SteamWorld Dig Retroview
Digging for Gold
Sci-Fi and westerns are some of my favorite genres in all media, and it’s probably why I love franchises like Star Wars so much. When I first engaged with the SteamWorld “universe” it was through the game SteamWorld Heist. Now, a few years later, I thought it important to go back and see the series’ first major release, SteamWorld Dig. But does Image and Form Games’s outing with its steam bots remain a gold star-worthy journey, or is there dirt stuck in the gears?
SteamWorld Dig opens with the main character Rusty falling into his uncle’s mine on the way to the town of Tumbleton. While down there he meets another would-be miner, Dorothy, who leads him out back to the surface. Finding Tumbleton almost abandoned, Rusty has to excavate whatever he can sell to help build and bring life back to the dusty city. But soon after beginning his spelunking journey, there appears to be something buried deep under Tumbleton; something sinister, something ancient. It’s up to Rusty to discover the secrets of the mine, and possibly and stop whatever has awakened inside.
SteamWorld Dig blends the mining genre popularized by games like Spelunky with the play style of a Metroidvania. Players take control of Rusty who uses his pickaxe and other tools to dig through the mine to set up their own platforms, battle enemies, and collect gems for money. While in the mine, players have a light gauge that will determine how long they have before the mine gets darker. Rusty also has an upgradable bag that shows how many more gems he can carry before he runs out of space. All of these things can be upgraded in town through different vendors, eventually letting Rusty dig faster, punch through tougher bricks, and carry more gems back to town. The gameplay loop of digging for gems and then returning to town will allow players to level up the town and unlock new vendors through fencing collected gems with Dorothy. While players are spelunking, there are short mines that offer players a specific platform or puzzle challenge that can reward them with either an expensive stone or collectable artifacts. Inside the mines are burrowing mutant insects or crazed humans. Combat is as simple as not getting touched by the enemy while hitting them with the pickaxe or the different tools and items that they collect during their playthrough.
Inside the mine are upgrade stations very similar to those found in other Metroidvanias like Super Metroid or Axiom Verge. Sticking to the theme, most of the upgrades are related to the concept of digging; a drill for getting through tougher stone, dynamite to blow up large amounts of blocks at once, or a super jump to allow for more mobility in the mines. Despite this theming, this leads to the upgrades available being less gameplay changing, and more gameplay augmenting. Compared to other Metroidvanias, SteamWorld Dig plays only slightly differently with each upgrade. There isn’t a time where an upgrade activates an interesting new method of traversal or has a significant impact on the combat challenge. The game doesn’t introduce any new enemy types until the last hour or so, meaning that every combat interaction is just “hit enemy with pickaxe.” Instead, every upgrade feels more like a side-grade, with only slight variations in the gameplay based on collecting more gems during each run into the mines; and before long the combat is so uninteresting that it seems better to just dynamite every enemy versus actually trying to hit them, just to speed past it.
Outside of combat, the other dangers that players face include being crushed by large stones, or falling too far and being “scrapped.” Upon death, players are returned to town for reconstruction and lose all of their collected items. Players will then need to return to that place, without dying, to retrieve those things. Most players won’t have to deal with death often enough to get frustrated though, both due to the game’s short four-to-seven-hour length and the lack of any real dangers in the mines beyond self-inflicted problems.
Leveling is based on the amount of money that players have collected. Returning to town and speaking to Dorothy will have players’ gems and gold collected and added to their overall level pool. When they reach milestone amounts of money, they’ll level up and unlock upgrades or even new shops to augment their already collected upgrades. These upgrades, like the ones from inside the mine, are more or less side-grades. They don’t change much about any ability, and instead are efficiency bonuses’, such as faster pickaxe swinging or just more slots in the bag.
The visual direction for SteamWorld Dig, like most of the subsequent SteamWorld titles, is amazing. The steambots each have colorful designs that evoke a contemporary style, while also having an obvious western aesthetic. The town of Tumbleton evokes images of a child-friendly western, from the tumbleweeds that stroll through the town to the business owners and other prospectors that arrive as players build it up. The mine itself and its biomes are less visually interesting in comparison. Most mines don’t have a real theme which leads to them being palette swaps more than distinctive locations. The music is also a bit generic, with the themes repeating and the game lacking in any bombastic or engaging tracks. SteamWorld Dig works great on Steam Deck and controller is the preferred control method.
SteamWorld Dig is a short experience, but there’s a ton of heart in it. A great mix of Metroidvania, RPG, and platformer, the game is a fun outing for the steambots and the players controlling. While SteamWorld Dig isn’t able to find a whole hoard, there are still diamonds in this mine.
Original concept
Doesn't overstay its welcome
Easy to play
Biomes can be a bit generic and samey
Combat is too simple to be interesting
Music can be repetitive
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