Steamworld Dig, as you may know, is a game that was released last year on the 3DS eShop. However, it was later released on Wii U, PS4, PS Vita and PC. It's available for $9.99 in the US, and £6.99/€7.99 in the UK/Europe. But does it really live up to that price?


Steamworld Dig starts out with a miner named Rusty walking into Tumbleton. When suddenly, the ground beneath his feet breaks.
You fall into your uncle's mine, where you meet Dorothy, one of the town's inhabitants.  She then tells you to find uncle Joe...You then come across Uncle Joe's corpse, and take the pickaxe. You then get back to near where Dorothy, she tells you to dig until you find a lever which opens the nearby door. After doing that and climbing up the mine you just dug, you arrive in another part of the mine. You climb up the ladder, arriving in Tumbleton.


This point of the game shouldn't prove to be much of a challenge. After getting the drill, it starts to be a challenge, but even then not much really changes. After getting the Steam Punch though, the difficulty starts to rise a bit. It's easily one of the more powerful items in the game, but it's a pain to use if you don't know how to use it. This game can be quite puzzling if you're new to it, and if you fail a level you lose some of your money and minerals you've found, so be careful!

Steamworld Dig's gameplay makes it out to be somewhat like Metroid games. You collect several tools to go through areas and try and seek out minerals. Other than that it plays a lot like Metroid. There are no boss fights in the game other than the final boss, making it much easier to seek out minerals and tools, but you are put to the test quite a lot. Sometimes, you may need to upgrade, but difficulties with money or other requirements may happen. This is easy to fix, but there are many more difficulties that will give you trouble. Trouble with water is the biggest one. Most of your items run off water, rendering it important. Another important thing about the gameplay is mining. While this is obvious from the title, it sometimes becomes easy to get into trouble. Enemies may be lurking at the bottom of the holes you dig, and it is often not easy to kill them, but sometimes you may be lucky enough to escape by jumping up the walls with B + D-Pad/Left Joystick.


The music is kind of bland. Some music in the game are that at best, and just unrememberable at worst. It has some of the better graphics you can find in an indie game though. If you only care about the music of games and not the game itself, you probably won't like this game, but if you only care about the graphics and nothing else, you'll like this game. Otherwise, not much to say here.

As for the controls, it's simple. The buttons and touchscreen are helpful in any case. Test them all out and see what they do. And now onto length, the game itself lasts five hours at least, and seven hours at most in the hands of a skilled player. Not everyone will find the game easy, however, so it's basically up to the person playing it.

Steamworld Dig is a great game. Those who are into indie and spunkeling/mining games will love this. Some other people may not consider the game as much due to the price, but it's still worth at least some consideration.


Review Copy provided by: Image & Form