Initially, I booted up the game and was pleased to see it had art I found interesting, and music which reminded me of older titles. Chip-tune type driving melodies which helped me recall previous, older games with fast paced, pixel sprite platforming combat. It was cool there was a ‘’play with friends’’ option as well, the menu entry itself redirecting to the Steam Page. DIGs Steam Page was written like an old-school walkthrough, very clearly outlining the steps I’d need to take to play remotely.
Now, the first thing I do when I open a new game is go through the options – see if there’s anything notable in the menus. The menus here have some interesting ideas. Instead of say ‘’start’’ or ‘’story mode’’ the text for those options is replaced with ‘’Free the Galaxy’’ and ‘’Start a Revolution’’. The initial clarity that I’d experienced with the redirect to the walkthrough became a little bit lost here, if I didn’t know the layout of a game menu, I’m not sure I would have been able to navigate to the actual gameplay easily.
I also noticed a lack of assist-options. I know there’s an ongoing debate about assist-options in games of all types, but I was surprised to see absolutely none. Not even the ability to adjust text size.
The game itself was marketed as a Mario-like, however I didn’t have that experience whilst playing, it feels much closer to Spelunky. Or Spelunky 2 – because of the Arrow Traps.
Initially, you are given some vague story beats to get you started, and then you are swiftly thrown into atutorial level. A series of signs guide you through, and explain various mechanics. There is combat, both melee and ranged, a rope mechanic, a special move, and the ability to hold and use one item but the standout mechanic to me was actually mining.
The level presented is a series of room-like structures and platforms – however, with your first (and all following) weapon you can cut through the ground or walls – until bedrock- and radically alter the layout of the levels. This is an interesting mechanic, and one I found satisfying until I didn’t.
The big problem I ran into is I was able to dig myself into situations I couldn’t get out of. This is where I was reminded of Getting Over It and games like Jump King. I spent a long time in my playthrough becoming increasingly irritated at sometimes very difficult jumps which I had to perform to get back to my goal or to get an item. I found myself relying on my ability to achieve some – at times – complex jumping mechanics. This could have been an interesting challenge, but quickly became quite frustrating which was odd, as this game doesn’t seem to be a game with the aim to make you quit or frustrate the player in this way.
After the tutorial you are presented with a series of ‘’missions’’ you complete to progress, the way you access these missions is through piloting a spaceship to individual planets. This was a cool way to make a selection menu enjoyable.
Each mission is the same in broad strokes as the last, with an increase in difficulty as you complete each one. The game is permadeath and has a leadership position given to you based on a score at the end of each run. Each run starts from the tutorial level, which you can elect to skip, though you must elect to skip it each time.
instead, finding little sticking points. The rope mechanic and ranged mechanic both use what I end up referring to in my head as ‘’the camera stick’’ (right stick) to aim. This was difficult for me to do, and so unreliable I essentially didn’t use it. The action-button is also RB which is a choice, but one that felt odd to me.
I did also find I could blast through most levels by obliterating the wall and just finding the goal mostly at the bottom of the large room the smaller platforms/rooms are located in. I did also a couple of times do the forbidden Minecraft thing and dig straight down. I obviously got trapped. This is absolutely my own fault, but unlike Minecraft softlocking a game in this way is much more frustrating in part due to the fast pace. It felt like I needed a way to build to get out of these situations and nullify the earlier frustrations with jumping. The only way out in those trapped situations is to leave the mission, which feels unrewarding.
There were also either no secrets, or no secrets that I could find. There were marked boxes that were held in pockets within the walls, but these felt more like mini goals which lost relevancy as I gained money (which you can use to buy stuff, but the stuff is only available once to purchase) which I could find by mining gold.
In summary, this game has potential – if Raiser Games fixed the ability to get trapped by adding building or more coherent rope aiming mechanics, and if the game could be clearer on tone and form. Is this a serious game in which I’m to engage seriously with the themes? Is this a fun game? With rage-quit type mechanics? Is this a metroidvania with a focus on running the game to its conclusion? Or is it an exploration game?
I was left with more questions than answers, and more frustration than interest. If you really liked Spelunky 2 but thought it needed more rage, I’d recommend this game.
Otherwise, its’s a collection of good, but in my opinion, disparate mechanics with some confusing button mapping choices. However, the art style, the music and the actual feeling of digging were very satisfying to me, and I would have enjoyed the experience a lot more if the focus was on those working mechanics (such as the mining, the pace, the melee combat) as opposed to adding in a lot that only loosely hung together.