Simply keeping on top of the steady release of “AAA” game is challenging enough these days, with a larger market than ever before, and a massive number of devs and publishers trying to sate that demand. Unfortunately, that often means far too many good indie titles fly under the radar without the recognition they deserve. This weekly post aims to highlight some of those games we’ve got around to playing but never got around to reviewing.

Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt

This fantastic steampunk/western-flavoured 2D-platformer, from small Swedish developers Image & Form Games, initially emerged on the Nintendo 3DS, before getting several HD ports to the other consoles and PC. The premise is simple and there’s very little in the way of direct story-telling outside of the intro and outro, but the satisfying gameplay loop and charming presentation will keep you hooked. Rusty, a mining steamboat, strolls into the town of Tumbleton to discover why his uncle has sent him the deeds to his mine. After finding his uncle long dead, he sets out to explore the depths below the town and discover what mysteries lie below. You progress from simple dirt and rock caves, to the toxic ruins of the former human civilisation (all mutated into “Shiners”), and finally into the high-tech realm of Vectron to defeat the final boss.

Gameplay, at its simplest, revolves around digging through the earth, recovering ore that you can sell in town for the currency needed to upgrade your gear, while keeping an eye out for unique caves that contain devices which grant Rusty new steam-powered abilities (like a sprint, double jump, and drill-arm). There are some light survival-ish mechanics, like keeping an out for pools of water to recharge your steam tank or coal for your lamp, and you can collect any dropped ore from your corpse location if you die. Thankfully, these mechanics are rarely punishing and never impede your progress.

The game is described as having Metroidvania elements, but the skills you unlock are only ever useful for pushing farther downwards, making for a mostly linear experience (aside from one late-game task). It’s also described as having randomised levels (excluding the aforementioned caves and town), but there’s a limit to how varied you can make a stack of dirt and rock; I've never noticed any obvious differences after several playthoughs. There is combat, but it rarely evolves beyond keeping some distance from your foe and smacking them with a pick axe, drill-arm, steam-powered fist, or perhaps some lobbed dynamite; mobility and positioning is important for some foes but it's not the focus of the game.

The best thing about Steamworld Dig is how well the it supports both brief play sessions and marathon sessions. Pacing is near-perfect as ore becomes more valuable as you descend, ensuring each trip back to town generates more profit, which in turn ensures there’s always something to upgrade, while the ability unlocks are evenly spaced, rarely more than 20 minutes apart. Progress feels rapid and impactful, and the biggest downside to some may be the relatively short playtime (maybe 6ish hours for your first run). Longevity comes in the form of challenges offered by the achievements/trophies; beating the game in 2h30min, beating the game without dying, finding all secrets, or “sequence breaking” the game by dynamite-jumping to locations you’d normally access much later). Steamworld Dig, along with the rest of the series I’ll discuss below, are permanently installed on my PS Vita as they are perfect for long trips.

You can pick up Steamworld Dig on PC, PlayStation 4/Vita, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Steamworld Heist

Chronologically the last game in the series (to date), this hybrid turn-based strategy/RPG deviates wildly from the "Dig" formula, offering up the chance to play as smuggler and part-time space-pirate Captain Piper Faraday, as she initially steals water supplies from other pirate ships, recruits a rag-tag band of followers, collects great hats, and ultimately becomes a hero that saves the galaxy form an ancient threat. Once again, the story is drip-fed to the player in short interludes but this time you have a crew you can chat to between missions for added background lore or their opinions on your progress. The gameplay still takes place on a 2D-plane and the visuals are once again charming, but this time the action is backed up by a fantastic soundtrack from a band called (appropriately) Steam Powered Giraffe.

You’ll guide your spaceship across an overworld map consisting of several branching paths, offering missions of varying difficulty, interspersed with friendly space stations where you can upgrade your crew, before converging for plot-critical missions and boss fights. Once you select a mission, you’ll pick your crew members, select their loadout, and board a randomly-generated vessel. Once on board, you can move freely until you engage in combat, ideally picking of isolated crew without raising the alarm or positioning your crew behind cover before the shooting begins. Once combat starts, it becomes a turn-based affair, with action-points that limit movement and shooting. Unlike many other turn-based games that rely on stats and dice-rolls, Steamworld Heist allows you to manually aim your shots, a vital skill in a game with ricocheting bullets. Got an enemy hiding behind cover? Bounce a shot off the ceiling to take their head off (or, ideally, their hat which you can then collect). Levelling up your crew to have more health points, better gear, and consumable items is a must, but Steamworld Heist rewards careful positioning and precise aiming above all else.

As with the other Steamworld games, Steamworld Heist is great for both shorter and longer play sessions, with each ship a bite-size experience lasting only 10-15 minutes. Steamworld Heist also has entirely optional missions and/or bonus objectives to tackle, loot to collect, dozens of stylish hats, and a New Game + mode that makes it a meatier experience.

You can pick up Steamworld Heist on PC, PlayStation 4/Vita, and Nintendo Switch.



Steamworld Dig 2

Everything I've said about the first Steamworld Dig holds true for the sequel, only this time we get a more developed narrative, more upgrades, and an expanded game-world (with actual Metroidvania structure). Dorothy, formerly relegated to the role of an NPC in the first game, sets off to find her friend Rusty, who disappeared after the events the first game. She arrives in the mining town of El Machine, beset by increasingly frequent earthquakes, and swiftly descends into the depths, after befriending a remnant offshoot of the AI that Rusty battles in the first game. There’s far more world-building this time - you’ll even engage with the leader of the Shiners (they’re not all mindless shambling mutants this time) – and events swiftly escalate, with the ending leading into Steamworld Heist.

Mining ore, upgrading your gear, finding new abilities, accessing new areas, and bludgeoning your foes with a pick axe remain core mechanics, but the world now exists as four large, interconnected areas. As you unlock new abilities, the game will send you back and forth, mixing up the environments more often, providing a true Metroidvania feel. You’ll re-tread some familiar locales from the first game, but even these locations have received an impressive visual overhaul. There are several new locations like the Mayan-themed “Temple of the Destroyer” and luminescent mushroom-filled caves of “Yarrow”.

As you complete quests and destroy foes, you’ll continuously level up, unlocking new gear blueprints to craft and cogs to upgrade your existing gear with new abilities. In line with the expanded Metroidvania design, there are far more secrets and artefacts to hunt for, with sequences that often requiring some skilful platforming or a keen eye. Despite the increased scope, Steamworld Dig 2 can still be played in short or longer sessions; providing a rewarding experience either way. The story makes more sense if you've played the first game, but Steamworld Dig 2 is the most refined experience if you're only going to play one of them.

You can pick up Steamworld Dig 2 on PC, PlayStation 4/Vita, Xbox One (also currently on Xbox Game Pass), and Nintendo Switch.



Let us know in the comments below what you think of our choices, or if you’ve been playing an indie game this week you’d like to promote to the community.

Follow the link to see more of our picks for Indies of the Week.