Moving into Steamworld Dig, I knew two things. The first being that a tasty art style is not a good indicator of a game's quality, and two, that this was originally a handheld title. With these things in mind, I begin my journey into the depths of what turns out to be a charming and far more than competent Dig-Dug style, upgrade laden adventure.

When you first enter the only town in the game - which acts as the hub for your adventure - you're limited by the only tool you possess: your trusty pickaxe. In this beginning portion of the game, where your only moves are to jump and slowly break away the dirt beside and beneath your feet, this game's handheld roots seem to become apparent, as there doesn't appear to be any sort of depth to what your doing nor any real goal other than to find your long lost uncle Rusty. I was almost tempted to quit and write it off here as nothing more than a simple throwaway time waster. Luckily I didn't, as the game's (limited) depth soon bubbles it's way to the surface.

Your journey to find your uncle consists of digging deep and hard for minerals of varying value, which can be traded for currency, which in turn increases your "level" and the sorts of things that you can purchase. Finding these minerals is your primary goal in the game, as the ground gets harder the deeper you go, and your simple pickaxe won't always cut it. This is what drives the game, and caused me to play it for hours at a time: Upgrades! That feeling you get when you finally earn enough for that powerful new pickaxe or higher defense against the creepy crawlies that inhabit the underground persists throughout the duration of the game, and you'll have to do a lot of mining to earn enough for all of them. But you won't be able to stay down for hours, hoarding all of the loot you snag. You can only hold a finite amount of minerals, among other, upgradeable necessities, such as light and water, that you will need to replenish by returning to the surface. And that loot pouch fills up quickly, limiting how long you can explore at a time, and you will need upgrade it's capacity if you want to stay deeper for longer.

As you progress, you will find brand new abilities that you will constantly have to utilize if you want to survive and loot the entirety of the world beneath the surface, like a powerful drill arm and the ability to leap larger distances. You will have to use every move you earn if you want to make it to the bottom; there are no useless abilities here.

The world isn't limited to the drab and ordinary beneath that you start your journey, and soon opens up to several varying areas with far more dangerous traps and enemies, as well as more valuable loot. This is the sort of game that you need to stick with past the first hour, as prior to this point, it can seem like a boring and shallow experience. And in many ways, it is very limited by it's handheld origins. A full PC/Console sequel could very easily rectify any complaints I have, the greatest being the limited use of the minerals you find. For a game whose loot can so easily be associated with that of games like Terraria, Starbound or Minecraft, it feels like a massive waste of an opportunity to not utilize the minerals you find in the same way. Finding that last piece raritanium needed to craft the Quantum Drill Head is infinitely more exciting than just finding a gem that sells for the last few coins that you needed to just buy the thing. Especially given that the characters are all robots, it's a shame that there isn't any sort of customizable upgrade system in place, augmented by rare materials you can seek out.

As simple as the experience is, it never gets boring. As you progress downwards, there is always a new ability to be discovered, hidden gem caches to dig up, and upgrades to buy. The game scratches that very special itch to find every last hidden object, and can make playtime range anywhere from 3-10 hours, depending on just how much you really need that final upgrade.

As it is, Steamworld Dig is a fantastic time waster for the loot junkie needing a break from their poison of choice, even if the game does little more than scratch that itch for several hours. The potential for something far greater is there, and I truly do hope for a sequel that capitalizes on crafting systems already implemented in other similar titles. As a solid first entry, with a very real opportunity to make a fantastic sequel, I can only hope that the developers are already hard at work designing the next entry in the Steamworld series.

So, on the Surface, this game seems like a Dig Dug clone (modernized of course), but when you Dig a bit further, you realize the game has a lot of Depth to it. :)
Seriously though, the developers obviously loved Dig Dug, but had the tools, resources, and drive to make an excellent moder game with RPG elements via equipment upgrades, a bit of a story which is somewhat resolved at the end (but still leaves room for a sequel that I understand is in the works), great looking setting, cool as heck music (kind of spaghetti western, Borderlands-ish), a nifty protagonist, and a lot of addictive gameplay.
As simple as the game is, it really does offer a lot of depth. I wandered quite a bit and played for a bit more than 10 hours before encountering and defeating the main boss (actually the only boss fight really).

This game was easily worth the price of admission. I highly recommend it. A great break from the uber serious titles out there. Good, light hearted fun.

At first, I didn't expect the game to be this fun; I was wrong.

My first impression of the game was the art style, quite unique on its own. And after I decided to buy it and played through, it was getting more and more addictive. You will dig, dig, dig and find many precious things, then you will turn them into money, now you will take your money to buy stuff so you can dig, dig, dig better and faster.

The adaptation of your playthrough, where you try to upgrade yourself (level-up and upgrade weapon/armor), is very well done. The gameplay's design is architechtural well built. The monsters get smarter and harder to kill, while you get stronger along the way. And it's all up to how you improve your character.

It's that simple, but so much fun.

When I first stumbled upon Steam World Dig on a daily deal, I didn’t expect too much. It was cheap, it looked decent from the videos. It promised platforming action, the oh so popular buzzword “Metroidvania” and more. Once I got into it, I found that this game is a solid mix of all of those elements, all without trying too hard or being taking itself too serious. That is to say, you’re not going to find yourself faced with any near impossible puzzles or jumps; just lots of exploring, discovering things and some light hearted puzzles.

Don’t go in expecting Spelunky. Don’t go in expecting Terraria, Mario or any other number of games that “Metroidvania” makes you think of. Go in expecting a good way to blow twenty minutes at time, driven on with that carrot of digging your way to the next ‘level’. Steam World Dig does a good job of blending all of these game elements together to give you a game that feels familiar without being a carbon copy of those that came before it. Go in expecting that, you’ll have a good time.

The game’s got a good sense of humor too, which is nice. While something such as Spelunky or Battleblock Theater is great for short bursts of game play in between the interruptions of your real world life, Steam World will fill that gap nicely without the stress and anxiety!
Just relax, it’ll be okay!

I like to dig. This has digging in it.

Deceptively simple but great fun to play and addictive as hell. My only real issue is that it's over a little too quickly, between 6-10 hours depending on how much you explore. It's got pretty good replay value too and I don't think you'll find too many other games as good as this in this price range. Definitely worth picking up!