Although vastly superseded by its sequel, the first Steamworld Dig is still by all means a great game, worth revisiting today if you want to see the roots of Steamworld Dig, and the context to the 2nd game's story.

SD opens up in a small, cozy setting in a backwater western town called Tumbleton, and while the writing doesn't play a massive role in the grand scheme of things, I still enjoyed the setting a lot and whatever small ragtag group of characters were present, both in design and personality. It gave the shopekeeper npcs something to be remembered by.

The whole steampunk aesthetic coupled with the decadent approach to character/environment design is very charming as well as inviting, and along with the modest but atmospheric soundtrack, I couldn't help but be engaged with this game on that level despite its flaws.

The gameplay itself feels satisfying and the overall loop is addicting, even though the loop is never expanded upon, which is one of my few criticisms of this title.

More on that, SD1 is certainly not perfect; Fighting enemies is more times than not a fruitless endeavor, combat in general is frustrating and somewhat feels like an afterthought. In fact, it's probably better to ignore the enemies if you can.

The randomly generated digging space is a cool idea but can sometimes lead to weird spikes in difficulty or awkward spaces that you have to navigate through. Once, one of the wall laser enemies spawned inside of the invincible eye laser enemy...a bit strange but I guess it can happen.

With how this game is designed, I kept wondering as I was playing if it'd be possible to hardlock yourself, considering the finite resources and how said resources are necessary to progress through the game, as well as the fact that blocks that you destroy do not regenerate (with a small "but" later in the game).

There are two types of upgrades in SD1, the type you unlock by completing hand-crafted dungeons you find by digging (which are actually pretty good for the most part), and the type that you purchase with resources you find underground.

The upgrades that you can buy with the resources you collect are kind of dull, and don't offer anything exciting, it's just "oh here's an upgrade so you can dig 1 block faster", it's the lazy way to do upgrades and felt exhausted with these by the 2/3rd of the game.

To add to my criticisms, I do think the addition of boss fights would've regulated out at least some of the tedium that comes across with progression in SD1.

A lot of these problems are fixed in the sequel, SD2, which might render this entry obsolete for many people.
But I don't know, I can't help but feel enamoured by this sweet little indie game with a charming vision.
I played it first on the 3DS and didn't get very far, but thought the art direction was cool, and I'm glad I revisited it on the Switch.

It was a very fun (and sometimes frustrating) 8 hours I managed to get out of it, so if you have a weekend to spare and haven't played the 2nd game, I definitely recommend giving this a go. Especially if you're a fan of either Spelunky, Dig Dug, or love Metroidvanias.

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.

Yet another game I really liked. There isn't much to say about it though. Story is okay. It's slightly janky. But has a fun gameplay loop. It's a good game still worth going through, just understand it not a masterpiece.

The game has good music. But it isn't that special. The game essentially is dig, gather materials, go up and sell to buy upgrades. Repeat. On occassion you find a new power up or challenges in the mines.

The biggest issue in this is that you can def softlock and the only way out is death. If you are smart about your tunnels this mostly isn't a problem. But on occasion things happen that are out of your control and death is your only option.

Although it didn't happen to me, I could see how if you are terrible and die enough you can lose enough materials to be hardlocked. But I imagine most people that will not be an issue.

Controls are a bit jank but work fine enough. The game has odd difficulty spikes. At times the gameplay loop can be a bit tedious. It's a light metroidvania.

In general, it's a very chill experience. A brain off game. Nothing special, but still really fun. If you enjoy it, I highly suggest play the sequel as it's vastly superior. It improves and expands on the concept. You will need the story in this game to understand the sequel. Or better said, to appreciate the story in the sequel.

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

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.

Legal. As duas ou três horas iniciais me deixaram maluco. O grosso da ação me deixou obcecado e eu jogava sem objetividade nenhuma, só pelo gosto de pegar a picaretinha e cavocar. Quando a novidade passou, eu perdi a vontade de continuar. Sei que isso é um problema meu e diz pouco ou nada sobre o jogo, mas não vou ter o empenho pra gastar outras cinco horas num jogo que traz pouca recompensa. A história é um fiapo de história, a música não ajuda muito, os personagens não têm lá muito destaque. De resto, eu tenho a impressão de que Hollow Knight tirou algumas ideias daqui.

Interesting to see that the SteamWorld Franchise came from such humble beginnings. The aesthetic is charming and digging your own personal maze underground are stand outs. I found moving through the dirt, avoiding obstacles and finding new upgrades to be very compelling. Death was maybe a little too forgiving at times but it all services a really strong progression system.

Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of its ending. It almost undermines the simple nature of the title with an awkward final reveal and ending cutscene. I don't think it properly set up what it was going for.

Despite that this is a tightly made and short journey into the depths of an old west mining town run by robots. I think that fun idea alone is worth a playthrough.

I just replayed this wonderful game again, because I want to play with the sequel. What can I say? This is my third time playing it, and I still find it utterly addicting.

The gameplay loop is very simple: Gear up, mine resources, come back and repeat. It is such a charming game, with an amazing atmosphere and smooth animations.

If you want to play something casual, yet challenging, do not miss this one out!