Fridg3
CAG Veteran
Developer: Image & Form
Publisher: Image & Form
Rrp: £6.99 (Steam), £6.99 (Humblebundle) and £7.99 (Gog.com)
Released: 5th December 2013
Available on Steam, Humblebundle and Gog.com
Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad
The ferocious heat of the sun bakes the desert sand, but down in the tunnels, hidden away from the blazing sun lie treasures aplenty. For those with the wherewithal to get them these treasures could change their life, or take it if they aren't careful.
Steamworld Dig is a 2D platformer with a little metroidvania thrown in. As the name of the game implies the world is entirely populated with steambots (a robot that runs on steam). The particular steambot you play as is named Rusty and he's just entered the town of Tumbleton at his Uncle Joes behest to explore his mine.
In Tumbleton you'll find everything you need to explore a mine, a Trading Post where you can turn in resources and get some cash, somewhere to spend your cash and upgrade your gear and finally a Saloon.
When you bring resources to Dorothy (the steambot who runs the Trading Post) they get converted into cash to spend at the upgrade shop. The act of handing in resources also fills a progress bar, each time it becomes full a new upgrade becomes available to purchase.
Cash isn't the only currency to be used in the game although it is the most widely used. The other currency is known as Orbs, these orbs can only be found hidden away in the mine and are more rare than most of the other resources. These Orbs are needed to buy the higher end upgrades.
Later upgrades require water to work, which is expected given the steam part of the games name. Waters a limited resource, sort of, its limited in so far that it disappears until you reenter the mine then all the water sources are refilled.
You aren't alone in those tunnels and you'll often have to fight. Good thing your pickax isn't just for mining. The deeper in the mine you go the more valuable the resources you find are of course to go with this the difficulty of the enemies and getting to them goes up as well.
If you die Rusty is rebuilt on the surface for a fee and should you run out of cash that fee is waived. Any loot that you had is dropped where you died for you to collect. There are some times when you aren't simply rebuilt and plonked on the surface but those only occur when you enter a room and in that case you'll just start that room again as you were when you first entered.
One thing that's useful when mining in a dark hole is light, thankfully you come equipped with a lantern. Unfortunately that particular light source doesn't last forever. You can find fuel for it in the depths and sometimes an enemy will drop fuel when it killed, but the most reliable way to refill your lantern is to return to the surface. You could try to strive on without light but you'd quickly find that tiresome as you won't be able to see what you're doing.
For the price this game is decent enough, its short, lasting about six hours or so, and only really bares one playthrough (unless you're one of those achievement hunters) so your milage may vary there. I, for one, enjoyed it.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
Dust: An Elysian Tail
The Swapper
The Fall