Steamworld Dig 2 Review – A Naturally Progressing Sequel

<p><em>Steamworld Dig<&sol;em> was a breath of fresh air when I played it back in 2013&period; The unique Steampunk design of the world and the interesting concept of digging to explore underground and unlock upgrades really captured my attention&period; I wasn’t as much of a fan of <em>Steamworld Heist<&sol;em>&comma; a different genre set in the same world&semi; but a highly awaited &lpar;by me at least&rpar; sequel to <em>Steamworld Dig<&sol;em> has arrived&period; <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> builds upon what players loved about the original while adding new mechanics&comma; a new story&comma; and a new protagonist&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Just like the original game&comma; <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> begins with a lone steamboat arriving in an old mining town&period; This town is plagued by strange earthquakes&comma; and it is up to the new arrival to figure out what is going on beneath the city&period; The interesting twist is that you play as Dorothy&comma; an ally to Rusty in the original game&period; Her objective &lpar;aside from figuring out the source of the earthquakes&rpar; is to figure out what happened to Rusty&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130283" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130283" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130283" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;05182457&sol;SteamWorld-Dig-2-Screenshot-11-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130283" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Steamworld Dig 2&comma; Image and Form Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> has an Easy and a Normal Difficulty&period; These difficulties differ in terms of combat difficulty and a few other&comma; minor details that mainly affect how more casual players will enjoy the game&period; Like Rusty before her&comma; Dorothy is armed with a trusty pickaxe and must mine resources from the environment to purchase upgrades&period; Unlike the original&comma; <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> puts a bit more emphasis on platforming and progression&comma; providing Dorothy with more mobility to wall jump&comma; run&comma; use her hook shot &lpar;which you unlock along the way&rpar; and many other upgrades to find secrets and ancient artifacts in the mines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mining in <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> has a number of factors to it&period; You have your objective to reach&comma; as well as secret areas to find&comma; and platforming sections to traverse&period; However&comma; you have a limited period of time to be down in the mines&comma; as you need light in order to navigate&period; Additionally&comma; you have limited bag space &lpar;that slowly can be expanded over the course of the game&rpar; so you will have to frequently return to the surface to refill your light meter and sell off your loot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130284" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130284" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130284" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;05182607&sol;SteamWorld-Dig-2-Screenshot-2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130284" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Steamworld Dig 2&comma; Image and Form Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>After you sell off your loot&comma; you can then use your gold to buy upgrades&period; If you find ancient artifacts while you are exploring&comma; you can also show them to a collector&comma; who will give you blueprints for Cog Mods&period; Cog Mods are interchangeable upgrades that cost Upgrade Cogs which you can find hidden through the world&period; They change the way your equipment operates&comma; from making you lose fewer resources when you die&comma; to making your lamp shine in a wider radius&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Certain Cog Mods provide new mechanics&comma; such as the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Portal of Pardon” which serves as a town portal of sorts as long as you have it equipped&period; You can return back to town and head back to empty your bags&comma; without having to be near a tube &lpar;which functions as a fast travel point&period;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another interesting aspect of <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em>&comma; is that you no longer are limited to exploration vertically&period; There are special temples and places to explore on the surface as well&period; Over the course of <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em>&comma; you will visit places in the overworld and beneath the surface multiple times&comma; as the game is considered a Metroidvania&comma; and you will unlock abilities that allow you to reach previously inaccessible areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;130286" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-130286" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-130286" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;05182648&sol;SteamWorld-Dig-2-Screenshot-3-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-130286" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Steamworld Dig 2&comma; Image and Form Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The final aspect of Steamworld Dig 2’s progression&comma; involves XP&period; Through completing quest objectives and killing enemies&comma; you can acquire XP&period; Get enough XP and you will level up&comma; providing a bonus to your sale price on minerals&comma; and unlocking new upgrades for sale&period; The bonus to your sale price increases with your level&comma; so leveling up quickly is important if you want to get the most out of your loot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Honestly&comma; I do not have any real issues with <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em>&period; The game runs perfectly&comma; the world is well crafted&comma; with an interesting storyline that turns the events of the first game on its head&period; Aside from the standard issues with action platformers&comma; like unavoidable damage&comma; <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> is a brilliant showcase of the natural progression that began with the original game&period; No game is perfect&comma; but <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em> is as close as i&&num;8217&semi;ve seen in games of its kind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you enjoyed the original <em>Steamworld Dig<&sol;em>&comma; the sequel is a must-buy&period; If you haven’t played the first game&comma; you may not quite understand the events preceding <em>Steamworld Dig 2<&sol;em>&comma; but it is still a greatly polished Platforming Metroidvania&comma; with unique digging and loot mechanics that you won’t find anywhere else&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PC Review Copy of Steamworld Dig 2 was provided by Image and Form Games for the purpose of this Review&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;