You didnt read! Maybe you did not understand.
Real steampunk is about using Victorian era steam power to do modern things in extraordinary ways, using a certain aesthetic.
And that is what the game does.
Here lemme explain why goio is more steampunk again:
It is not about looks, it is about how the world or the accessibility of this certain theme (Mechanical theme) makes the world out to be. And diesel punk does not fit the major values in it.
How the lore is built (Which is similar looking and sounding to victorian or napoleonic wars) shapes how the ships, tools and behaviours
work (Cus this is what the people in goio knows). Lets not mention it is post-apocolyptic, meaning alot of their tech are retooled. Which further enhances why its steampunk. And hears why.
The engines that you talked about were prooving this to be dieselpunk, that doesnt proove it so. Il counterproof that with how each individual engine are powered on their own with perhaps fuel (clearly), but it shows that each part are
exposed and
seperate and easily
configurable by someones hands. Meaning a ship is made in such a way that you can
retool it to be anything. That is why everything is exposed. And why you see exposed gears floating about. This is the biggest major thing about guns of icarus that prooves it to be steampunk with the added aesthetic. Dieselpunk would keep things more steadfast and solid. Where a pilot would have to mount what moves the ship alot like a heavy gun in goio with shells and windows everywhere for protection. But instead we have a typical ship helm that does the same job.
What im trying to compare here is Inventive (Steampunk) versus Effeciency (Dieselpunk). Dieselpunk takes alot of notes from World war 2 with how they built things, wheres steampunk takes alot of notes from victorian, steam power era. Goio takes most of their idea from Steampunk, and their world (the tech) is clearly steampunky.
You are right about things can be faux or, looking like a certain genre,
but how guns of icarus looking like steampunk also makes it play like a steampunk world. You can repair, retool, reconfigure easily. If you would add heavy ass electricity or some other hard things like fuel that powers everything. Its not as easy to reconfigure and would rather be dieselpunk.
small Steampunk influence.
I really dont see that
Edit: Lemme give you an addition.
Heres a few things to convince you.
The spire is actualy half a stationary ship. Meaning the spire is simply extracted out of a watch tower mega spire that has guns every side but no real use in travel. So they pulled it appart just to bring half its strength into a mobile state for war uses.
The mobula was made as a ship for victorian snobs to be able to get sunlight or view at the skies as they were flying, just retooled for fighting. That is why the ship looks barren because most of itself is used as a terrace, or balcony where you can have tea and biscuits on a table talking about how you are afraid of heights.
Go into practice and climb down the ladder of the spire, youl see steam leeking out from pipes, the very pipes that form as the ships hull.
Look at the hull, what is it? Its a bunch of valves and counters counting pressure, not fuel. These are steampowered vessels. How does steam power it through all those pipes? I dont know, its sci fi.
