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By @HighStefanition 27/02/18



It’s hard to know where to start reviewing a game that is nearly five years old, trying to say something new or different about a title that everyone has already likely played on one system or another is no mean feat, and given that I’m hardly the world’s greatest reviewer, we’re unlikely to be breaking any new ground here, pun intended.

Steamworld Dig was originally released on the Nintendo 3DS back in 2013, a Metroidvania title starring a steam-powered robot named Rusty, after receiving the deeds to a long-abandoned mine from his distant uncle Joe, Rusty heads to the small Western town of Tumbleton with his pickaxe in hand, prepared to dig up the mysteries of his uncle’s disappearance and whatever else he comes across beneath the formerly great mining community. As you start, you find yourself chiselling out a series of tunnels in order to further your descent, avoiding any perils and indigenous creatures as you go, initially tasked with mining the jewelled blocks you encounter for the precious materials and stones to trade for money back in the town, which as you descend is essential, once you’ve filled your pouch with excavated goodies, you can vacate the mine and trade what you’ve found.

The deeper you venture the more valuable your finds become, and as you reach certain monetary trade-targets these unlock new single-use items, or upgrades for your tools and abilities, dynamite, ladders, larger pouches for storing more of your mined goods, improved water-tanks for increased special-ability efficiency, and alternative-fuel lanterns to better see where you’re going and for longer.

As natural light is scarce and what little you get from your lamp isn’t infinite, frequent trips back to the surface to recharge, purchase new parts and advanced equipment are necessary, but not every upgrade to Rusty comes at a cost, as you progress downwards you’ll find doorways to enter, these self-contained caves give you a small puzzle to solve and at the end, a new ability is granted, Steam Jump for higher leaps to platforms formally out of reach, Steam Punch for attacking enemies further away, and The Drill, for drilling, strangely enough.



As you journey downwards the rock progressively gets tougher, often requiring the drill to get past, or considerably more strikes than normal with your pickaxe unless you’ve strengthened it back in Tumbleton, the enemies you encounter grow tougher too, either launching projectiles or charging at you and exploding, not only this but traps and hazards also become more apparent, acidic goo dripping from the ceiling to form pools that harm you should you fall in, and random TNT barrels that explode if you get too close, no-one said this would be easy.

Death can be frequent and luckily the only cost is to your pocket, though upon death you do drop the pouch containing your current spoils, and if that was full of Emeralds, Diamonds and Rubys, you’re going to want it back, it can be a chore to backtrack to where you died, but if you’ve purchased a teleporter from Hank McCrank's Shop back in town, hopefully the last location you beamed from isn’t far, it pays to think ahead if you want to get ahead.

The atmosphere changes the deeper you go, uncovering evidence of an advanced civilisation, strange reappearing bricks add a new element to considering your path through this unwelcoming environment, stranger enemies appear, and lethal defences frequent the walls and ceilings, what was once earth and natural materials makes way for metals and sophisticated technology, whilst light on story, Steamworld Dig naturally begs the question, what is going on?

Fortunately we don’t have to wait long for the answer, an average play-through will take you about five hours, there’s even an achievement on other platforms to clock the game in two and a half, it’s the very definition of short and sweet, originally released as a title on a handheld console, the game comes back around to Nintendo’s home/handheld hybrid and is naturally a perfect fit, looking gorgeous on a larger display via docked mode but more-so suiting the portable mode, not that graphically it isn’t beautiful on a big screen, simply that the gameplay fits this way and becomes more of an experience close-up.

The often claustrophobic sections you’ll find yourself in as your torchlight ebbs away and the surrounding darkness slowly envelopes you translates far better in handheld mode, your intermittent returns to the surface become fresh breaths of light and levity as you trade your gleaming stones for cold hard cash, the stark sun above the town proving a welcome break from the gloomy solitude beneath.



From its humble 3DS beginnings, Steamworld Dig on the Switch looks brilliant, the crystal-clear visuals and silky-smooth character animations are colourful and vibrant however you play, to be expected from a new release of a five year old game, but much like the gameplay itself, its simplicity is its strength, subtle lighting and effects add weight to your special abilities and the dangers as you dig, even at 850+ metres depth elements are recognisable and despite the encroaching blackness, there’s never a dull moment.

The only real downside is the game’s longevity and replay value, once you’ve powered Rusty up sufficiently and find your way to the finale of the game, unless you’ve made it your quest to mine absolutely every mineral in the game, only a handful of hours will have passed, and though every new game you start gives you a brand new procedurally generated mine to dig through, the experience does boil down to the same, dig, bash, jump, trade cycle each time.

It’d be hard for me to recommend this to previous players of the game, but given the ability for short bursts of portable-play whether someone else is using the TV, you’re commuting to or from work, or even sat on the toilet, Steamworld Dig has just enough charm to keep you coming back, and whilst there is now a sequel with expanded features and improvements, it’s nice to revisit the original adventure back on a Nintendo handheld, of sorts, just don’t expect great depth, well, expect great depths but not great…. you know what I mean.



SteamWorld Dig is out now on PS4, Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Wii-U, 3DS, PC, Linux, and MAC