For newcomers it may be best to play through (or read up on) the previous entries before diving in but if you are a little impatient, Dig 2 offers an encapsulated experience that even newcomers will enjoy with very little background knowledge.Image & Form has announced that SteamWorld Dig 2, the sequel to the popular mining-based title of 2013, is coming to PC and PS4.
Bold, vibrant colours set in an almost comic book world with a soundtrack that will be stuck in your head for days after.įor fans of the Steamworld series, Dig 2 is easily the pinnacle and demonstrates how far the series has come. If you found the style of previous games in the series appealing then Dig 2 will feel very familiar. This is what makes the game so much fun though. It is not a straightforward experience that sees you going from point A to B but rather to multiple points before reaching your end goal. Steamworld Dig 2 offers a gameplay that is very similar to Metroid with a lot of backtracking due to the new items you pick up along the way. It is not game breaking but it can make some of the more fine jumps annoying to achieve. Add movement to this and you will be leaping erratically around the world. From a standing position, jumping will make you drift slightly in the direction you are facing. General movement is fine but the jump is a little tricky to get the hand of. Moving around the mines is key to completing this quest so the controls have to be spot on. Puzzles are great when they mix mental and physical skill together.
These sections will either result is a pretty quick death or a route to the prize. The brilliant feature about these is if they are stacked together you can chain mine them resulting in a quick dash across the screen as the cleared blocks begin to open new sections of the cave.
These block will have a crack in them on a specific side and they can only be mined from that spot. My favourite puzzle type is the directional blocks. The caves are essentially the puzzle element of the game and they are very creative.
Scattered throughout the mines are caves and this will contain some nice items such as cogs (that are used to enable upgrades) but they are not given to you easy.
There are plenty of pools in the mines to refill your water supply, plus many of the upgrades available give you more storage. Yes they do run out rather quickly but they offer a lot more mining power compared to the pick axe.
The only difference these items have over your pick axe is that they use water to function. You do begin the game with a standard pick axe but as you go deeper you will soon find out that these new items are key. Luckily these devices are the latter and grant you new items to use within the mines. It amused me because I walk straight into the device without a second thought, not knowing if was going to kill me or not. As explore the Metroidvania style underworld you will come across caves that have a strange device sitting in them. As you dig further and further into the mines you will be picking up resources that can be sold upon your return to the surface which in turn can be exchanged for upgrades. Just like the game before, Steamworld Dig 2 focus around the ability to mine blocks away to create a passage to your goal. As you push you way through the maze like caverns you will solving puzzles, mining resources, finding upgrades and defeating enemies. This quest drives you through multiple mines that introduce you to a diverse bunch of characters. The story follows a steam driven robot who is searching for Rusty, the protagonist from the original who has gone missing. Steamworld Dig 2 is the fourth instalment in the Steamworld series from developer Image & Form and it a direct sequel to the original Dig.