SteamWorld Dig Dig deep, get rich, keep going

The loop is simple and it works. Rusty tunnels down with a pickaxe, pockets ore and gems, and hauls them back to town to sell. The money buys upgrades: a stronger pick, a bigger backpack, more health, more water. Each trip underground ends with something new, which is exactly why one more expedition always sounds like a good idea.

The catch is that your pack only holds so much, and your light only burns so long. Run out down there and the darkness closes in around you. So every dig is a small decision: chase that glittering vein off to the side, or turn back while you still can climb out. Dig carelessly and you can wall yourself into a dead end. Plan your tunnels well and the way home gets shorter every time.

Tumbleton is nearly empty when Rusty arrives with the deed to his late uncle's mine. As you sell ore and fund improvements, traders move back in, and the town slowly comes back to life around you.

Below, the story is told by the earth itself. The deeper shafts hold the ruins of human civilisation: houses, tanks, rockets, enormous skeletons set against the western rock. Somewhere under it all waits a dangerous old race of machines. The plot stays light and funny, told through a small cast of traders and townsfolk with animated portraits, and it never gets in the way of the digging. The hand-drawn art and a warm, western-flavoured soundtrack carry the mood, and the music down in the first mine is worth the trip on its own.