Musings on... SteamWorld Dig

After starting life as a 3DS game, SteamWorld Dig eventually found its way onto PC late last year, and it's reasonably good fun. It isn't particularly deep (ha!), and follows a pretty simple structure of digging further and further down whilst increasing the strength of your pickaxe, drill and punch ability. The story is light, charting your attempts to find your dead uncle, and is mostly told through talking to the inhabitants of the mining town. Oh, and you're all robots.

The story charts your attempts to find your dead uncle

The basics are you dig through different layers of ground encountering enemies, traps, caves and new abilities as you go. Occasionally you'll have to return to the surface to replenish your light source (a constantly-dimming lantern) and sell any resources you've found. The mine is randomly generated, allowing for a certain amount of replayability if you are so inclined. It took me about three and a half hours to finish, although I didn't complete all of the puzzle caves or unlock all of the upgrades.

You'll have to return to the surface to replenish your light source

The game looks very nice, with the lighting effects being especially pleasant. There's nothing mind-blowing here, but the visuals are more than serviceable, especially considering it used to be a 3DS game. The sound is similarly nice, although I did eventually take to listening to podcasts instead. It's a good game to switch your brain off to, and just mine through a few levels of dirt, collecting resources and returning home.

More than once I was forced to keep pushing downwards in the hope of finding a teleporter

The main challenge in the game becomes trying to make sure you don't get stuck somewhere deep, which would require a suicide and a quest to find all your lost stuff. Two major obstacles help to create this tension: the dimming lantern mentioned earlier, and the blocks that respawn after you destroy them. The lantern gives you a circle of light, which contracts over time unless you defeat enemies, who will occasionally drop fuel. Eventually it will run out and you'll be plunged into darkness, which isn't great when you're 500 metres below ground and can't remember the way back. The respawning blocks essentially force you to make good decisions as you dig, and to properly plan your route. More than once I was stuck with no ladders and no way back up, forced to keep pushing downwards in the hope of finding a teleporter somewhere.

Overall this is a fairly light but enjoyable game. It isn't my favourite game ever, but it's a genuinely fun distraction. I highly recommend a purchase if you fancy something relaxing for a couple of hours in the evening.

SteamWorld Dig was released on PC in December 2013 by developers Image & Form. It's currently available on Steam, and will soon be coming to PS4 and Vita.