Quick Look: Steamworld Dig 2

This game is super neat. It's definitely way more metroid-vania than the first one was with the movement abilities and barrier destroyers, but it still scratches that Motherload vibe that nothing else really does anymore.

One of the best if not the best indie game I've played this year. Just perfect in every way.

This game is super fun. I loved the first one a lot. I bought the sequel and was super glad i did. :)

This looks great, hearing that this is even better than the original Dig is really exciting.

@neau: It is such a great game for switch as well.

"Tanning Chatum"

@blackbear: Its a good game for vita and ps4 also.

Seamworld is my favorite sewing game.

This looks great, the first game was really good too. I'll wait for a sale but I look forward to playing it eventually.

MASH the movie came before the series and had a largely different cast. Donald Sutherland in the movie -> Alan Alda in the show.

Kind of like Stargate and Stargate SG-1. Kurt Russell -> Richard Dean Anderson

So, I didn't get the reference, why did Dan said that "suicide is painless" at the end of the quicklook?

Was it Dan being Dan? Was it supposed to be the end mark when editing?

@triple_3: The MASH theme song has lyrics, and they're DARK, including the chorus which features "Suicide is painless."

Watched Brad play the original and got it for the 3ds. Liked it so much that finished it in three sittings. I even have digging system for easy movement. Got the SWG2 day one and enjoying it immensely.

@SethMode: Thx dude, never watched the show but I just watch the intro song on Youtube; pretty dark stuff although incredibly chill.

Soooooo... This like Terraria? I'm very unclear. Less so about MASH but definitely about Steamworld.

This game is great! Around 15h in case anyone is wondering.

This game is snappy as hell. There are no loading times and the gameplay loop is just quick, it's such a good mobile console Game. I played it during chemotherapy the other day for a few hours and it's just a joy to play. It has very high production values and just has good feedback for all the things you do. It's the most metroid game on the switch.

@tevor_the_third: It really is nothing like Terraria other than you dig. You can dig in Boulder Dash too but that doesn't mean that these games are similar at all.

Also the music in this game is so freaking good.

Yeah this is an instant purchase for me. I got the first one on my 3DS and blew through it in one or two sittings.

This looks cool. The first game was neat but slight, so I'm definitely into the idea of a more robust sequel.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who gets fucked up by the birds. I blew my route going up so I had no way to town unless I fought past them. I died about 6 times and lost all my gems a few times until I realized I was only a minute or so away from a tube if I kept going through a cave instead of trying to get to thenjoy last tube. The game is very generous with tunes allowing you to sell ultra fast and get right back to the digging.

This is my switch goty so far ... until xenoblade2 probably but I like it more then zelda. It is nice to see progression be so important like an old school metroid. This game is a steal for 20 bucks.

This game rules, Golf Story rules, it's a great time to be playing games.

Tanning Chatum sounds like an indie band

it does seem very good. i rarely take notice of music during quick looks but every time the music changed i was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. apparently it's by a hotline miami alum. who could have guessed that post-rap instrumentals would work in a steampunk wild west digging game?

That Mash song is... incredible.

You guys are making me feel old for having seen all of Mash and Cheers, and I'm younger than you!

The town music sounds a heck of a lot like Nujabes - Spiral

"Were the Lumière brothers the first movie guys?"

"I think you're on the right track"

Choo-Choo!

I didn't play the first Dig, but I adored Heist. It's clear this is a different type of game from Heist, but I can't quite tell what the gameplay loop is supposed to be.

Okay so a thing I dont think this quick look quite gets across is that at it's core this is a Metroidvania. The loop is you dig to find 'rooms/caves' which have platform challenges & puzzles that allow you to get upgrade cogs, new abilities, objectives. But you also upgrade by getting sweet monies, you get that by mining minerals which you sell in town and (with certain upgrades) killing enemies. So you frequently go back to the surface, sell your stuff, go back down and dig more (this is the core loop that makes the game really relaxing) The combination of solving rooms and upgrading from mining allows you to access new area's and make you more resilient to tougher enemies/obstacles/traps. You also get xp from killing enemies, this increases your level, the higher the level the more money you get from selling ore.

A review summed it up excellently

'It's like Metroidvania mixed with balderdash'

The tubes act as checkpoint systems and its really quick to go in an out of mines to get upgrades so it never feels like a grind, it's just a steady flow of upgrades which makes the whole thing so damn satisfying because you constantly feel like you're making progress. Unlike other metroidvanias where you can hit a dead-end and feel like you're getting nowhere

I just finished this game on Switch (it's amazing as a portable game). It's fantastic. I loved the first Steamworld Dig game and this took that concept and made it even better. Excited to see what they think.

The developers did everything about perfect. The spacing between the the elevator tube thingies is just right. The balance of enemy strength is just enough to make them a threat but not enough that it feels unfair (you can't just run up and wail away at enemies with your pick axe, you have to be strategic or they will mess you up). Things can get pretty tricky in the last sequence of the game and it managed to keep me on my toes. They introduce new concepts throughout and it keeps the whole thing feeling fresh from start to finish.

@fezrock:

This is probably a good time to let you and others know that the first Steamworld Dig is free on Origin right now. It's pretty good!

This game is great and addictive. My only complaint is that it's too short. Which is to say that I wish I could keep playing it, not that it's bad value at all. Took me eleven hours to finish - there are a few more secrets to find but I'm not as interested since I know I have all the major upgrades.

I'm also interested in this from a game design perspective. What is it about the core loop of digging, finding resources, and coming back to town to sell them and get upgrades that's so addictive? It definitely feels like the right decision to limit the resources you can carry so that you always have to go up to town to sell them, and letting you lose some when you die. This could potentially be a bit annoying, since you can sometimes lose some progress. I think it encourages some risk v. reward strategizing in what is otherwise a very mellow, relaxing game.

I would love to see a version of this that has a bigger emphasis on combat, with Metroid-style shooting mechanics as well as digging. Then make it as big as a Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night and you've got a GOTY.

Steamworld Dig is a simple game that just did everything right. This seems to be continuing that. Digging is just really satisfying.

@sethmode: i would have never gotten that. when i heard dan say it, it struck me as a really weird thing to say

Is it me or is the town music is the 1st "Dream on" guitar rift ?

MASH wasn't particularly dark, deep or insightful, at least by today's standards. You can interpret into that theme what you want, but I can guarantee you that neither the writers nor the audience spent much time thinking about the intricacies of death.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. The show could get pretty silly at times, but it dealt with serious stuff in its own way as well.

@sethmode:

Fun fact: The song was never meant to be taken seriously, and was written by the director's 14 year old son because the guy they hired to write it couldn't write something "stupid" enough.

It's not supposed to be dark or serious, really. It's supposed to be ridiculous to the point of being dumb.

Also, the song became popular when the movie was released, and went on to earn over a million dollars when it was released on vinyl, while the director of the movie (the father of the kid who wrote the song) only got paid a few tens of thousands of dollars for directing the movie itself.

@boiter: Sometimes You Hear the Bullet was the episode that First changed M.A.S.H soo good in a bad Way with the themet, the whole two rules of war talk is so powerfull.

I also like The Episode where Hawkeye and Trapper I Think, steals the Colonel's new desk to use it to Buy medicin I Think for a village, that end frame with the three of them looking at the desk flying away in the Horizon hanging from a helicopter is so great.

@jeffgoldblum@boiter Just to clear something up: I was super drunk when I wrote that. Drunk enough that I don't even remember watching this QL or why they mentioned MASH. I actually didn't even watch much of that show at all. XD

But I did know that fun fact about the theme song being ridiculous on purpose and written by a teenager. IIRC the composer wanted the song to include the lyrics "suicide is painless" and it to be as stupid as possible. But to be fair, those lyrics are surprisingly deep for being written by a 14-year-old.

Man, now I feel like I should watch M.A.S.H. just to have an actual position if this ever comes up again.

Probably picking this up for the Switch!

MASH the book, MASH the movie, and like, 3 different phases of MASH the show were some really different media.

The only thing that I remember from MASH is a scene about a guy who is traumatized, because he saw a woman suffocate her baby on a bus, because the G.I. tells them that they have to be quiet not to be spotted by the enemy and the baby won't stop crying.... So yeah. Fun show.

The big show of my childhood was 1988's Mission Impossible. That show was great and really informed my belief and joy of watching a team of specialists coming together and using their skills to overcome stuff, which later manifested itself in my addiction to the co-oporate aspect of MMOs. I was very disappointed in the first Tom Cruise movie, since it was just one guy who was this superhero that could do anything.

A fine CBS property, might I add.