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