The SteamWorld series has never returned to an idea it’s had previously. The universally excellent SteamWorld Tower Defense, SteamWorld Dig and SteamWorld Heist have each cast off the last game’s genre like newly obsolete limbs, as developer Image & Form seemingly gets bored and embarks on something new within its pleasantly hokey steampunk robot universe.
Enter SteamWorld Dig 2, announced as a Nintendo Switch exclusive - for now - and coming this summer (honestly - Image & Form CEO, Brjann Sigurgeirsson insists that Heist’s multiple release estimates have taught the studio to be more conservative with time-keeping). Why come back at all?
“Although it was very well received,” explains Sigurgeirsson, “we knew there was more to SteamWorld Dig than we managed back in 2013. Ironically, it was a bit frustrating to see all those great reviews when we'd had so much more planned for it initially. So I think we knew we'd revisit the Dig era rather sooner than later.”
Dig 2 reintroduces us to Dorothy, promoted from the original’s merchant to playable heroine. Set just after the original Dig, Dorothy has given up on finding ex-hero Rusty (you’ll know why he’s gone missing if you’ve finished the first game) and moved to the town of El Machino, where something spurs her to head underground once more.
The most common complaint about Dig tended to be that there wasn’t enough of it, its mining-driven action-platforming lasting through only three worlds and - at a push - 8 hours. The sequel’s design brief seems to be pretty simple: make the same kind of game, but much, much bigger.
Sigurgeirsson won’t be drawn on specifics (perhaps understandably, given the series’ strength has always been taking players by surprise, and surfing on word-of-mouth success), but what he does promise is, well, promising.
Swapping the original’s single shifting mineshaft for a full non-linear (under)world, Dig 2 should feel like a more traditional Metroidvania, using the first game’s gently ballooning inventory of items and skills as more like puzzle pieces than simple keys to the next area. As Sigurgeirsson puts it, “in Dig, the only way was down. With Dig 2 you'll be spending more time exploring and figuring stuff out.”
But you might be forgiven for wondering how much has actually changed playing the game’s first demo. Set in a Spelunky-esque temple environment, it’s quite clearly a tutorial dungeon, gently introducing you to new heroine Dorothy’s digging, wall-jumping, boss-killing and upgrades through a twisting course of tunnels.
Barring a fresh, more organic look - as much a result of the growing Image & Form team’s familiarity with the series as it is the more powerful hardware Dig 2’s got behind it - it feels extremely familiar. That’s almost certainly the point - Dig inherently felt good to play, chunky and reactive, but with room for experimentation. Dig 2 immediately recalls why a lot of us sent original hero, Rusty mining multiple times.
It also embodies Dig 2’s biggest change from its predecessor. Where the original’s mineshaft was procedurally generated (with dungeons along the way getting full level design treatment), Dig 2 will be entirely handcrafted.
“It's one of the ways Image & Form has improved over the past four years,” says Sigurgeirsson, “we now have resident level designers, and we've spent thousands of hours on the level design of the game. Not only does that mean that we can make the game as interesting as possible, there are other benefits as well. We don't have to program around possibly dead-end scenarios as we did for Dig.”
Speedrunning was a major part of Dig’s appeal for its community, and a fully hand-designed game is also part of the developer’s aim to make the sequel fairer to those looking to rush through the sequel’s new, wide world.
What we’ll end up seeing beyond that temple environment isn’t clear - Sigurgeirsson’s response is a tactful, “the rest of the game - and that's a promise!” - but the satisfaction of being back in a cowbot miner’s shoes coupled with Image & Form’s propensity for surprise leaves us very excited to break of those tunnel walls this summer.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he's rarely been as excited for more manual labour. Follow him on Twitter.
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