SteamWorld Dig 2 is a Metroidvania that sees you play as a little Steambot searching for their friend Rusty, who’s gone missing. As suspected, he’s buried somewhere underground, so it’s up to you to get digging and figure out where on earth (in earth, ha) he’s gone.
I’m not the biggest Metroidvania-liker, probably because I’m not very good at all the backtracking necessary to progress in these sorts of games, but SteamWorld Dig 2 is different. Objectives boil down to “dig down to this spot”, and I really appreciate the simplicity. I’m not going in circles walking through endless doorways, but just clinking my pickaxe against rocks towards a big X below me.
It’s the stuff you get from bashing all these rocks that really gets me all hot and sooty, though. You collect lots of ore and azurite and cellulite or whatever, and you pop back up to your home hub and cash it all in for gold. Gold which you spend on upgrading your mining skills, your backpack space, the light given off by your lantern, and plenty more things I won’t spoil. It makes SteamWorld Dig 2 a really rewarding experience, no matter if you’ve dipped in for a quick mine, or a lengthy sesh down in the dirt.