$5.99The Dig® Stranded on a dead alien world
Three explorers wake something ancient on an asteroid and must puzzle their way home across a strange, beautiful planet.
Is The Dig® worth it?
The Dig® is worth it if…
- you grew up on LucasArts adventures and want the serious one from the shelf
- you like a slow, atmospheric mystery more than fast action
- you enjoy puzzles that fight back and don't mind consulting a guide when stuck
- you want a story-first game you can play at your own pace, one session at a time
Screenshots
A dead planet full of questions
The mission starts simple: nudge a moon-sized asteroid out of Earth's path, then take a look around. Boston Low, journalist Maggie Robbins and geologist Ludger Brink expect rock. Instead they find chambers, machinery, and a mechanism that turns the asteroid into a crystal spacecraft and carries them across the galaxy to Cocytus, a bleak world named after the ninth circle of Hell.
Something highly evolved lived here once. Its architecture, technology and tunnel networks are everywhere. Its people are not. Who were the Cocytans, what are the apparitions that appear from time to time, and why were three humans brought here? Digging up those answers is the whole game, and the mystery carries it from start to end.
Exploring a strange, beautiful world
Nearly 200 locations await, from the asteroid's surface to alien complexes with sprawling underground tunnels, all drawn in detailed pixel art that players still call gorgeous decades later. The pacing is unhurried: you wander, look, and let the eerie, atmospheric score by Michael Land do its work. It feels closer to an interactive film than a twitch game, with cinematic staging and strong voice acting, including Robert Patrick of Terminator 2 as Boston Low.
The puzzles number in the hundreds, and they lean old-school: strange artifacts, cryptic hints, and a fair share of trial and error. Some solutions take real patience to crack, and getting stuck is part of the deal. Figuring one out on your own, though, is a reward modern games rarely hand you.
What should you know before playing?
Who made it, and why does that matter?
The idea began with Steven Spielberg, who developed it with LucasArts into a deep space adventure. Orson Scott Card contributed dialogue, Industrial Light & Magic contributed special effects, and Robert Patrick voices the lead. That film-industry pedigree shows: the story is staged cinematically, the voice work is strong for its era, and the whole thing plays like a science fiction film you steer rather than watch.
Is it relaxing or tense?
Relaxing, mostly. There are no timers and no way to lose; failure means a puzzle stays unsolved until you crack it. The mood is quiet and eerie rather than stressful: an empty alien world, ambient synthesizer music, and long stretches of exploring at your own pace. The tension comes from the story and the mystery, not from anything chasing you. If you want a thoughtful game to unwind with in the evening, this fits.
