Although vastly superseded by its sequel, the first Steamworld Dig is still by all means a great game, worth revisiting today if you want to see the roots of Steamworld Dig, and the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