12 steamworld dig - exploring cave iii of the old world

Dear Readers,

I dug deeper, fought more enemies and found more materials. Tired, I returned to town but on the way I was hit with a green drip and lost all my health! I had so much money and I had to pay over a thousand dollars in repairs! Sickening!

I made sure to break any of those green blocks that dripped in case I forgot about them again. That was an awful thing to happen now...

I unlocked Improved Hydraulics, which saves water when drilling.

I dug further and found even more of those annoying bottle throwers in tight spaces, stupidly throwing their bottles at exploding barrels, Still hard to deal with so I went back to town to get a Hard Armour and some more dynamite.

I burrowed further, finding more idiots throwing bottles and dynamite. Eventually I found a beacon leading me to cave III at 399m.

I ran out of space to store minerals, and the journey felt really long back, so I bought all of Cranky's pouch upgrades.

I explored cave III and it was full of enemies! There was a lever to open a door and even more enemies came out of it! I had to use dynamite as well as my own fists to get through them all.

After those enemies were lots of bouncy mushrooms. I kept pressing on and eventually reached another new ability, the Fall Dampeners. I'm not sure what they are, but I guess they help with fall damage?

I badly needed the storage upgrade I bought. I headed back to town and bought a teleporter. I was really fed up of going back and forth and badly needed one now. I also unlocked the Swift Pickaxe.

11 steamworld dig - fighting back with the steam punch

Dear Readers,

I continued to dig and dig and it was starting to feel like I didn't know what I was digging for. I just kept going down. I was also starting to see green pools of liquid. I was a bit shy of jumping into them though.

Eventually I got a mark on the map as I kept digging down. I followed it and came across a cave marked with "II". I used dynamite to get the bottle thrower and zombie out of the way and went in.

Lots of green pools that weren't good for me or for enemies were in here. I navigated until I ran out of light. I decided to upgrade my furnace to a Coal Lantern at last.

I explored the II cave bit by bit, finding blocks that got in the way. I found one that let the ladder drop and allowed me to drill upwards. I kept going and found another ability, a lovely one called the Steam Punch! I can now shoot these steam powered projectiles through my fists! This'll make fighting enemies much easier!

I headed back to town. Lola said Uncle Joe would sometimes spend weeks down in the mine. Now and again they started to think he was gonna stay down there for good, which was true in the end.

Dorothy said I'll be getting to the bottom of the Old World soon and then it'll be too hot for any Steambot to dig. Speaking of the Old World, I saw many things down there like expired tanks and cars and dwellings in the background. All kinds of weird stuff from an ancient civilization. Possibly human turned crazy.

Cranky said one invention enables another and he was fine with technology, but what I was finding below was something else altogether.

Biff said before the war he and his friends used to sneak down into the mine and play games of dare. Some would come back talking about glowing lights and scaring each other like they were telling ghost stories. He said I didn't seem scared of ghosts though.

With my Steam Punch I can be like the guy in the song Sixteen Tons. If the right one don't get you, then the left one will! I'm just glad I won't have to buy dynamite every time I have an awkward encounter with the bottle throwers.

10 steamworld dig - bouncy mushroom cave

Dear Readers,

I went inside the cave at 273m and found that it was full of these toxic dripping blocks that melted the ground underneath. I had to time many jumps just right to climb all the way to the top. I got some blue orbs and a zoisite for my efforts. I cashed in and levelled up Biff's inventory to have a Gigantic Pouch that allows an extra slot and a Water Seal that lets me absorb more water from the same sized pool.

Biff said Uncle Joe used to order strange stuff like copper pipes and things like that.

I went back to drilling down through some treacherous areas with explosives and enemies, finding minerals, backtracking to cash them in and eventually I found a cave at 307m with a sign that said 80 on it for some reason.

Inside this cave was lots of bouncy mushrooms! I had to take care of a dynamite crazy baddie first but it was lots of bouncing from then on. I felt a little nervous as to where I was being bounced but it was quite fun. There was an area I couldn't quite reach but I found some mineral in a secret passage to cash in for another level up. With a dashing jump I reached the out of reach area and found some orbs. I cashed in and this unlocked Hard Armour and Huge Tank upgrades in Biff's shop. I'll buy them later.

I did buy the Sturdy Armour and the Deep Tank upgrades from Cranky. About time I did since enemies were getting meaner. Bought some extra dynamite too.

9 steamworld dig - biff moves in, discovering bouncy mushrooms

Dear Readers,

Biff arrived in town with his new shop, Discount Custom. I had a chat with him and learned he was here before the hard times. His second name was Beacon and he said I brought a kind of renaissance with me to this town. He was here now because the dollars were here.

To start with he had a Tungsten Pickaxe, a DrillMaster upgrade for the drill and an unlockable Oil Lantern, which he told me was the future.

I still didn't feel a huge need to upgrade, so I continued digging.

I just noticed the cave I found the dynamite in was marked "I". There we go!

I drilled further down more and more and found more pockets of areas filled with enemies holding dynamite and other stuff they wanted to throw at me. The townspeople called them Shiners.

I also found some fun bouncy mushrooms that I could use to gain height whenever I wanted to leave. They're fun!

Those spectacled dudes that throw bottles aren't fun though and all the dynamite the others throw make me nervous.

I dug all the way down, defeating various baddies and found a teleporter at 272m. There was a cave here too just to the left. I blew the way open to it with some dynamite. I'll explore it next time.

8 steamworld dig - obtaining dynamite

Dear Readers,

I started exploring the Old World. I found lots of new materials and a new enemy that ran back and forth like some kind of zombie. It also seemed to snore before I unearthed it.

I unlocked for the shop a Damaging Pickaxe, which helps with enemies and a Pressurizer, which reduces the water requirement for steam jumps by half. They seem handy.

I continued exploring the Old World and found a cave at 209m. It's about time I started marking these this way. I also found these barrels with red skulls painted on them that shake when I go near them. I stopped going near them in case they exploded.

The cave at 209m had this little puzzle inside where I had to burrow underneath the huge boulders and have them make a path above to some glowing orbs. It was a fun puzzle.

I found another cave at 228m. This one was loaded with those exploding barrels and dangerous jumps! I came across a new enemy that threw stuff at me too. I drilled it to defeat and came across another ability. I was now able to use dynamite! I explored a bit more, obtaining materials and orbs and blasted my way back out of the cave.

I backtracked to town. Dorothy said she believed Uncle Joe left this stuff for me to find like a trail of breadcrumbs to follow, getting me ready for something, but for what? With the new minerals I found, I levelled up, which brought Biff into the town with his building. Cranky now sold dynamite too.

7 steamworld dig - drilling into the old world

Dear Readers,

Cave III was a very big cavern! It took a while to get here so I already felt a bit antsy when exploring it. I sought out three switches to unlock three doors. I eventually found them after some exploring and careful platforming and mining.

The doors unlocked and led the way to the drill upgrade! I was now able to drill through those blocks I couldn't pick at previously.

The map encouraged me to leave the cave and dig down even further, so I did. I found a cave marked with a skull this time! I was tempted to turn around but I went in instead.

I found myself at place called the "Old World" and there was a pipe here that allowed me to fast travel all the way back to the surface! Yay! I was just about to buy a teleporter but now I don't need to at the moment!

I returned to the surface and spoke to Cranky. He said it was a treacherous place and he said the tube was more reliable than the glowing whatchamacallits. 

Dorothy was impressed with the new drill ability and said there might be a gold rush now that the Old World was accessible again. Lola said Uncle Joe wasn't easy to get close to and spent all his remaining years down in the mine, not bringing up much.

6 steamworld dig - digging a long way to cave III

Dear Readers,

After some more digging I decided to upgrade to a Bronze Pickaxe before following the map on the napkin Lola gave me.

I dug until I found an unmarked cave. I went inside and there were these gaps where I had to stand on the edge of the platforms to tunnel through. I found a couple of large precious gems. I forget the name of them now but I was able to upgrade the shop to the point where I could now buy teleporters! That was pretty cool.

After digging for another while I came across parts where I couldn't dig anymore so I upgraded the pickaxe again to an iron one. Then I found materials I couldn't extract so I upgraded again to a steel one. It didn't solve the problem but I was able to dig faster at least. It seemed to be the maximum upgrade, at least for now.

I then lost all HP when fighting enemies! It was a fright and I had to pay a huge percentage for repairs! I gotta pay attention to the health meter.

I usually pay the most attention to the map on the bottom screen. I love having it there and I wouldn't like to be without it. Moving on from the DS series of systems is gonna have some drawbacks...

I found another unmarked cave which had a pyramid of those tough giant boulders inside. There has to be a way of breaking them...

I dug up enough to upgrade the shop to carry Plate Armour and a Deep Tank for more water. I bought the armour for more health.

After a lot more digging I eventually found the cave in the napkin, marked "III".