SteamWorld Dig

Perhaps the game's brief length and unfulfilling conclusion wouldn't be issues if everything else about SteamWorld Dig weren't so good. Exploration and augmentation are a lot of fun, the setting is interesting, and the resource management adds some challenge and tension. Yet the game seems to be leading to more and more awesome things, only to have these elements--the setting, the combat, the skill upgrades--end just as it they get interesting. Nevertheless, SteamWorld Dig is an entertaining underground adventure worth digging into.

The story is good, the visuals are charming and the sound is understated but evocative of the theme. Difficulty, pacing and flow are well-judged, and the game is short enough to leave you wanting more whilst leaving you satisfied that you’ve got your money’s worth. In every single area that matters, Steamworld Dig is a masterclass of game design. Although the gameplay is kept simple and it isn’t about to cause a revolution, from start to finish it is an absolute joy to play. You could say that they’ve mined a rich vein of creativity.

I admit that I felt pretty fed up with the game on a number of occasions precisely because of these shortcomings. Even so, the allure of what lay hidden beneath the surface compelled me onward. Soil gives way to a long-lost subterranean civilization, which then gives way to evidence of a world much more advanced then the one on the surface. Every hundred meters is some new surprise, some new revelation.