Maru has said for a while that this is a really good game, and since it was on Game Pass and I'm still on a Metroidvania kick, I decided to give it a go last weekend. That turned out to be a pretty dang good decision, as it's certainly the best Metroidvania I've played so far this year ^w^. It took me just over 9 hours to do everything in the game and collect all the things (as well as do the "sequence break" achievement) on normal difficulty.
Steamworld Dig 2 is the sequel to the far simpler Steamworld Dig, a game I played a year or two ago on my 3DS and also liked quite a bit. This sequel expands on the original as a sequel really should. It improves the good and builds on top of it. The core concept of the game is a Metroidvania mixed with resource farming, I guess. It's almost like if Spelunky was slower-paced and also a more linear Metroidvania XD
You have a main mine underneath the main town, and you dig down there as well as fight enemies to find minerals to sell back in town. You can spend this cash you get on upgrades to your base stats and equipment, and you also find new equipment periodically as you progress through the story (like a grappling hook or a bomb launcher). There's a main mine that you dig in more or less to earn money, and then there are side dungeons as well as main dungeons you navigate through for bonus collectibles, (which also are required for the best ending), upgrade cogs (you can use them to toggle on and off upgrade abilities), extra cash, and even optional new powers and equipment.
After a few hours the game becomes a lot less linear, and you can start exploring around everywhere and engage in quite a lot of sequence breaking to get to areas you technically aren't supposed to be in yet. I really enjoyed how much the game embraces just letting you go where you want at your own pace like that. There are even upgrades you can get that make seeing secret areas easier. This is the first Metroidvania I've played in quite a while where I got EVERYTHING without once needing to look online where something was, and I like a game with secrets that intuitive (or at least a game that lets you eventually see the secret spots a lot easier XP).
The exploration and platforming is really where it's at with this game, and the combat is largely secondary. The ranged weapon you eventually get has VERY limited ammo, your melee attack has a short range that never really gets any longer, and you're often fighting in very compact spaces where maneuvering is difficult. That said, combat is a very secondary feature of the game overall, and the overall design of the world and the challenges you face within it are designed around your limited ability to fight things.
The story and world building are interesting, but ultimately kinda have a crap payoff. The character that is there among all the townsfolk as well as for the main character and her sidekick are charming and fun, and I honestly kinda wish there was more of it. But the final resolution to the story is sorta defying expectations by defying the normal expectations, which leaves the end result with kind of a strange message of "no wait, that prejudice was entirely justified after all". The narrative is certainly not the main event here, though. I'd put it solidly below the exploration, resource gathering, and action mechanics.
While I did play the original on a 3DS and this one on an Xbone, the art design and presentation of this game is MUCH stronger. It's a very pretty game that is often quite atmospheric. The music isn't anything super stand-out (at least for me), and I listened to podcasts most of the time I played this, but I didn't always have a podcast on. Especially one area that has a much more tense atmosphere where they take away your mini-map: that area is VERY well done and genuinely creepy.
Verdict: Highly recommended. This is definitely one of the stand-out better Metroidvanias to come out in the past few years. It's fairly challenging (sometimes a bit too hard, tbh) on normal difficulty, but it has the difficulty options to mitigate that. It looks nice, plays well, and doesn't outstay its welcome. The twist it puts on the Metroidvania formula is a gimmick, sure, but it's a strong one and provides a good change of pace between resource gathering in the main mine and platforming challenges in the optional side areas. If you like 2D exploration games and/or Metroidvanias, this is definitely a game to not let pass you by~
Steamworld Dig 2 is the sequel to the far simpler Steamworld Dig, a game I played a year or two ago on my 3DS and also liked quite a bit. This sequel expands on the original as a sequel really should. It improves the good and builds on top of it. The core concept of the game is a Metroidvania mixed with resource farming, I guess. It's almost like if Spelunky was slower-paced and also a more linear Metroidvania XD
You have a main mine underneath the main town, and you dig down there as well as fight enemies to find minerals to sell back in town. You can spend this cash you get on upgrades to your base stats and equipment, and you also find new equipment periodically as you progress through the story (like a grappling hook or a bomb launcher). There's a main mine that you dig in more or less to earn money, and then there are side dungeons as well as main dungeons you navigate through for bonus collectibles, (which also are required for the best ending), upgrade cogs (you can use them to toggle on and off upgrade abilities), extra cash, and even optional new powers and equipment.
After a few hours the game becomes a lot less linear, and you can start exploring around everywhere and engage in quite a lot of sequence breaking to get to areas you technically aren't supposed to be in yet. I really enjoyed how much the game embraces just letting you go where you want at your own pace like that. There are even upgrades you can get that make seeing secret areas easier. This is the first Metroidvania I've played in quite a while where I got EVERYTHING without once needing to look online where something was, and I like a game with secrets that intuitive (or at least a game that lets you eventually see the secret spots a lot easier XP).
The exploration and platforming is really where it's at with this game, and the combat is largely secondary. The ranged weapon you eventually get has VERY limited ammo, your melee attack has a short range that never really gets any longer, and you're often fighting in very compact spaces where maneuvering is difficult. That said, combat is a very secondary feature of the game overall, and the overall design of the world and the challenges you face within it are designed around your limited ability to fight things.
The story and world building are interesting, but ultimately kinda have a crap payoff. The character that is there among all the townsfolk as well as for the main character and her sidekick are charming and fun, and I honestly kinda wish there was more of it. But the final resolution to the story is sorta defying expectations by defying the normal expectations, which leaves the end result with kind of a strange message of "no wait, that prejudice was entirely justified after all". The narrative is certainly not the main event here, though. I'd put it solidly below the exploration, resource gathering, and action mechanics.
While I did play the original on a 3DS and this one on an Xbone, the art design and presentation of this game is MUCH stronger. It's a very pretty game that is often quite atmospheric. The music isn't anything super stand-out (at least for me), and I listened to podcasts most of the time I played this, but I didn't always have a podcast on. Especially one area that has a much more tense atmosphere where they take away your mini-map: that area is VERY well done and genuinely creepy.
Verdict: Highly recommended. This is definitely one of the stand-out better Metroidvanias to come out in the past few years. It's fairly challenging (sometimes a bit too hard, tbh) on normal difficulty, but it has the difficulty options to mitigate that. It looks nice, plays well, and doesn't outstay its welcome. The twist it puts on the Metroidvania formula is a gimmick, sure, but it's a strong one and provides a good change of pace between resource gathering in the main mine and platforming challenges in the optional side areas. If you like 2D exploration games and/or Metroidvanias, this is definitely a game to not let pass you by~