By Herobyclicking
I felt naked without a duster, hat and cigarello as the title screen flashed and the theme music haunted my ears. SteamWorld Dig has all the trappings of the spaghetti western, neatly, if not oddly, framed in a post-apocalyptic, robo-steam driven future. Though developers Image & Form are located in Sweden, the American Western is no stranger. “I think it started with western movies and TV series like Bonanza,” says Brjann Sigurgeirsson, CEO of Image & Form. “We played the games as kids, it was always Cowboys vs. Indians. If you are open to American culture than the American heroes are going to get to you.”
The hero in SteamWorld Dig, Rusty is as stoic as they come. “Its no coincidence that Rusty is so Clint Eastwoodesque. He doesn't talk he just delivers,” Sigurgeirsson states. Reluctantly following his uncle’s wishes, Rusty heads to the ramshackled town named Tumbleton. You then recover your uncle’s mine and dig to get to the bottom of its mysteries. I wanted to dive into to the bottom of this mine, to collect all of the minerals and ore. Try as I might however, I had to come back to the surface to constantly sell off loot or to recharge my lantern. Without light I couldn’t see what the hell I was cracking with my pick, without empty pouches I couldn’t fill them with lovely shinies. The upgrades and new items come perfectly paced, pushing you into the next depth and encouraging exploration of previous levels. The areas to explore start to expand and spread. Thankfully you can manage this with careful placement of teleport pads purchased with resources found in the mines depths. This rinse and repeat process that typically becomes tedious in most games is exonerated and made enjoyable in Dig.
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SteamWorld Dig was originally developed for the Nintendo 3DS at a time that the platform’s future was uncertain. Image & Form’s success was all about timing. Animal Crossing: New Leaf had just come to the 3DS and quenched the game drought on the floundering platform. The future of the 3DS was insured. “Animal Crossing: New Leaf sealed it. People weren't in the mood to play a new game. We were delayed in development and were lucky in that way because just we it in August last year, interest in Animal Crossing was starting to die down,” Sigurgeirsson recalls, “If the timing had been different, if we had released one or two months earlier I think maybe SteamWorld Dig would not have been the success that it was.” Image & Form was able to knock Animal Crossing down from the number one position on the eShop all over the world. A position it had held for months.
That success did no just magically happen. “We were begging them to do a bit of marketing or PR. This discussion of indie friendliness had just begun. It seems like this is ages ago, but really it was just over a year. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all tackled it in the same way. They became more open to indie developers or small developers. So we saw our chance and we asked them [Nintendo] can't you use our game as your indie friendliness experiment?” An experiment that worked remarkably well. SteamWorld Dig was featured on Nintendo Direct, something that was unheard of for an indie title. “I guess some of that begging paid off,” laughs Sigurgeirsson.
SteamWorld Dig bores down into you. It left me wanting more though I was satiated. The game definitely alludes to sequels and they are definitely being planned. But not at first. “When we made SteamWorld Dig, we thought if it is a hit then we will immediately make a sequel straightaway. When we were about to start that we thought ‘isn’t that very obvious?’ Aren’t people going to say, can’t this little shitty studio come up with something else?” Sigurgeirsson laughs. “Let’s do a prequel,” Sigurgeirsson recalls, “We started on a great prequel which we took to a vertical slice. Then we thought this is good, but isn’t it small? But then Valve got in touch with us and asked to do a Steam version that was really welcome at the time. We could take a break and make the HD version of SteamWorld Dig.”
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Since the release of SteamWorld Dig on the Nintendo 3DS it has appeared as a “no-brainer” HD version on Steam. It also arrived on the PS Vita and Playstation 4 in March of 2014. Recently it was announced that it will end its victory lap on the Wii U. I was surprised that this game was not already on the system. It seemed like such a good match. “It will be fresh for the Nintendo community and vastly improved when it is released,” Sigurgeirsson agrees. He speaks warmly about the Wii U, a rare occurrence. “It may sound strange to say that we have been looking forward to developing for the Wii U. When it came out we were very taken by it. I think there is a lot to explore with game pad. In many ways it is the most versatile console out there. We are about to explore and come up with a lot of interesting things,” states Sigurgeirsson. Though frustration with the Wii U is not misplaced. “When are they [Nintendo] going to deliver that magic message that is going to affect the masses?” Sigurgeirsson asked. “The console is a lot better than its reputation.”
SteamWorld Dig wastes no time in getting you hooked on digging. You can't just dig a little. You dig a lot. Then more. Your mind traces paths down into the very bottoms of the mine, mapping out forgotten tunnels and resources along the way. Rusty’s calm quiet, the charm of Tumbleton and the mysteries of the mine wrap-up SteamWorld Dig perfectly. It has been refreshing to become thoroughly obsessed with a game that is so unassuming. Excuse me while I go and dig. Dig. Dig. Dig.
SteamWorld Dig is available on Nintendo 3DS, Steam, Playstation 4 and PS Vita. It is coming soon to Wii U.
Day 25 | Image & Form
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
the character looks awesome and badass !!
a robot wearing a duster .. i think that is the coolest thing in the history of gaming :3
I'm also surprised this wasn't on wii u first, seems like a match made in heaven. Glad people will experience it soon
I got this game cuz I liked the HDish sprites and figured it'd be fun enough for the low price. It isn't the longest game, but there's tons of upgrades and you can dig down pretty deep.
If im not lucky enough to win this one its definitely getting purchased this weekend for the vita! Games like this can keep you occupied from minutes to hours! Exactly what you need in a portable.
would love it on psn/vita