SteamWorld Dig And Its Sequel Are A Steal Right Now On Steam
Dig deep in two great Metroidvanias.
It’s hard to stand out as a Metroidvania. The genre is already full of so many great games, with new releases following a similar formula constantly being released on every platform. Two of the best Metroidvanias ever manage to set themselves apart with a novel shift of setting, and to make them even more attention-grabbing, you can get them both for next to nothing on Steam if you act fast.
SteamWorld Dig features all the genre staples you’d expect from a Metroidvania game — sidescrolling combat, tricky platforming, and exploration based on unlocking upgrades as you progress. The difference is that rather than being set in some sprawling wilderness, it takes place entirely underground, forcing you to dig your way through the environment. And until June 26, it’s free to claim on Steam, with SteamWorld Dig 2 on sale for just over a dollar.
The SteamWorld Dig games are two of the most inventive platformers around.
Originally released on Nintendo 3DS, SteamWorld Dig is set in a world of frontier towns and steam-powered robots. On the hunt for treasure, you head into the depths below a mining town to discover an entire subterranean society of abandoned settlements and the dens of creatures who make their homes there now. Each time you delve into the underground world, the mines are randomly generated, giving SteamWorld Dig the kind of unpredictable pace of a roguelike game, but without having to lose all of your progress between runs.
Also like a roguelike, SteamWorld Dig is often a game about pushing your luck. You start with nothing more than a pickaxe to your name, before later earning more powerful tools that will let you dig faster, survive longer, and get past greater hazards in the depths. The goal on each trip underground is to try to make your way deeper where you can discover more of the secrets hidden beneath your humble town and find more valuable ores to bring back with you and trade for upgrades.
SteamWorld Dig may have started as a Nintendo 3DS game but it still feels fresh.
As you dig deeper, you’re in constant danger of not just being smacked around by enemies, but of running out of light and getting lost underground or needing water to power your tools. Since you’re digging your own paths, it’s entirely possible to leave yourself with no way home, forcing you to self-destruct and pay for repairs back in town. Even if you avoid that fate, one wrong move can end with you turned to scrap at the bottom of the mine instead of emerging victorious back on the surface. Deciding when to tough it out and when to cut your losses and head home adds a nice risk-reward calculation to every step you take.
All of that is just as true of SteamWorld Dig 2. It maintains the steampunk western vibes of the original, along with the same basic loop of digging for treasure and hoping you can get back home with it, with some key differences. Unlike the first game, environments in SteamWorld Dig 2 are handmade, rather than procedurally generated, meaning they’re full of more intentional and difficult challenges. The layout of mines is more interesting, forcing you to make full use of your upgrades, of which there are many more this time around, from explosives that let you open up new paths to a grappling hook that lets you zip through the caverns. SteamWorld Dig 2 feels a bit more like a traditional Metroidvania in that way, with a steadier rhythm of unlocks and upgrades, while retaining the charm of digging your own way through its world.
SteamWorld Dig 2 builds on everything that made the original game great.
SteamWorld Dig 2 likewise leans a little more into the roguelike side. As you play, you unlock perks that can make you better at healing, grant you more money for defeating enemies, or improve your abilities, letting you customize your character for each trip downward as you would by picking up modifiers in a roguelike.
Both SteamWorld Dig games feel like slightly different riffs on the same great premise, and they’re both well worth your time. If you’ve yet to try either of them, grabbing them at an all-time low price is a great idea — and even if you miss that window, they’re some of the most original Metroidvanias around.
