Yippie kayak, other buckets!
It's definitely a more-enjoyable game than Dig, but SteamWorld Heist likewise comes across as though most of its polish was applied in the wrong places.
SteamWorld Heist takes the turn-based tactics of something like XCOM, flattens them into a side-scroller, and adds aiming controls. This feels like a meaningful improvement over "X percent to hit" dice-roll combat, since hits and misses aren't really random: the game is visually clear on how weapon-type, range, and cover affect your hit chance; and timing your shot with the swaying of a character's gun-hand is a learnable skill.
The mission-based campaign wrapped around this turn-based shooting is ... more mixed.
On the plus side, Heist's randomly-generated level layouts usually work, although I would accuse the tile palettes of feeling a bit same-y and repetitive. Weapon progression is pretty satisfying - at least up until attack strength plateaus, several missions before the game's end - and it's interesting to see each character's unique abilities as they level-up.
But antiquated and baffling design decisions get in the way of what the game does right. Those character-unique abilities, for example, end up mostly overlooked because characters outside your party don't gain any experience; therefore, the most-capable party is always the same one you took on the last mission, and the one before. (Which can get awkward when some missions suddenly ask you to include a fourth, inevitably under-leveled, party member.)
SteamWorld Heist is gracious enough to skip the "permadeath" bullshit, but still punishes a loss severely -- a dead party member doesn't get any experience points (sorry, Mr. Under-leveled) and a party wipe or abandoned mission incurs a currency penalty depending on the difficulty mode. Consequently, if you were saving up currency for better equipment, but then lose a fight due to having shitty equipment, you're now even farther away from the upgrade you need to improve.
This risk to your banked currency is a bizarre incentive to keep "savings" in inventory items, except there's also a relatively low limit on inventory size, leading to a tedious and stupid-feeling meta-game around inventory and cash management.
(Or, if you're like me and don't have the patience for this shit, you can just lower the game's difficulty and reduce the risk of dying as well as the penalty amount.)
As for the narrative theme, it's a fairly rote iteration of Firefly-style space outlaw tropes, except the people are robots (who drop bad puns about gears and circuits). The game barely has any backstory or characterization, and what little it offers is hidden in optional flavor text between missions. Ultimately I don't think Ivanski's ballet story was worth the effort it took to keep talking to him.
The UI is workable but inconvenient, the music gets grating over time, and the inordinate amount of shop space occupied by (and in-game physics for) cosmetic hats is ... well, like I said, it feels like SteamWorld Heist has applied effort and polish to inconsequential bullshit while neglecting persistent issues of difficulty balance and content variety.
I had fun with the core tactical gameplay, and I can't deny that overall I enjoyed playing through each mission -- after lowering the default difficulty to avoid death-spirals. But that fun was just enough to get me through an un-captivating campaign.
Better than: Frozen Synapse, SteamWorld Dig
Not as good as: Mega Man Battle Network, I guess? Wow, I really haven't played many tactical games recently.
Maybe you'll be more stoked about SteamWorld Heist: if you fucking love cosmetic hats.
Progress: Finished on Normal difficulty, all stars including the Outsider missions.