Dig Into SteamWorld Dig 2! Gameplay Footage & IGN Reveals!

Fun fact, SteamWorld Dig 2 is actually playable at GDC right now. Not the full game of course, but the demo is there and footage of it has already made its way online and while we have some new of information to reveal about the game! But before we hit you with the details, let’s watch Polygon’s demo playthrough first to get us excited!

And now we’re hyped and eager to know more, it’s time to repeat information that was first penned by IGN, after being able to speak to Brjánn Sigurgeirsson, CEO of Image & Form. In this regurgitation we’ll be sharing, we’ll begin by sharing a couple of Sigurgeirsson’s that will then be followed by a round-up of the new details pertaining to the title.

Sigurgeirsson on Why Dig’s Success and Why there Needed to be a Dig 2:

“Although it was very well received, we knew there was more to SteamWorld Dig than we managed back in 2013. Ironically, it was a bit frustrating to see all those great reviews when we’d had so much more planned for it initially. So I think we knew we’d revisit the Dig era rather sooner than later.”

Sigurgeirsson on how Image & Form has Improved:

“It’s one of the ways Image & Form has improved over the past four years, we now have resident level designers, and we’ve spent thousands of hours on the level design of the game. Not only does that mean that we can make the game as interesting as possible, there are other benefits as well. We don’t have to program around possibly dead-end scenarios as we did for Dig.”

And now we hit you with the round up:

• SteamWorld Dig 2 is not a direct sequel, but it is set almost immediately after the events of SteamWorld Dig 1 (a few months to a few years has passed.)
• SteamWorld Dig 2’s main town is El Machino, where Dorothy has moved to, since she has “given up on the search for Rusty,” but there is something that drives her to “head underground once more.
• Dig 2 boasts a fresh and more organic look.
• While Dig 2 is similar to Dig 1 in a lot of ways, it is a much bigger game and Sigurgeirsson promise it will be promising!
• Dig 2 is more like a Metroidvania, as opposed to Dig 1, which featured a “full non-linear (under)world.”
• “In Dig, the only way was down. With Dig 2 you’ll be spending more time exploring and figuring stuff out.” Says Sigurgeirsson.
• Dig 2 demo (which you should have seen already if you watched the video), is set in a Spelunky-esque environment, plays as a tutorial to usher in a new Hero to the Dig games, by introducing players to Dorothy and shows off what she can do.
• The demo also includes a boss battle.
• While Dig 2 feels chunky and reactive to play, there’s also room for experimentation.
• There are no procedurally generated mineshafts this time round, just dungeons that got the complete hand design treatment they deserved. (SteamWorld Dig 2 is handcrafted.)
• SteamWorld Dig 2 will not remain a Switch exclusive as other platforms are being considered, but this is something that was actually revealed yesterday during the official Image & Form blog post by Julius Guldbog.

While that concludes today’s information, we have only just begun to hear about SteamWorld Dig 2, and as more news comes, you can expect to read it here, including the responses to the questions we sent off to Sigurgeirsson yesterday afternoon, just as soon as we get them. But it could be a while as Sigurgeirsson is currently attending GDC, but we’ll keep you posted.

Source: Polygon (YouTube) & IGN