As a huge fan of “metroidvania” games when I first heard of SteamWorld Dig many years ago, I got curious. But then I saw that it focused on mining and my interest instantly evaporated. And even when SteamWorld Dig 2 got released several years later to extremely positive reviews, I continued ignoring the series. It wasn’t until very recently when I accidentally stumbled upon a playthrough of the game that I realized my initial thoughts about the gameplay were wrong and that I might enjoy the games. I love when lucky accidents happen.
Both SteamWorld Dig 1 and 2 work as 2D action adventure platformers with an interconnected world and heavy focus on exploration, so yes, they are very much “metroidvania” games. You get new abilities that help with both combat and exploration, you unlock new routes through the world, you even get a few boss encounters even though the games are not emphasizing their combat element most of the time. What they are emphasizing is the titular ability to dig. And it’s amazing how something that conceptually simple can be so fun and fit the metroidvania so well.
The concept is pretty simple – most of the game world is build with breakable blocks. Some of those blocks have gems in them that you gather and sell at the surface. Most are empty and you break them to open the path forward, finding the safest route, planning around enemies and hazards (with some classic DigDug/Boulder Dash/Supaplex ideas and some fresh ones), making sure that you can easily go back up again using your movement abilities. You can always wall-jump, which helps, but you get increasingly more efficient ways to move around and explore with both the money you get from selling the gems and the special upgrade machines you find in the game world.
It’s all really simple, but it leads to a genuinely fun loop of exploring a bit, bringing back the loot, upgrading your tools and going back to explore, now more powerful than before. And most amazingly, it also adds to the player choice in how they wish to play the game – you can, if you wish, skip most of the mining, focus just on pushing forward and try to complete the game as soon as possible. It will be harder, but it’s still possible. Or, if you’re like me, and you’re trying to find every secret and explore everything, you’ll have enough reasons to do so and will have fun doing it.
The original SteamWorld Dig focuses almost exclusively on its core ideas. The exploration is mostly about just going down, with the world clearly divided into several “zones”, though in all of them you just dig down. The progression is also very simple: find a cave with an upgrade, hit a wall (literally) that you can’t break, upgrade a bit, proceed further until you’re done. You get rather predictable tools, the combat isn’t particularly good (but enemies don’t usually respawn), and if you die, you lose your things at the spot where you died and can get back to get them upon respawning.
The game also has a lot of curious one-use items concepts. The world has a few tubes and teleporters that can get you back to the surface so instead you’re given an option to buy teleporters that you can place practically anywhere in the game world. You can also buy ladders and lanterns, and even though the game has some tough to get out of moments and the light runs out rather quickly even with the best upgrades to the lamp, I never ever used these two items. What’s really good about SteamWorld Dig as well is that it’s about 5-6 hours long and it lasts the exact amount of time you’d want it to. It’s fun, it’s engaging and it’s over before you’re even considering getting bored. A really great game, even if it is overshadowed by its sequel.
SteamWorld Dig 2 is an amazing example of a sequel, however. It takes everything that the original title had, takes a close look at it and considers how to make it better. And then makes it all actually better. And adapts/changes the gameplay subtly in every instance where something was changed. It looks better with genuinely great looking locations. The soundtrack to the original was good, the soundtrack to the sequel is fantastic (though there are spots where it’s pleasantly reminiscent to the music in Knytt Underground and Environmental Station Alpha). The movement is fantastic and by the end of the game you get some of the most freeing and fun ways to move around I’ve ever experienced in a platformer. Even the combat has been improved and because of that the game now levels you up based on the XP you get from killing the (now respawning) enemies.
And how the world is expanded is just pure brilliance. It’s the exact same concepts as in the original, with some new ideas here and there, but simply expanded in ways that make it feel far more varied, far more nuanced than before. The story is, shockingly, really good. The way you progress is far more interesting. The map is no longer just vertical too, while the “challenge caves” are always the perfect balance of hard and fun (except for the optional secret end-game challenge, that’s a big nope). All of the one-use items from the original were removed and the game simply gives you more quick travel points, and you can jump between all of them, instead of just a one-way thing like in the original. You do lose your things permanently this time around if you die, but the game is so well balanced around that – it’s barely an issue. It also lasts about twice as long as the first title, yet I can’t say that I even noticed that it was longer simply because of how well paced and designed the game is. SteamWorld Dig 2 is easily one of the best examples of a sequel and is one of the best metroidvania games I’ve ever played.
Both SteamWorld Dig 1 and 2 are great games. I’m glad that I’ve decided to give them a go and even though the sequel is just plain better in every way, the original game is still worth playing. It’s also a very rare example of a game where the sequel feels extremely natural in terms of the story, with lots of elements from the sequel hinted upon in the first game and the sequel picking up almost exactly right after the ending of the original. I would highly recommend playing both games or, failing that, at least most definitely play the sequel.