SteamWorld Dig Reviews
Ultimately, even getting on in years a bit, Steamworld Dig still works very well and is almost immediately as addictive as it ever was once you get the ball rolling. The “just one more run” feeling doesn’t have quite as strong a drive as with its sequel, where there are far more things you’re hoping to unlock, but it is still a highly satisfying experience that is well-implemented. Ultimately priced as a budget title it offers a great time for a reasonable investment.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Steamworld Dig. It isn't the best indie game I have played and it certainly doesn't stand up to its successor. However, it is a fun little game which will appeal to fans of the old West genre, it's open-ended exploration makes it enjoyable to wander around in, and it's randomly generated levels will provide players who wish to play it multiple times a varied experience each play through. The game suffers through its flaws by having an uninspired combat system and from a slow and boring start, but it comes together well after you start unlocking Rusty's abilities and the fast travel pods. In the end, I will give it a respectable 7/10.
SteamWorld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt is still a great game, but it is undoubtedly a more compact game than what’s come after this game’s original release. SteamWorld Dig offers little exploration for curiosity as it is usually out of necessity to gather as much ore as you can find to sell for cash to then buy upgrades to make Rusty more effective. If nothing else, SteamWorld Dig serves as a reminder at how much Image & Form learned from this game when making SteamWorld Dig 2 – but thankfully there’s so much more to this game to appreciate. Whether you’ve played this before or not, Image & Form make beautiful looking, sounding, and playing games that deserve to have a place in your library.
SteamWorld Dig’s biggest problem is that it follows in the footsteps of its bigger, better sequel – a game that has only been on the eShop for a few months now. Still, the core of what makes SteamWorld Dig so much fun as a series still shines bright enough in the original despite its scuffs and scratches.
SteamWorld Dig is an enjoyable platform game when it comes to digging. Players will enjoy getting upgrades and unlocking abilities, even though backtracking can be tedious and Rusty’s jumping can be cumbersome. The game is well worth your time to explore, especially on the go.
At just a day’s worth of entertainment, SteamWorld Dig feels light. Yet, that time will be spent in glee, as its spaced out gameplay elements drive the action down into the digging depths, searching and uncovering more and more, to play in more varied ways.