11 steamworld dig 2 - digging down to above the wall

Dear Readers,

Further down I found a cave named Prickly Panorama. The entrance to this cave was congested by boulders. I had to dig under them in order to let them fall out of the way so I could go in.

Lots of cacti here as the name suggests. I just had to dig down to loosen one of them and let them all shoot each other out with their needles before swooping in to take the valuable ore that was here.

I went back to town to upgrade the backpack to a Trojan Sack. I then installed the Dual Depot, which lets me store two gems per slot. Very handy.

I dug down further to the next warp point and cave and Fen told me the place looked familiar, saying maybe the cult brought them here on their way up. They asked me how much further it was to the remains of Vectron. I said it was much further as we were still in the explored parts of the mine.

I needed a way to get through a wall that was in the way. Fen was excited at the thought of me using my Pressure Bomb and I said it wasn't enough as the walls were built after the shiner wars especially to keep them from coming up. They liked using explosives so the walls were built especially to withstand blasts.

I had a closer look at this wall which was solid brick and it was underneath us. Couldn't go further but there was a big glowing cave here and a warp point labelled "Above the Wall". I headed back to town.

10 steamworld dig 2 - cave-in catacomb and tick boom room

Dear Readers,

I dug towards the next cave and gathered ore. I turned around and upgraded a bit.

I upgraded my pickaxe to an iron one and my armour to a sturdy one. I installed the Hunter's Edge as well to give me a little bonus XP for defeating enemies.

I dug down to a cave called the Cave-in Catacomb. Inside was an interesting section where I had to get the artifact, then dash out before the boulders fell. There was a cog here too. I went back to town to turn on Criss-Cross Combustion, which damages adjacent tiles when uncovering recources. Could be handy, may be a hindrance? I'll see...

Digging further down I found another warp marked Cactus Plantation. It lived up to its name as there were cacti all over the place. It didn't even make sense but there was a load of them here, shooting their needles when they were disturbed in any way. They're pretty annoying.

I upgraded the lamp to a Modified Carbide Lamp and installed a cog on Flame of Kubera so I'd be able to see pickups easier.

I found a cave just below this new warp and a door to the right that led out to the Windy Plains! Might be handy.

The cave below was called Tick Boom Room. Here I had to time my Pressure Bombs to make a platform, then blow the way to another cog.

9 steamworld dig 2 - discovering the pressure bomb

Dear Readers,

I dug my way to the cave to look for dynamite and went inside to explore. I found a new ability called the Pressure Bomb. It uses water and it's explosive. With this I was able to clear blocks I couldn't break with my pickaxe. I was also able to defeat enemies as well from a distance, which is very handy.

I went back to the Red Rock Passage and cleared it out with the explosive. I also found several cogs, which make a clinking noise when they're nearby. I'll need plenty of them!

I went back to town and told the mayor I cleared it. His ma told me to keep my equipment up to snuff. He was still more concerned about me finding ore than finding Rusty. His ma then said it should be clear mining all the way down to the protective wall. She reckoned Rusty may have fell down through one of the cracks. She suggested going to Mason's Station to find equipment I should find useful. The mayor said it was the one his idiot brothers walled in while laying brick. His ma then said to scout around and see if I could find my way around the brick. The mayor said to report any openings to him so he could seal them later.

The mark on my map was pretty far down, more than twice the amount I've dug already.

I could see that I could upgrade the Pressure Bomb as well. I upgraded my lamp to a Miner's Brite and installed a cog on the Larger Than Light mod which increases my lamp light radius.

Turtle Bucket had a tutorial about cogs I just kinda figured out.

Time for me to take a nap IRL! The town music is lovely and lulling. I'll get to more digging later.

8 steamworld dig 2 - finding the first artifact

Dear Readers,

inside the first cave I found there was an artifact! it was the Amulet of Baal Ahdahli-Dihla. I also discovered walls you can't climb. That's going to be a real pain. The first game didn't have anything like these...

I dug all the way down to the target and opened the tube to Red Rock Passage! I travelled back to town after the sprite suggested using dynamite. I ignored its hopes that I would blow myself up too.

I took the tube back to town and the mayor complained he never authorised the reopening of the tubes. His ma told him to bolt his jaw and said they were the best way to move around the mine. I said the passage caved in from all the earthquakes and he said I couldn't prove that. I said I'd need explosives either way to clear it all out. Ma suggested going to Burster's Mining Station and marked it on my map. I could get explosives there. The mayor didn't like the idea but was still on board with regards to ore mining. Ma said she had to clear the passage a few times herself.

Davy gave me a blueprint and offered more if I kept finding more artifacts. This one I was able to install a cog in order to see enemy HP when fighting them. I could also remove the cog for something else if I wanted. Handy...

I upgraded my pack to the Shrewhide Pack and again to the Bag of Holding. I'm expecting to haul a lot of stuff.

7 steamworld dig 2 - exploring the windy plains

Dear Readers,

I took a bold brave notion to explore the area beyond the town! It was called the Windy Plains. I thought, why not indulge in that spirit of exploration? That Metroidvania spirit?

The story wasn't telling me to go this way yet so I felt a bit wary that it might be more difficult. I took it handy.

I climbed down slowly and met crawly enemies and cacti. I also found my second cave in the cliff face, but didn't feel brave enough to explore yet. I continued outside and reached the bottom. There was a pool of water here and the way further right that went right out into the desert.

Also they lived up to their name of being windy. The wind pushed me back and I had to be careful not to end up being blown into cacti. I kept going on and on until I came across an impassable wall for now. I found a cog here. I decided to turn back and head to town.

6 steamworld dig 2 - finding my first cave

Dear Readers,

I finally got to do some serious digging. Lots of text and tutorials, but also with some advanced options to turn some stuff off. Some new mechanics too like the lamps, which have to be lit.

I dug up some stuff and took it to Barnacle Jones, who heard a rumour that the mayor closed the tubes himself to get back at his minerbot brothers. They hadn't been seen in a while and it was costing a lot without them for business.

The mayor was delighted I was mining and drawing up ore and encouraged me to continue and to spend my earnings in the city shops too. Ma Yonker advised to keep upgrading if I wanted to reach Red Rock.

I backtracked to Lady Botterley, who had utmost faith in the mayor to get the elevator fixed. I didn't see my local guy though. Wonder where he went?

I got back to digging and eventually found a cave. There's no value indicator that tells me how far I've dug like in the last game so I can't say how many metres down it is :( or at least I can't find it.

I ran out of light and the music changes when this happens! Kinda cool. I went back to town to cash in.

5 steamworld dig 2 - fixing my light for the real mine

Dear Readers,

After the mayor gave me a job, the townspeople had more stuff to say.

Ma Yonker said she'd still mine if she could but she gave up a lot of parts to make her boys. Is this how the robots have kids?

Turtle Bucket offered the use of his work bench to repair my light. Seemed like an intuitive menu to use. It costs $6 to repair it so it shouldn't take too long to come up with that.

Penny was delighted to meet me, as I seemed like a small town girl just like her and she felt like a lonely outsider. My nasty sprite assistant wasn't nice to her either. She then said maybe she should just go back to the farm. Hmm... maybe she could make friends with the lady I met at the bottom of the elevator.

I climbed down and met the guard, Coral Armstrong. He was ready to not let me go without a proper fixed light.

I went to the allowed area and found enough ore in no time at all. Those prick-shooting cacti and crawly enemies seem dangerous though, and this time the crawly ones charge at me!

I took my small amount of ore to Barnacle Jones to cash in. We got talking about why I was here and I was looking for my friend. He said he knew him and thought he was a real McCoy, but turned out to be a flat tyre, saying he didn't come back up even once.

I upgraded my furnace at Turtle Bucket's, and more upgrades started appearing, just like in the last game. Everyone was happy with me starting on the real mining now to look for Rusty.

Coral Armstrong reckoned Rusty had to pass through Red Rock Passage at one time or another. There was a tube there, but it had to be cleared first since the earthquake blocked it. He opened up two hatches to open up the mine to me. Time to dig!

4 steamworld dig 2 - mayor mic yonker gives me a job

Dear Readers,

I made it to El Machino. It's got a nice summery beat to the music! I walked past the broken elevator and found the one that was on the welcome sign. It was Mayor Mic Yonker and he had his citizens gathered.

He was telling them to keep calm but they were concerned about the earthquakes. The one named Professor Sherman said his seismometer was getting some really strange readings. The mayor said there were more important things to worry about like keeping the ore flowing.

The one named Ma Yonker called him an idiot and asked him why he wasn't listening to the experts. She mentioned a red-scarfed miner that never made it back up. Must be talking about Rusty! The mayor said he had the mine guarded and urged everyone to calm down before he dismissed the meeting. I had to talk to him.

The town was much bigger than Tumbleton with lots of people to talk to.

Barnacle Jones, a crab robot with pincers, agreed with the mayor about keeping the ore flowing. They ran the ore buying shop like the one I run back home.

Ma Yonker was the mayor's mother. She said her worthless son had no idea what he was doing and he should be sending people to investigate the earthquakes. She knew the difference between what was happening and the feeling of a tectonic plate shifting.

Turtle Bucket wore a construction helmet and seemed happy enough to go with the flow and believed the mayor.

Davy Bittenborough, an archaeologist, was worried about the earthquakes because they might damage the historical artifacts. He asked me to look out for them and offered to give me a blueprint if I gave him at least one.

Penny Kettlebottom, a lady with a hat and purse, was still getting over the earthquake.

Mayor Mic Yonker said he was busy and late for his polish. He said to leave any complaints at his office and not to bother if it was about earthquakes, saying it was a normal occurrence around this area. I told him I wasn't here to complain and just wanted access to the mine to search for a lost bot. He laughed in an undermining way, saying I didn't have a proper light and I'd get lost. He didn't want that happening so close to an election.

Then he said there was a safer area to dig in to the left of the ladder down in the mine. He said if I could dig up ore to buy myself a new light, the guard would let me enter the real mine.

Alright... so the mayor just gave me a job instead of being any help. The townspeople had more stuff to say too. The search for Rusty is going to be a long one...

3 steamworld dig 2 - climbing to el machino

Dear Readers,

The Sprite helped lead me to the exit and back out into the desert. They didn't have a very nice manner about them and reminded me of the nasty fenlights from my father's stories of the old country. We made our acquaintances and they went into my furnace again. They wanted to be called Fen.

I ventured ahead and saw a sign for El Machino. There was a picture of someone with a star on their hat and it had a moving arm and arrow pointing out the way, which was straight up.

On the path I met Trader Carson and we greeted each other. I didn't think I'd meet anyone I knew so far from home. He asked what was going on and I told him everything that happened with Rusty before his disappearance. A traveller responded to the wanted posters I put up and told me they saw him walk into the mine in El Machino.

Carson said the elevator was busted so I had to climb up to the town. He offered to sell me cogs to help with the mine.

Lady Botterley was here too. She said the elevator came crashing down when the earthquake happened.

I started climbing. There was a caution sign for falling. I have to remember I'm susceptible to fall damage. Rusty got so powerful he was able to fall for as long as he wanted. Fen then tempted me to look at the view as we climbed higher. It was alright for them as they were able to float. Very mischievous creature.

I climbed further and reached El Machino at the top.

2 steamworld dig 2 - the temple of cultists

Dear Readers,

I am Dorothy McCrank! In the first SteamWorld Dig I ran the minerals-for-cash shop where Rusty traded in his findings. Since then, he went missing.

I wake on a cliff by my campfire at sunrise. I follow a sign that says El Machino is 1 mile ahead across the desert with lovely parallax cacti and guitar riffs. I walk along when some rumbling happens under my feet and I fall down into a mine, just like Rusty did when he arrived in Tumbleton. 

The text is very small... Maybe I'll play this in docked mode if there's gonna be a lot of it. I'm not really expecting that though.

I have to press pause to look at the map. No extra screen to look at, unfortunately :(

The map is really small too. I'll try to manage.

This area is called the Temple of Guidance and acted as the tutorial for the game. There are arrow traps that activate when you step on some buttons. That's a new thing that wasn't in the first game.

I navigated my way around until I found a big robot thing that gave me an upgrade. I was now able to dash. Nice to get an upgrade so soon!

I made my way around until I got to an area where a cultist was bowing to some kind of weird statue with a head that was glowing in a familiar way.

The music down here is pretty good. It's got a deep sounding beat.

The statue, called The Guiding Light, responded to the cultist's devotion by zapping it out of existence. The cultist was grateful until it was too late. The Guiding Light laughed. I wondered aloud what was going on and it spotted me, thinking I was another pilgrim.

It was a little boss battle. I avoided its slow moving shots and when it was recovering, I jumped on top of its glowing head and beat down on it with my pickaxe. The statue part crumbled away and eventually I destroyed the head as well.

A blue glowing flame with eyes emerged from it, complaining. I explained I wasn't a cultist. I said it looked like a Vectron sprite, wondering how it was possible since Rusty destroyed that place.

Sprite said the cult stole them and plugged them in here to be worshipped. They wanted it to zap them. They weren't able to do that anymore so they had nothing to do. I told them I was going to the big city as I heard that Rusty had been seen there.

Sprite agreed to go with me. They went into my furnace like Navi the fairy goes into Link. They showed a map as a little box on the side of the screen. It's not the Nintendo DS family of systems but it'll do.

1 steamworld dig 2 - the nice physical release on nintendo switch!

Dear Readers,

Time to move on from the first game to the sequel! I'm playing this on the Nintendo Switch and it's my 16th physical game for the system.

I bought this game when it was released in physical form years ago – sometime in 2018. I waited until now after playing the first game to open it up.

The physical release is delightful. On the inside cover there are concept sketches and doodles of the characters. It comes with a double sided poster. On one side is a movie style poster version of the cover artwork with Dorothy exploring and with Rusty in the background and the staff credits on the bottom. Weirdly, this part also has stuff like "PRODUCER ONE" & "PRODUCER 2" as if they were using some kind of mail merge generator thingy and they forgot to take this skeletal part out, which is amusing.

On the poster's other side was something that really made me smile and that was a missing poster for Rusty, since he went missing at the end of the first game. There was a sketch of him like on a western style wanted poster and underneath it described him with "Quiet type - Height: 1 Tile. Contact Dorothy McCrank". This was a lovely extra and I had it time capsuled for years until I unwrapped the game out of its foil! I'm gonna put this side of the poster up while I'm playing.

Let's get into it... No updates to download or anything. It was all on the cart, which is nice!

31 steamworld dig - upgraded to the max

Dear Readers,

I went back to Vectron and scooped out lots of treasure and glowing orbs. I now have enough orbs for all the upgrades in the game so I don't have to worry about them anymore.

I went back to town to buy the Uber Armour from Dandy.

It's really fun finding these treasures and going into the caves and finding the secret areas. The enemies aren't much of a worry now. It feels very much like going for all the stuff in Metroid.

I also find that I'm looking at the map mostly when I'm looking for these upgrades. I'd rather look at a zoomed out abstraction of the area and the treasures rather than the pretty in-game play area. I love having an extra screen for maps and I'm going to miss it when playing newer games.

I did a bunch more digging and cashed in to buy the Plasma Lantern. I continued digging and obtained the Bottomless Tank. After that, I had all the upgrades!

I dug some more back in Uncle Joe's first mine. I also saw a block in Vectron I couldn't reach. I decided for the first time ever to use the ladders I bought. I was able to reach it then. It was just fun looking for treasure now.

After all this I beat the game again by fighting Voltbot. The stats on the bottom screen were a little different. There were gold sheriff stars by the treasure and orbs and bronze ones by the total deaths and time.

Looking at the cut scene where the townspeople were remembering me and then looking at me on this credits screen with the blue electronic eyes makes me wonder what the story is with me now? Am I a ghost? Am I the next manifestation of Voltbot? I wonder if these questions will be answered in the sequel, which I'm gonna start soon.

Another thing I like about this game is the brevity of dialogue. No one says too much in this game. It feels like a conscious effort was made to make the dialogue functional and have the dramatic impact it needs without being too wordy.

30 steamworld dig - post game treasure hunt for upgrades

Dear Readers,

With the story out of the way and ending watched, it was now time to have a bit of fun finding treasure. I'd like to upgrade fully as well.

First thing I did was to upgrade at Biff's with the Water Seal and the Hydraulic Fluid. That'll help with production.

I dug around below the big entrance to Voltbot and reached the bottom fairly quickly. I uncovered many materials but mostly dealt with lots of enemies.

I learned that you can defeat enemies with the static jump! Very handy for those hard to reach laser sentries.

I cashed in at town and went to Biff's. I bought Platinum Pickaxe and Swift Pickaxe. That was all of his upgrades! He didn't have any consumables, so I had nothing more to buy from him.

I went over to Dandy's and bought the Hyper Drill, the max upgrade for the drill. After some more treasure hunting I bought the Garnet Pickaxe and the Emerald Pickaxe and the Ruby Pickaxe and the Diamond Pickaxe. All the pickaxes fully upgraded now! Some more treasures to go...

29 steamworld dig - beating the game and getting the ending!

Dear Readers,

The battle with Voltbot began. It spawned crawling enemies around the place.

The first enemies were those crawly ones. I had to break the generators surrounding Voltbot before drilling down on top of its head.

A new wave of generators spawned for me to take out as well as those bomb throwing robots. I just had to stay away from the ground while I did my drilling. After going through this routine of breaking generators, I drilled down on Voltbot's head again.

A third wave of generators spawned. Voltbot threw out more bomb throwing enemies as well as shooting its own lasers at me. I took my time and broke the generators one by one. It helped that the bomb throwing robots exploded near the generators while I was taking care of them. After the generators were gone, I drilled down into Voltbot's head once more and it broke down completely.

The next scene showed the townspeople at a new statue Dandy had made. Lola was confused as she thought it was going to be of me. It really didn't look anything like me at all. She asked if it was some kind of robot monkey. Dandy sighed and explained it was the "abstraction of a destructible Steambot acquiring godhood. 

Yeesh. I'm not an abstraction! I'm Rusty! I take it this meant I didn't survive the battle.

Cranky said the statue sort of resembled his poor father after he was run over by a freight train. Dandy said without me this place was devoid of class.

Dorothy asked why we even needed the monument as they didn't even search down there. Cranky reminded her I was now missing for a month and that the cataclysm down there destroyed everything beneath the Old World, leaving nothing but scrap metal.

Lola said Dorothy should focus on the future, as scavenging in the tunnels was no work for a young lady. Cranky said nothing walked out of that destruction alive.

Biff finally spoke and said come on! He was more encouraging of Dorothy and her backbone. He said he missed me too and said I was a close friend. He reminisced and got sniffly. Dandy told him to pull himself together.

Dorothy insisted I was still down there, she just knew it. She said she would keep looking and for better or worse, she was going to find me.

After this, the credits rolled, showing me walking the desert at night with glowing blue eyes. It also showed my gameplay statistics. I died 11 times haha.

After the credits rolled away, they were replaced with the title screen. I was able to resume to the last save point before facing Voltbot.

That's the game! It's sad I met an untimely end. What a game though... It's got mining simulation, story, Metroidvania... it's a fab and fantastic little game. I'm going to keep playing to dig up more treasures and upgrade myself fully. I may even fight Voltbot again. There are a few things I missed so I'll check them out too. After that I'm looking forward to checking out the sequel!

28 steamworld dig - finding out what really happened to uncle joe

Dear Readers,

After the last laser was gone, I was free to go through the important-looking door to see what was in there. There was a small passage that led to a long drop into a dark area.

I heard a loud buzzing voice speaking and what seemed like a huge creature breathing. It came into view and it was a huge mechanical block with a big red eye. It said "WELCOME TO VECTRON... *BZZT*, RUSTY."

I looked at the thing. "Joe?" I asked, sensing something familiar.

Voltbot replied that part of Uncle Joe resided in their new body and he merged with them freely. It then said I would too as they were in need of a true heart. It said they had stripped me of my weak Steambot body and I was already more part of them than I was of myself. Yikes...

Voltbot said they were going to be invincible and they were going to rise and rule.

I told them although it was true they prepared me, I was prepared to stop them.

Next began a battle. 

27 steamworld dig - the last laser generator punched

Dear Readers,

The map indicated I go down all the way to cave III of the Old World, so I went down there and inside.

After punching out some bottle throwers I found an amusing pattern of minerals in the shape of an arrow. I followed it and the arrow on the map after gathering the minerals and beyond a treacherous path with bouncy mushrooms and green goo to a new cave.

Inside was a path laden with green goo, bottle throwers, laser sentries and disintegrating regenerating blocks. I navigated my way through it all to get to the laser generator. I took it out with a good charged punch.

That was all the generators. I left this cave within a cave and out that cave as well to drop all the way down to Vectron. Then I took the pipe back to town.

In town they didn't have much else to say except to wish me well on what was through this new door beyond the decommissioned lasers.

26 steamworld dig - one-punching the bottle throwing enemies

Dear Readers,

I returned to the Old World to find the generator there. I got a little distracted though!

I explored around for materials of course. It was really fun to dig through the blocks at a much faster rate now.

My absolute favourite thing though was to punch those ugly bottle throwers in the face with my upgraded fists and put them flying with ease! It felt amazing.

I was having so much fun I almost died from the other hazards like the explosions and green goo. I also ran out of room for minerals so I returned to town to cash in and buy the Damage Reduction. I definitely need it for this game!

I also grinded my health back by revisiting one of the older caves in this area to punch the zombie. Things are going really well now. I avoided the teleporters in case it overwrote the one in Vectron.

25 steamworld dig - back to uncle joe's mine

Dear Readers,

Going back to the earliest mining area in the game was nostalgic and also very warm and orange looking. Been spending a lot of time in the cold grey metallic Vectron so the contrast really hits home.

The map indicated I go to cave I of this area so I did, at 32m.

Inside this cave I was able to dig up the stuff I couldn't before and use the static jump to reach another new cave!

This new cave still looked like the first mine, but the enemies were more advanced. I had to do a steam jump while climbing to bypass the tricky laser blocks. After that, it was just a matter of loosening the way for the gravity blocks and I was able to destroy the laser generator. Got some nice "Secret Area!" notices when I uncovered materials I couldn't get to before. It was really easy now to uncover them too so it felt pretty good!

After this I returned to town and upgraded to the Super Armour at Dandy's. My health and water supply were now both at 7 blocks each.

The map then wanted me to explore the second mining area, the Old World or whatever it was called. I dug around in there for materials first because I wanted to level up again and I did. This time it was the maximum level and I unlocked the Damage Reduction at Dandy's. Very nice. I had to deal with exploding barrels and dynamite maniacs again of course.

24 steamworld dig - the cave guarded by huge lasers

Dear Readers,

I returned to Vectron. The caverns were so big now I was still finding loads of materials by the time I got to digging again. I eventually found a cave at 837m and went inside.

This cave was a nice small area with lasers and bomb enemies. Not an awful lot to deal with and fun to clear out once the enemies and lasers were destroyed.

Soon after exiting this cave, I found another teleporter and important cave to the right, which was a very nice find altogether! Usually they're very separate!

I was able to access the teleporter but not the cave, which was blocked by two big lasers. I had to return to town where they had stuff to say.

Lola still wondered how Uncle Joe was able to do all what I did on his own.

Dorothy said that cave might have what I was looking for. She thought maybe the three generators powering those lasers were in the upper layers as well.

Cranky said maybe Uncle Joe wanted me to open the cave and kept it closed to hide something horrible inside.

Biff thought maybe that cave hid unimaginable riches. He was encouraging in any case, as usual.

I went back and noticed that one of the lasers was off. It must've been one of the laser generators I broke earlier.

The map was encouraging me to leave from Vectron and go all the way back to Uncle Joe's mine so I did. There was a red mark on the map there so I went down to it.

23 steamworld dig - stunning the laser blocks

Dear Readers,

I got back to digging in Vectron and found a cave at 768m. I went inside.

There were these laser blocks that filled the ring passage. With these enemies all I have to do is stun them from one of their other sides and pass by. Some unattainable gems were here so I'll have to come back for them. Got some of them at least.

Another nice thing about this cave is that there's a crawly enemy under the entrance so I can quickly go in and out for resources as it respawns. Can take a while but it's good! Also good for practising combat. I use the drill for best results.

I explored a good bit deeper until I ran out of room. I had too much treasure mined up. I also had these laser blocks to deal with so I had to be careful. Felt kinda nervous coming back to town.

I cashed in so much I unlocked the Hydraulic Fluid at Dandy's, which quickens the steam punch charge. Sounds very handy...

I upgraded the drill to Drill Star at Dandy's, the armour to the Thick Armour at Biff's and the furnace to the Oil Lantern also at Biff's.

I thought that was decent upgrading for now, so I went back to Vectron to continue.

22 steamworld dig - one fist of iron, the other of steel

Dear Readers,

After finishing cave I of Vectron and going back to town to upgrade, I found the path ahead to be laser-less, allowing me to continue digging.

I dug down into a big chamber that was full of bomb robots and laser sentries. Bit by bit I took them out. There were a lot of them. I dug up more materials and there were two nice big pools of water to refill from.

I went back to town and upgraded the punch to a Hammer Punch at Dandy's.

I dug more and found bigger caverns filled with laser sentries and bomb throwing robots. It feels good to take the laser sentries out with fewer punches, so I decided to upgrade the punch again to the Knock Out Punch. 

21 steamworld dig - how did uncle joe dig this far?

Dear Readers,

When I got back to town with my new static jump, Lola said if all the add-ons were needed to dig that deep, how did Uncle Joe manage? I was wondering that myself...  and why did he end up near the surface with a basic pickaxe? I know it makes sense for the game at the start but at this point with all I needed to get this far it doesn't quite add up. She said I was like a new bot. Dorothy said I was more new parts than old by now as well.

I cashed in and unlocked the Unfathomable Tank and the Super Armour.

Cranky said technology itself wasn't dangerous, it was how it was used. He added that what was down there gave him the heebie jeebies. Biff said I had more of a look of a soldier about me than a miner and he knew the look because of his worldly travels.

I was excited at the prospect of the Unfathomable Tank and decided to upgrade my tank to Super at Biffs and then Unfathomable at Dandy's. It wasn't infinite, but 7 bars of water is pretty good. That's two ahead of my health so I'll prioritise that when I get more money.

20 steamworld dig - discovering the static jump

Dear Readers,

While digging in Vectron, I found many unbreakable obstacles that drop down on top of you if you dug under them. I soon found that there were ones that fell upwards! It was indicated by the lit chevrons which way they were gravitationally inclined. This was a fresh new obstacle I had to be careful with.

I found a cave at 673m and went inside. immediately I faced three laser sentries trying to blast through blocks at me. I treaded carefully and took them all out. I dug down and found many regenerating blocks and enemies hiding some materials. I dug them up and got back out safely.

I dug down further and discovered cave II at 690m. I went inside and faced a lot of ruthless lasers clearing blocks to make huge gravity blocks fall every which way to crush me! Thankfully, these cave levels are a bit more lenient when you get a game over.

I navigated my way through all the danger and found a new static jump ability, which gives me a mid-air jump powered by electricity. I was able to combine it with the steam jump to escape from this chamber.

I explored the rest of this cave and broke the laser generator. I saw many spots I just couldn't reach with my digging tools because of the obstacles that were definitely not soil based. I'll have to come back when I get yet more new stuff.

19 steamworld dig - when i got more concerned for metal detection than health

Dear Readers,

I went back to the main dig and focused on the purple spots uncovered by the metal detector. I died at least three times in a row! I was so focused on the prizes rather than the crawling enemies they whittled me down quickly and wiped me out. Kinda forgot I had to combat these things as well and combat was still cumbersome enough.

I was worried my discoveries would despawn if I died too many times in a row without picking them up. This is what happens in Minecraft when you die without picking stuff up from a previous death. However, the despawning doesn't happen here! Yay! I could see two bags of stuff from where I died after I went the second time. I picked each of them up and continued.

I found a teleporter at 644m and I was thankful for it. I decided to upgrade to the Drill-o-tron at Biff's since there was tougher stuff here to drill through. It was his maximum upgrade for the drill.

18 steamworld dig - discovering new materials in old places with the metal detector

Dear Readers,

With the metal detector, I visited the previous areas briefly. It was pretty cool to see all the stuff I hadn't discovered yet on the touch screen map! There was a lot!

I went back to Vectron and couldn't pass the purple spots found by the metal detector without digging. I found lots of minerals as well as chambers and enemies. It felt like a fresh feeling to an old place. It's one of those joys of digging a hole as a kid and it's well captured here.

I filled up on materials and went back to town. I levelled up enough to unlock the Gargantuan Pouch and I bought it straight away from Dandy. I now have all 9 slots unlocked in my pouches. Don't know if there are more but there we go so far!

17 steamworld dig - finding the metal detector

Dear Readers,

I went back into Vectron and explored cave I. Inside were passages that led to a new ability, the Metal Detector!

The passages were full of bomb wielding robots, dynamite zombies and laser sentries but they were good at blowing each other up. It was a just a matter of navigating to the new ability.

The Metal Detector reveals the locations of materials on the map as purple spots! Very handy!

I continued exploring and up ahead were a lot of laser obstacles. I had to navigate a dangerous path to some kind of weird generator thing block that also showed up on the map. I punched it out and the lasers vanished.

I was able to leave now but there were still materials to uncover here. I ran out of light so I left anyway.

On the way back to town I dug so many materials I couldn't see before that I ran out of room. I continued back to town.

Lola said to take care of my steam-heart, even though I was finding some amazing new stuff. Cranky commented on my new gadget and said it had nothing to do with steam and he called it electricity. Biff was as encouraging as ever for me to keep digging, even though I was finding weird stuff. Dorothy wondered about what was living down there. Dandy was too.

I decided to upgrade the pouch to gigantic and humongous, which was Biff's final upgrade for the pouch. I was about to find a lot more stuff so I wanted to prepare!

16 steamworld dig - ascending on regenerating blocks

Dear Readers,

With newfound confidence and buffed equipment I went back down to the cave in Vectron where I had to regenerate the zombie in order to scrape for resources.

This cave was chock full of those regenerating blocks and they all came back after different lengths of time! I had a feeling it was designed so I could lure the laser sentries into firing where I wanted, but honestly I just punched my way up and stayed on the wall until I could gain height after blocks regenerated.

It worked out successfully. There were lots of minerals and some orbs when I got to the top of this cave. I then went back to town to cash in afterwards.

Gonna take this slowly and not bite off more than I can chew. Happy to say I didn't run out of water once this time.

15 steamworld dig - doing some serious upgrades for vectron

Dear Readers,

After getting trapped in Vectron and breaking free out of sheer luck, I decided to upgrade equipment. It was just pure chance I was able to get out of that hole by clinging to the left wall and having that hidden enemy explode a way open. Now I wanted to upgrade equipment.

When I was trapped below with no resources, the only thing I was able to use was my pickaxe. It badly needed upgrading because it was going so slow. I wanted to buy ladders at last too in case I have another hole situation like that again. I also noticed there was a severe lack of water in Vectron, so I wanted to upgrade my water based equipment and storage.

I upgraded to Dual Tank, Cranky's largest water storage, and the Pressurizer, to optimize the steam jump, and the Damaging Pickaxe to give me an edge over enemies in case all else fails. That was all of his upgrades, but he could still sell stuff like ladders and health and dynamite.

I went to Biff and some upgrades were now unlocked to buy. I bought the Improved Hydraulics, Tungsten Pickaxe, Silver Pickaxe, Gold Pickaxe, Drillmaster, and the Huge Tank.

I spent lots of money and orbs, getting up to speed and strength. I should be sturdy enough to keep going for a while. I now have 5 bars for health and for water.

14 steamworld dig - trapped in vectron at 567m

Dear Readers,

I dug deep down into Vectron. I found blocks that break quickly but regenerate. I kept digging and finding little pockets of areas to explore.

At one point I ran out of water and couldn't climb back up! I had to dig deeper in hopes of finding more water. I did eventually and should've turned back, but I indulged in the urge to explore more.

I didn't die, fortunately, but I did come across many more enemies like those laser sentries. I found a cave at 582m.

I didn't resist the urge to explore it and I ran out of water again! I had to abandon it for now and burrow even more!

It was a long slow dig with my underpowered pickaxe in the dark... Took a while before I uncovered a new area.

I met another enemy that carried a ball and it was an exploding one. I eventually found a cave marked with a "I" at 603m.

The part where I got stranded was at 567m. I couldn't find a way to get back up. I did manage to get more water and health by regenerating the zombie in the cave at 582m by re-entering, but other than that I couldn't find my way back up.

All hope seemed lost until I started climbing up on the left wall. Then one of those exploding enemies blew up and opened up a way for me to get back! Hooray!

I cashed in what I had and levelled up so much that someone new named Dandy opened up their shop called "Ace Works". He had upgrades for my equipment, but they were locked until I bought the earlier equipment first. I was able to buy his Sucker Punch upgrade at least, so I bought that.

13 steamworld dig - exploring vectron

Dear Readers,

I continued to dig until I fell a massive drop into a huge futuristic looking cavern with metal, electronics and generally like something out of a sci-fi movie. The music changed to suit the mood to an atmospheric loop. It was so cool.

I couldn't dig anymore. I made my way around vents and tunnels until I found the doorway indicated on the map.

I went through and found another of Uncle Joe's tubes that brought me all the way back to the surface! Didn't need to buy a teleporter after all!

I was glad though. There were some newer stronger looking enemies including a sentry camera drone thing that's like Beamos from Zelda. It shot at me as I burrowed through to the exit tube. It felt good to get back to town!

Lola wished me luck with whatever unknown thing I was about to encounter next.

Dorothy was surprised to learn that the mine went even deeper and there was frost on my armour! She said the only thing that was meant to be down at that depth was molten rock. She told me to be careful but encouraged me to explore further.

The goal came up on screen to "Explore Vectron", the name of this new place.

Cranky was surprised to see Uncle Joe left another tube and that he had explored further than he thought. He told me to tread carefully as it was strange stuff and I didn't just open a way down.

Biff was swept up in success and encouraged me to dig even deeper as it would make everyone up here more well off.