At £4.19, you don’t should ‘dig deep’ to play Dig Deep. But it surely’s a free-to-play cellular title that’s had a premium makeover, so that you would possibly need to know what you’re moving into first. There shall be gamers who see the £4.19 as an absolute discount; others will suppose it’s about £4.19 too steep.
First hurdle so that you can leap over: Dig Deep is a clicker sport, and people aren’t for everybody. That is an idle sport the place you may accumulate money with out doing something, if that’s your required manner of taking part in. You’ll be able to depart the sport operating, solely tapping in to purchase extra employees or improve them (menus pop up that want a fast button press). Cue complaints about Dig Deep not being an actual sport, and there’s some reality to that. You might want to benefit from the sport loops of the idle sport style if you wish to get something out of Dig Deep.
Second hurdle: in case you do take part, you’ll be doing the identical factor, again and again. That’s true for many clicker video games. You can also make extra money by actively partaking, however that comes at the price of your sanity. So, you are likely to dip out and in of the gameplay, relying on how a lot you care in that given second.
The gameplay goes one thing like this: you leap right into a gap which is nothing greater than a 5×5 grid of tiles. By strolling onto a tile, you mechanically mine it. That tile disappears, and after you have cleared all the tiles on a layer, you may transfer onto the layer under. The tiles shatter into balls – sure, balls – but in addition money and diamonds. You then’re mining layer after layer, touring additional right into a pit of capitalism, as you’re beckoned onwards by the prospect of higher unlocks and additional cash.
As you mine balls, they accumulate in a form of ballbag, and there’s a restrict to what you may carry. That restrict will increase as you stage up, and XP is gained with each hack of your pickaxe. With a full ballbag, your finest guess is to journey as much as the floor through a ladder, elevator (unlocked at depth-100 of the pit) or teleporter (unlocked at depth-1000), the place you may then unload. Then it’s again within the pits with you, m’lad, as you try to unearth extra balls.
These balls can go in one in all two locations. The primary is right into a dealer, who will swap balls for money (does he inform his mum the reality, we surprise?). It’s the place the vast majority of your deposits will go, as money is invaluable. You’ll be able to spend money on hiring employees to automate the method, and stage them up in order that they transfer sooner and maintain extra. It’s additionally the worth for shifting onto new holes, the place balls are value much more. Different-coloured balls await.
The second place they will go is as a down-payment on a statue. Pump balls into these colossi and you’ll ultimately be the proud proprietor of, effectively, a statue, which does nothing greater than look fairly. Actually, we are able to’t inform if something occurs while you full one: Dig Deep definitely didn’t inform us. However a statue will feed your ego.
Taking place t’ mines may also generate diamonds, which we are able to solely assume was the hard-currency when Dig Deep existed as a cellular sport. There are not any DLC or microtransactions (oddly, the Swap model does embody microtransactions) so that you’re gaining diamonds by means of fundamental mining. What they unlock is nice enjoyable: you may periodically activate power-ups, and there’s nothing extra enjoyable than activating them all of sudden. Being a ball-magnet, having infinite ball-capacity, after which having a number of sped up servants feeding you balls is a pleasure to behold. We by no means went again to singular power-ups: it simply didn’t really feel value it. Actually, we may write a prolonged information on getting the most effective out of Dig Deep, if anybody actually, truthfully cared. You may as well purchase pets with them, and these supply passive perks like elevated capability, further money and sooner velocity. We swear by our husky, who turns us right into a blur of ball-gathering.
And with that, we attain the top of all of Dig Deep’s mechanics. You dig deep, you collect, you spaff your balls on employees, and also you unlock extra profitable holes – in which you’ll be able to acquire higher money to your efforts.
Oh, however we lie: there’s additionally the enjoyment of co-op, as two folks can partake. It has its quirks, together with limiting mechanics to sure gamers – you may’t buy unlocks as participant two, use power-ups instantly as participant one, and solely participant one can have pets – however it does deliver a camaraderie to the grind. We skilled our daughters as much as turn out to be a sweatshop for balls, getting them hooked on the grind in order that we may come again later and discover statues constructed in our honour.
In some ways, you may don a beret and say that Dig Deep is concerning the folly of capitalism. Irrespective of how laborious you’re employed, and the way far you dig, there isn’t any backside. For those who get out, there’s simply one other pit to fall into. It’s all very Nietzchian.
As a sport, although, it’s a tough promote. For those who’re desirous about issues like ‘gameplay’, ‘selection’ and ‘enjoyable’ then you definitely would possibly need to keep away from Dig Deep. That is an infinite inverted ladder, the place you retain touring additional and additional down within the hunt for gold. It’s not far more than a spreadsheet magicked right into a sport, and that’s going to dissuade about, ooh, ninety p.c of potential gamers.
However we occur to be within the remaining ten p.c who like a little bit of idle gaming. There’s a lethal dependancy on supply right here, must you want to inject it straight. It’s totally attainable to seek out your self catatonically gathering balls, nodding your head to the incessant audio monitor, and strategising concerning the quickest option to clear a 5×5 grid.
However even after we have been in its idle clicker thrall, we couldn’t assist however really feel the yawning, encroaching void. Dig Deep isn’t good for us – but the balls preserve beckoning us again.
