What's better than a western? Quite simple really, a western with animals!... But Rango is a movie, not a videogame, so a western with robots will do....

I believe that games that base their gameplay around a routine or repeating a certain action over and over again without being tiresome are deserving of praising only because they manage to pull off something like that, and SteamWorld Dig is one of those games: is an experience about mining and very little else, and as much as I'm gonna dig into its problems (I need to be stopped) the fact that at no point I goy annoyed at the idea of just going down and down is a huge accomplishment of its own.

It fully plays with the routine of being a robot miner: going down, mining a bit, exploring caves, getting abilities, going up, selling materials, buying more upgrades, going down and repeat. That's basically what the entire game is all about, and I'll give it to them, it sure does it well. There were a ton of instances in which I really didn't want to get out, just so I could mine a little bit more and maybe discover new minerals or a undiscovered cave, and the gratification once I sold all I had on was spectacular.

The whole thing is about, quite literally, forging your own path; the three main zones do pull some strings to make you go to certain areas, but overall, you and only you is the one that decides what rock will you put you pickaxe to use. Some have said that the game has a ''Metroidvania'' aspect, and I'd actually have to disagree; yes, you get upgrades that make you do new stuff and in some cases that new stuff is needed to get something you left behind, but those cases are entirely optional, so when you do get a new flashy thing, is always for overcoming obstacles that come right after you got them, so while it lacks that oomf that makes ''Metroidvanias'' feel just right, it does have an extremely well-paced feeling of constant progression... shame that the pacing in the story went to fuckville while all this was happening.

It's apparent SteamWorld Dig wanted to be more grand than it appeared at first, and while there's nothing wrong with wanting to tell a story full of lore and that ends with the murder of a God, I feel that the pursuit for this bigger narrative that doesn't end up being that interesting or well told really damages the potential that was already there. There aren't really character interactions, nor between them, not even with Rusty, the main character (aside the ones with Dorothy at the beginning). The main town doesn't feel alive, everyone is just kinda there, waiting for you to either sell or buy: it all revolves around you, which might work at first since it’s the point, the fact that you are the one that brought life back to the town, but it ends up making the whole thing feeling binary. It's the golden rush, more so Rusty's golden rush, everything depends on your moola a nothing else, which it's a bigger shame considering the first time characters interact is actually really funny and nice and you want more of it... except that it's at the END OF THE GAME.

The world feeling artificial is also something that affects the rest of the areas: enemies have contracted the Goomba syndrome, only moving and very little else, and that makes it so encounters are repetitive and samey, and it's not like the combat it's interesting enough to compensate. The main caves offer some interesting level design, but most of the optional ones are just bland and the challenge they propose it's mediocre at best and very boring at worst.

Oh, and also, the game ends with a backtracking section, but honestly, it's not infuriating enough to get mad at, nor is it interesting enough to be compelling. It just... happens, I don't know why, but it sure does.

I think that's the biggest flaw: this world may be cool and have pretty looks and awesome music, but it never does enough to make you immerse yourself in it. The biggest example that I think shows all of this, is how across the entire game and at the very end, they keep telling Rusty how he has changed, how he's has left behind his old self and almost become something new, and yeah, the upgrades I've gotten do pose a difference... it never feels like they changed Rusty in any way, in great part because none of the changes are shown visually (which would be expected considering the point the game is trying to make) and also we never see the impact these upgrades have in Rusty as a robot, in fact, I barely know who Rusty even is! His quiet demeanor makes it impossible, and makes the ending, and experience for that matter, have much, much less of an impact.

At the end, SteamWorld Dig does one thing well, it may do it very well, but ultimately, it feels lesser than it could have been... how lucky SteamWorld Dig 2 exists, huh?

Yeah, I actually played the sequel before the original, I may do a full review for it in the future, but it makes me happy to know that even if the series had this kind of rocky beginning, the next entry managed to be one hell of an improvement in every aspect, which actually makes this one more worth it to play, if only to appreciate better what comes next.

It’s a fun enough adventure, with charming southern robots and about finding diamonds, and even if the game itself isn’t one, it sure has value… also the Shiners kinda look like goblins and that’s rad as hell. Goblins are fucking awesome

Dig.

Sell.

Upgrade.

Repeat.

This game (as well as its sequel) has such a perfect, blissful gameplay loop. It's so simple, but so beautiful in its simplicity.

this is like one of those flash games where you go underground, do some mining until you can't anymore, and then return to the surface and buy all the upgrades you can, but with the addition of some incredibly light "metroidvania" elements (generous definition). it's better than those, for sure, but it still feels kinda hollow and sorely lacking in intentionality for the majority of the game. there's unique areas with more level design built in with rewards of lots more money or a new power-up, but even those segments aren't all that great. story is nothing, characters are nothing, and most shop purchases are just numerical upgrades as opposed to having cool horizontal progression with optional abilities to bolster the ones along the main path. it's fine.

Bought this game today for quite cheap in a bundle, though I finished it years ago in my 3ds. Its been long enough that I didn't feel bad about replaying. A short and sweet experience, took me about 4 hours to finish. Its a cool twist for a metroidvania, instead of a pre crafted level, you're given a pile of dirt and told to dig. So you do, making tunnels to go down and reach your objectives, but having to keep in mind to make them somewhat easily traversable, as you're going to be coming back and forth. Still, it really ends up not mattering that much because by the end of the game you have a lot of mobility and also teleporters, which are fairly cheap to buy, and can stick them anywhere to go to the town and back. Combat is barely a thing, with a very limited amount of enemies barely capable of moving from side to side, they rarely pose a threat if you're careful with your tunnels. I don't remember absolutely anything from the soundtrack, but it probably was generic spaghetti western songs, you most definitely know the one, and the visuals are not bad, it has a colorful artstyle, with my only complaint in that area being that the bloom looked weirdly terrible for me, so I had to turn it off. I think it was a bug. This game is not bad, but honestly very unremarkable. I've heard the sequel gets better, I should check that out at some point.

I'm pretty confident that SteamWorld Dig is one of the first indie games I ever played. If my memory is correct, the first was Cave Story, and I'm pretty sure that SteamWorld Dig is within the first ones I got on my 3ds. Point being, I wanted to return to the game for a little bit of a nostalgia trip.

Luckily, I think this holds up really well! It sits at the intersection of Dig Dug, Mr. Driller, Terraria, and a little bit of Metroid. I think most people would accept the first three influences, but there may be some debate on whether or not this qualifies as a search action game.

I really love the main gameplay loop of mining. The restrictions on your capabilities, namely how you cannot dig across a layer above you brings a lot of thought to each movement you make. As the game progresses, and unique obstacles are added, the game only becomes more dynamic. The various caves, while less interesting in my opinion, help punctuate the gameplay. The upgrades you collect across the game also do a good job at expanding your possibility space.

Ultimately Steamworld Dig does a great job at applying an arcade style gameplay loop into a short but featured campaign.

Sights & Sounds
- The characters and environments are crafted in a cartoonish style that's used effectively
- The Western veneer added some nice flavor. For a mining game about robots, it wasn't necessary, but I appreciated it
- The music follows the western visuals; lots of old-timey sounding western songs full of harmonized whistling, ricochet sounds, and whip cracks

Story & Vibes
- The game is very light on story, but it adds to the mystery of the gigantic caves you'll be tunneling through. All you really get told at the beginning is that your uncle has died and left you the deed to his mining operation
- This gives the game an opportunity to try the "show, don't tell" approach to backstory. Unfortunately, I feel like a few more breadcrumbs could have been shown to the player. I still don't really know what's going on
- This give the game very mysterious vibes, but I haven't had a whole lot of success digging into that mystery

Playability & Replayability
- Played this game on the Steam Deck, and the default controls were pretty good. They felt tight and responsive
- As you might expect, the central gameplay mechanic is digging through a series of gigantic mines to find ability-granting upgrades that help you go deeper into the mines as well as resources that can be used to buy things like extra health, a larger water reservoir for your tools, more storage capacity, equipment enhancements, and more
- Dying has very little impact on the game. You just restart in town and try to recover your findings from the bag that marks the location of your death
- Compared to other so-called "metroidvanias", neither the combat nor the platforming are very hard
- I've beaten the final boss, but I might revisit in an attempt to find some other secrets and pick up a few more achievements

Overall Impressions & Performance
- The game ran perfectly on the Steam Deck
- I tend to enjoy games like this where the central story line is fairly easy to finish (I did it in less than 5 hours), but there's plenty of other secrets and hidden areas to dig into. This helps exploration feel rewarding and worthwhile

Final Verdict
- 8.5/10 For a tenner, this game is absolutely worth the money for fans of platformers with a heavy emphasis on exploration

Don't know why but I really enjoy the "digging" genre.
Steamworld Dig sees you progress deeper and deeper underground as you get new tools and upgrades to allow you to break tougher blocks. There is some strategy to be had in making use of limited resources and inventory space, as well as light combat elements from small mobs scattered in the underground. Sub-areas contain puzzles and boss fights.
The story is ok, not what you're playing for, but it's interesting enough. I'd definitely recommend this one and the sequel, which is actually even better. But play this first or you'll likely feel limited when going backward in chronology.

Steamworld Dig is a hybrid game in a few ways. Steamworld itself is a steampunk western, but everyone is robots. The digging meanwhile is the classic dig for gems, head up to the surface to upgrade your gear, and then return to mine deeper loop. Only, there's also a fair bit of combat. And platforming. Oh, and it's kind of a metroidvania.

I don't think it all gels, but there's no denying how compelling this world and these characters are, nor how satisfying and tactile the mining is. And that core loop of mine - > upgrade -> explore and then mine some more is very compelling.

I find controls a bit too clunky for either the platforming or action, which frustrates from time to time and takes this down a few notches. But all of the ideas thrown in here are good, just not integrated in a way that always works. Thankfully, the sequel addressed all these issues and then some. Still, this is a fun one and it's neat to see how the sequel carries on the story started here.

A short game reminiscent of some flash game I played as a kid on Miniclip. Digging and getting treasure is really fun. None of the characters are memorable and the story is only there as a way to explain why you are digging. The final boss fight is cool but odd considering how little of a focus the game had on combat of any kind, although the way it builds up is really fun and engaging. The game was really short so I don't know if I'd recommend the price point, in part because I don't remember how much it was when I bought it like 7 years ago.

SteamWorld tem uma gameplay que apesar de não ser exatamente inovadora (afinal Dig Dug de NES já existe) traz alguns elementos novos pra esse tipo de jogo de exploração, como mecânica de vendas de minérios e power-ups que fazem parecer um metroidvania mas só parecer mesmo. O problema é que esses elementos ficaram ofuscados por alguns outros momentos que eu tive.
O loop de minerar, vender e minerar denovo acaba ficando chato e virando algo secundário do jogo, quando a parte mais legal é procurar pelo próximo power-up do mapa mais fundo na mina.
A parte que eu mais curti foram os efeitos sonoros, especialmente os do Rusty, que tu controla, os sons dele andando com o som pesado de metal das botas foram muito bem feitos.

Steamworld Dig is a fantastic Metroidvania, but it is one that drilled through the foundational pillar of exploration to define itself. You drill your own path to each treasure giving you a small upgrade. Whenever your progress is gated you tunnel your way to a stronger mining tool. But, your greed will catch up. If you mine carelessly it will be a pain to reach the surface or the area you dug down to last time. If you spend carelessly you will have already pillaged the mine of all it can give. Steamworld Dig deserves a lot of respect, not only did it create a fantastic and fun Metroidvania, it did it in a way no other series has. All while it makes the backtracking common in so many Metroidvania's so much more meaningful since it is due to your actions.