SteamWorld Dig Review

4 min readSep 1, 2024

Heya folks, Shaun here, and I’m back with my latest review! In this one, I’m covering an indie game called SteamWorld Dig by Image & Form.

So, I originally received this game for free way back in 2013 so I could review it at the time. I’ll also admit that at that time, I wasn’t too into it, and I found it kind of boring. Over 11 years have passed since that initial review, and tastes tend to change with age, and I’ve finally completed the game, which is a pretty great feeling.

SteamWorld Dig is a 2D platformer that released back in 2013 and ultimately spawned the SteamWorld franchise, which has numerous games in it, in various genres. SteamWorld Dig is a mining-themed game where you play as a robot named Rusty who has just acquired a mine in a run-down desert town that’s been in need of help after the previous miner, Rusty’s uncle, went missing in the mines.

Admittedly, the game doesn’t really have much in the way of story. What it lacks in story, it more than makes up for in gameplay. The game is heavily inspired by metroidvania games, and the gameplay resembles that. The major difference is that SteamWorld Dig is a much more relaxed metroidvania game than most tend to be. Your main objective is to tunnel downward to reach the final floor of the mines, collecting ore and gems along the way.

When your inventory is full, you’ll need to return to the surface to sell the ore and gems. Selling enough of them increases the town’s wealth, which allows you to purchase new upgrades and even brings in new characters to town to sell higher-end equipment.

The mine comprises three separate levels that you’ll need to progress through: the upper mines, an underground bunker-type section, and a high-tech installation at the bottom. Each section of the mine has its own unique hazards and enemies. In the upper mines, you’ll face worm-like creatures. In the bunker area, you’ll face more types of enemies, including zombies and large spine-throwing bugs. There are also nuclear waste hazards that you’ll need to watch out for. In the final high-tech level, you’ll need to fight exploding robots as well as insect robots that look like the worm enemies in the upper level but with a tougher shell. The lowest level also houses the final boss, which was really satisfying to defeat. There’s also only a single boss in this game as well, so no mini-bosses or anything here.

Overall, SteamWorld Dig is a really solid game, and its relaxed nature honestly made the game rather relaxing through the vast majority of it. The enemies weren’t overly challenging, and the hazards were pretty fair. The toughest part of the game was actually the final boss, but once you learned the best method to defeat it, taking it down was pretty easy. In the end, I’ve decided to give the game a 9 out of 10. It’s a very solid game and one of the few metroidvania games that I wound up enjoying quite a bit. Typically, I can’t get into the genre, but this was an exception.