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.

One of those games that I've been meaning to get round to for years. The game being 89p on the Switch eshop certainly convinced me to go for it.

A really nice little time waster this one. Just keep digging for jewels and to see where you end up. The upgrades can't come soon enough, as getting that double jump and negating fall damage were a god send, and made the game as fun as it was.

It took me 5 hours to complete. That's 5 hours of digging, jumping and blowing shit up, in a really fun and fairly laid back manner. Some of the baddies can be a pain in the arse, and all the laser cannons near the bottom were a ball ache, but otherwise, it was just a lot of fun digging.

I'm probably gonna have to pick up the sequel now, as I had a very good time with this. A perfect length, too. It being inexpensive, and the great gameplay make this an excellent value game, that I honestly wish I'd played sooner. But I've played it now and I'm pretty thrilled how far that 89p got me.

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.

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.