Video Game Review: Steamworld DIG

Apologies for the lack of updates. This review was supposed to be up on Friday, but I simply didn't find the time to write it. There's still going to be one on Tuesday.

Steamworld DIG is a mining game for the Nintendo 3DS. In the game, you play as Rusty in a search to find your Uncle Joe.

(Spoiler: You find him in five minutes.)
(Spoiler: He's dead.)

So you need to go ahead and find whatever Joe was looking for.

The game takes after many similar upgrade-oriented platformers on Armor Games/NotDoppler in that you basically have to dig, uncover ore, mine it, buy upgrades to mine faster/further down/do more damage to enemies. However, this one has some very charming twists.
First and foremost., I managed to get seven hours of play out of this game, which is great value given that I paid £7.99 for it.
Secondly, you unlock upgrades as you progress through the game. As you sell ore, you gain exp, gain levels and gain the options to buy more. You can also find orbs if you revisit earlier sections, in hard to find bits. These are needed to buy the more upper-tier upgrades in the game.

There are also dungeons, which pit you against a variety of foes and challenges, and reward you with an extra bit of kit or upgrade at the end of it all.

Obstacles like large stone traps and dynamite make it better to be strategic in your digging rather than screaming an internal "YOLO" and hammering away at the earth. I like that.


It's by no means going to break any world records, but it is a very neat little game with a pretty fun story.
It's addictive, fun, has a variety of enemies, different settings based on how far down you go (The Dark Mine,The Old World, Vectron.) and is one of the most value-for-money games that you can get for your Animal Crossing Device.
It even has an end-game boss. And that's more than most games have. (I'm looking at you, Bioshock Infinite, and your horde of enemies instead of a final boss.)

Check it out: http://steamworldgames.com/dig/