''SteamWorld Dig'' is a

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

created by Swedish video game developer

Image & Form Image & Form International AB was a Swedish video game developer based in Gothenburg. The company was founded by Brjánn Sigurgeirsson in 1997 and formed the Thunderful group with Zoink in 2017. In 2020, Image & Form was integrated into Thunder ...

. The second installment in the ''

SteamWorld ''SteamWorld'' is a series of video games depicting the adventures of a race of steam-driven robots in a post-apocalyptic steampunk world. The games are developed and published by Swedish video game developer Image & Form Image & Form Internat ...

'' series and the sequel to '' SteamWorld Tower Defense'', ''SteamWorld Dig'' has the player control Rusty, a steam-powered robot who arrives at a small

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

mining town called Tumbleton after having received a deed for a mine from his long-forgotten uncle, Joe. The objective of the game is to dig through Tumbleton's mine, which also involves solving puzzles and platforming to avoid traps and enemies. ''SteamWorld Dig'' was initially released on the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

in Europe and Australia on 7 August 2013, North America on 8 August 2013, and Japan on 20 November 2013. Later, ''SteamWorld Dig'' was released on 5 December 2013 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, Mac, and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, on 18 March 2014 in North America and on 19 March 2014 in Europe for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

, on 28 August 2014 for

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

, on 5 June 2015 for

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and on 1 February 2018 for

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

. A successor, ''

SteamWorld Heist ''SteamWorld Heist'' is a 2D turn-based tactics shooter developed by Swedish video game developer Image & Form. The third installment of the '' SteamWorld'' series and the sequel to ''SteamWorld Dig'', ''SteamWorld Heist'' has the player control ...

'', was released in December 2015. A sequel, ''

SteamWorld Dig 2 ''SteamWorld Dig 2'' is a single-player 2D platform action-adventure metroidvania video game developed and published by Image & Form. It is the fourth installment in the '' SteamWorld'' series of games and the direct sequel to 2013's ''SteamWorld ...

'', was released in September 2017. It was released on Google's cloud gaming service

Stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadi ...

on 10 March 2020, and on Amazon's cloud gaming service

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Romania * ...

on 20 October 2020.

Gameplay

''SteamWorld Dig'' is a 2D

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

that revolves around mining for resources and

ores Ore is natural Rock (geology), rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Ret ...

. The objective of the game is to investigate the mines underneath the old

town Tumbleton in order to unearth the secrets lurking below. The player controls Rusty, a steam-powered robot who is equipped with a pickaxe, but can gain access to a variety of tools, such as a drill and dynamite. The player can upgrade the tools used for digging as progression is made in the game. Besides health, the player also needs coal for light, and water for special abilities. ''SteamWorld Dig'' has platform elements in that the player runs, jumps and encounters foes, but the main objective is

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

. That means that the player builds – or rather deconstructs – the game world and creates platforms that way. The player collects ores and resources which can be brought back to the surface and exchanged for cash. When the player progresses in the game, new abilities are unlocked. Each playthrough, the mines are randomized, making items and treasure appear in different locations. If the player gets stuck there is a self-destruct function, but the players can also buy ladders in the store at the surface to get out of tricky situations. When progressing deeper down in the cave, the player encounters various enemies with different attack patterns and weak spots. The game features multiple subterranean worlds, each with a completely different environment. Dying results in a reparation penalty fee, and the player respawns back on the surface. All the loot that has been accumulated when the player dies can be picked up again.

Reception

''SteamWorld Dig'' has received favorable reviews, with the

and Windows versions receiving scores of 82/100 and 76/100 respectively on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...

'' gave it a 10 out of 10 saying "''SteamWorld Dig'' is an utterly phenomenal video game, with layer upon layer of remarkable gameplay to be found."

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

liked its core gameplay mechanics and engrossing atmosphere and gave it a 9.5 out 10. ''Nintendo World Report'' gave it a 9 out of 10 saying that "''SteamWorld Dig'' is a fresh game for the Nintendo eShop and one of the best digital games available on Nintendo's 3D handheld." ''Infendo'' gave it 4 stars out of 5, calling it "highly addicting." ''SteamWorld Dig'' was nominated for IGN's Black Beta Select Awards 2013 in the categories "Best Original Game", "Best Indie Game", "Best Handheld/Mobile Game" and "Overall Game of the Year", while

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

's Christian Nutt picked it as one of the top 5 games of 2013. On ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'', ''SteamWorld Dig'' was nominated for Readers' Top 50 Games.

Legacy

After the release of the game, Image & Form started development on a game in the same universe as ''SteamWorld Dig'', but not a direct sequel nor a game in the same genre. This game would later be revealed as ''

'', which first released on Nintendo 3DS in December 2015. In February 2017, Image & Form revealed ''

'' for the

. This game is a direct sequel to ''SteamWorld Dig'' and retains its core gameplay, but now features Dorothy, one of Tumbleton's residents, as the main character instead of Rusty. Rusty will be appearing as a playable cameo character in the upcoming PC game ''

Hex Heroes ''Hex Heroes'' is an unreleased party, real-time strategy game. Originally in development for Wii U since 2014, the console's eShop closed in March 2023. The game remains unfinished, with plans to release on Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. It ...

''.

References

External links

Official ''SteamWorld Dig'' website

Developers website
{{SteamWorld 2013 video games Action-adventure games Indie video games Linux games Metroidvania games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo Switch games MacOS games Platform games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Single-player video games Steampunk video games Video games developed in Sweden Video games set on fictional planets Wii U eShop games Windows games Xbox One games Video games using procedural generation SteamWorld Stadia games Video games about robots