, the new game from Image & Form. Over the last few months we’ve been holding steady to a December date that the developer has pitched, and now we finally have the confirmation of the launch day: December 10!

The game will launch across North America, EU, Australia and New Zealand on that day, coming first for the 3DS and everywhere else in 2016. The game launches on sale, too, at $16.99 until December 31, after which it’ll revert to its full $19.99 price. It’ll also arrive with a free special home menu theme ONLY available during the launch window (for purchasers of the game), after which it’ll be gone forever.

As a refresher, here’s the gist of the game and why we’re looking forward to it (from our PAX East preview):

The game plays out in turn-based 2D, with a set amount of distance each character can move. In my demo I was sent on a mission to capture loot at the back of the cavern, protected by scrapper bots throughout. Bots and turrets need to be eliminated to open doorways and collect loot. I started with Piper, a female robot with a laser-sighted pea-shooter. Movement occurs along orange or blue lines; moving through orange allows me to attack or take an action, but extending into the blue only lets me defend & crouch. It was great to start with Piper as her sight allowed me to get used to the controls and aiming. Other characters I added later to my team didn’t have the ability, making aiming much trickier.

Traversing through the world I ducked behind barrels and crates, ricocheting her shots off of walls to hit targets. In one instance I managed to knock off a scrapper’s hat — they’re collectible in the game — sending the shot off the wall and bouncing into the scrapper’s back. Barrels provided protection from many attacks, so staying within their range when firing was important. It felt a little a Spaghetti Western shootout, another nod to the IP’s crazy steampunk cowboy universe.