SteamWorld Dig "A Fistful of Dirt" is a video game for 3DS, PC, Mac, Linux, PS Vita, PS4, Wii U and Xbox One, originally released in 2013 for the 3DS. It was developed by an independent developer called Image & Form. It combines elements of Spelunky, Dig Dug and Metroidvania gameplay. You play as a Steambot known as Rusty, exploring a giant mine and collecting Ores and Gems to sell.
On Feb 28th, 2017, SteamWorld Dig 2 was announced. The game would be a Nintendo Switch timed-exclusive, set to release somewhere in 2017.
Plot
The game takes place after SteamWorld Tower Defence and by this time, all the remaining Shiners (humans) have gone underground.
The story follows a Steambot called Rusty moving to a run down town called Tumbleton after receiving the deeds to his uncle's mine. He arrives to find his uncle is dead, so he takes his pickaxe to start mining and uncover the secrets of the world below...
| Spoiler warning! This section contains plot details. |
When Rusty gets to the the bottom of the final area of the mine, Vectron, he meets Voltbot (the final and only boss). He told Rusty that his uncle gave up his life willingly to Voltbot and that he had placed upgrades around the mine for Rusty to get so that they could work together. Rusty fought Voltbot and won, but the ceiling caved in on them causing Rusty to be deemed missing in action. In the credits, Rusty is shown to be in the desert with blue eyes, showing he survived but perhaps became part Voltbot himself.
Gameplay
The gameplay consists of digging through dirt to obtain materials which you can use to sell for money. With money, you can purchase weapon, armour or utility upgrades, and items which help you to dig further down. There are three different areas of the mine that are found in this order: Archae, Old World and Vectron. In the 3 different areas you can find 3 caves, all of which contain an upgrade or weapon. At the bottom of the last mine is the finale boss. All the areas of the mine are randomly generated apart from the upgrade caves. Each of the different console versions have small differences like upgraded resolution and cross-francise cameos.
Development
The game was released on the Nintendo 3DS on 7 August 2013 in Europe and Australia, 8 August 2013 in North America and 20 November 2013 in Japan. The Steam version for PC, Mac and Linux was released on 5 December 2013. The game was then released for PS4 and PS Vita on 18 March 2014 for North America and 19 March 2014 for Europe. It was released for Wii U on 28 August 2014 in all territories and on June 5 2015 for Xbox One.
The game sold well enough for Image & Form to create a distant sequel called SteamWorld Heist which was on 10 December 2015.
Collector's Edition
On 14 November 2014, it was announced that SteamWorld Dig would receive a boxed collector's edition by IndieBox. The collector's edition included the soundtrack on CD with an unreleased track by Steam Powered Giraffe, a custom USB drive with SteamWorld Dig pre-installed, a game manual, a newsletter, a custom tin, and custom playing cards.
Reception
Steamworld Dig has received favourable reviews from critics with an 82/100 score on Metacritic. PocketGamer gave it a 10/10 saying "Steamworld Dig is an utterly phenomenal video game, with layer upon layer of remarkable gameplay to be found". IGN liked its core gameplay mechanics and engrossing atmosphere and gave a 9.5/10. Nintendo World Report gave it a 9/10 saying that "Steamworld Dig is a fresh game for the Nintendo Eshop and one of the best digital games avaliable on Nintendo's 3D handheld".
Achievements
Here is a list of achievements for the PC, Mac and Linux versions avalible through Steam. The Trophies for the PS4 and PS Vita versions are the same as the Steam achievements except there are less.
| Achievement | Requirement | PS Trophy |
|---|---|---|
| Scratching the Surface | Enter Archae. | Bronze |
| The Good | Defeat 10 Trilobites before they wake up. | N/A |
| Trash Man | Find and sell 8 Trashium ores at the same time. | N/A |
| Mythical Creatures | Enter Old World. | Bronze |
| It Goes Deeper!? | Enter Vectron. | Bronze |
| Support Your Community | Buy from all of Tumbleton's shops. | N/A |
| Assimilated | Beat the game. | Silver |
| The Bad | Defeat 10 Shiners before they wake up. | N/A |
| Rock Bottom | Reach the bottom of the world. | Bronze |
| Half Life 8 Confirmed | Find and sell 8 Uranium ores at the same time. | N/A |
| Turtle Soup, Yum! | Defeat a Turtle submerged in water. | Bronze |
| Shine On, You Crazy Round Thing | Complete the game with more than 150 Orbs collected. | Bronze |
| What's the Matter? | Find and sell 16 Dark Matter ores at the same time. | N/A |
| Two Kinds of People | Complete the game with more than 20000 gold collected. | Bronze |
| Fully Loaded | Obtain all upgrades. | Bronze |
| Dig Dug Skills | Crush 10 enemies with falling blocks. | N/A |
| The Ugly | Defeat 10 Mecha Trilobites before they wake up. | N/A |
| 99 Problems and the Box Ain't One | Destroy a Laser Box. | N/A |
| It's a secret to everybody | Find all the secret areas in the caves. | Bronze |
| A Fistful of Dirt | Dig out 15000 tiles. | N/A |
| Quicker than a tumbleweed | Complete the game in less than two hours and a half. | Bronze |
| Just Like Real Life | Complete the game without getting killed. | Bronze |
| Sequence Breaker | Destroy two generators before entering Vectron. | Bronze |
| Master Prospector | Get all four gold stars in the same playthrough. | Gold |