SteamWorld Dig 2
Dig harder, get richer
SteamWorld Dig arrived out of nowhere and took me by storm in 2013. This weird little mining game appeared on the 3DS store one day and with the last tenner in my account, I bought into this dimmly lit world of robots mining for resources. It carefully built its way up, going from resource gathering to a Metroidvania-esque game underneath, as you upgraded the protagonist, Rusty, to the best of his abilities. The brilliant thing about SteamWorld Dig, is that it didn’t lay its cards on the table straight up, but kept flashing them now and then to give you a little hint at what was to come.
SteamWorld Dig 2, however, knows that the jig is up and it cashes in almost immediately. Rusty has gone missing after defeating the villain of the first game, leading his pal, Dot, to hunt the mines in a new town for any clues of his whereabouts. The game goes deeper into the lore of SteamWorld, introducing humans that have been mutated by years of living underground and giving an explanation for Image & Form’s previous game, SteamWorld Heist. Although, as it does, it leaves a little to be desired, in that just as it starts introducing new things into the fold in a rather odd chase/stealth section, it cuts them short for what feels like fear of overusing the mechanic driving that part of the story. For instance, Fen, Dot’s companion through the game, starts by interacting with the world or giving small hints during puzzles, but eventually as the game takes on a more open or free feeling, they begin to appear less and less until the climax of the game.
This all said, Dig 2 is more of the original in the best ways possible. With its glossy new look, fantastic focus on puzzles and the gameplay loop of collecting and turning in just being as addictive as ever, I’m actually quite glad that we got the stop gap of Heist in between the rerelease of SteamWorld Dig on every platform under the sun, barring my microwave.
My favourite part though is this emphasis on puzzles. I’m not just talking about which way to dig in the mines, but the game splits off — like the original — into rooms to grab cogs to improve the skills you’re unlocking. They made me feel daft, a little thick and most of all, they made me feel very, very smart for figuring something out. Plus, as they have no real bearing on the overall game’s ending — other than making it easier — you really never have to worry about getting stuck. Just leave, dig a bit and maybe spending some hard earned cash will help you finish something at a later time.
See, it seems as though Image & Form have attempted something new every time with SteamWorld and I’m glad that’s been their supposed goal. The issue is, Dig was such a fantastic video game, because it was this short encapsulated adventure, that I worried heading into Dig 2’s seemingly larger scope that it’d lose that charming “in and out” sort of attitude. Quite like Dot heading down the mines and coming back up half an hour later to turn everything in, SteamWorld Dig was fantastic to pick up and put down until it was done. 2 doesn’t lose this at all and in fact makes it far easier to enjoy it in meaty chunks with a more structured story, leading me on to finish the game in about ten hours.
Combat is Heist’s strong point, but in Dig 2, an afterthought. Enemies can be felled with a bash with the pickaxe, but it’s so rudimentary to constrain itself within the confines of the digging focus of the game, that it hasn’t improved since the first game’s. In fact, I’d probably say there’s not that much a difference between the two and the upgrades associated with combat, don’t feel like they do a whole lot. That or the animations associated with them aren’t very pronounced and I hardly notice.
Speaking of upgrades through this whole review and not bringing up the smart choice of having a freeform tech tree is a crime. As you collect cogs from various areas of the mine, you dump them into abilities that scale up from needing a single cog to about four or five. As you carry on, you’ll start to notice that cogs are getting harder to find and certain situations call for particular upgrades, which you can then just swap about at will without too much hassle. For instance, I never used the pickaxe abilities that focused on combat, because I never felt the need to. I did though, dump all my points into getting an unlimited amount of light, so I wouldn’t be caught in the dark again. There’s no wrong answer to how you want to play and Dig 2 certainly lets you play to how you like.
Though, once I was done with the PC version, I got up and headed to my Nintendo Switch for a little dig on the go. Docked and undocked, it feels exactly the same as the PC version. In fact, I’d probably recommend buying the Switch version if you can, just have the option to take it with you. It looks as good on the little screen, as it does on my monitor or TV.
SteamWorld Dig 2 is an excellent example of how to widen the focus on a previous, smaller title and not lose the core of what made it fun. It lays on the right amount of new stuff, while keeping the heart of the loop alive and kicking. While it’s not this massive leap in ideas or a complete change in game, it’s absolutely lovely to play. The only downside is, as far as I can tell, there’s no new game plus to take your fully upgraded Dot through to truly take advantage of the game’s secret challenges. Either way, with the twang in the guitar through the air, I’m off back down the mines to seek my fortune once again.
