When the publishers sent us this game, I must admit that I quickly looked at the pictures on the e-shop and took it without much thought, because I needed something simple that I could play briefly during breaks when I'm not doing boss rushes with Warlock or guiding the souls of the deceased to the afterlife like Kena. Now, 30+ hours later (and still playing), I think I can say with a clear heart that I was wrong in my initial assessment. Because this game is like Marmite, you either love it or you don't. And I really love it.
What is it about?
At first glance, it's very simple: dig a hole, collect precious ores that you'll use to craft stronger drills, and reach level 999.
There is no tutorial, you move in one of 4 directions and that's it; when you discover something new, a help box will appear that briefly explains the new possibilities.
When you start, your drill isn't very powerful and the battery will deplete very quickly. Fortunately, you don't have to recharge it; it happens automatically, as soon as one battery runs out, a new one activates - but the used one goes into your bag and takes up precious space. However, you can buy additional bag capacity quite cheaply, and I would recommend that this be your first investment. When the bag capacity reaches its limit, you can still fill it, but your drilling speed will be drastically reduced, so it's best to go to the surface and empty the bag.
By drilling, you'll discover various types of materials that you can drill through more or less easily, as well as various ores that will be key in crafting stronger and faster drills. You'll also come across chests with various treasures, crates with equipment, torches, and bombs that will activate when you drill them - but don't worry, nothing will happen to you and the explosion will clear a large part of the hole.
You will also encounter regenerating blocks that restore themselves if you don't destroy them quickly enough, and you will mostly ignore them. Of course, not forever, because every 100 levels there will be a barrier of the same type waiting for you, and you will have to break through it to continue towards richer ores and unexplored depths. And to break through them, sometimes you will need to craft a better drill. And this is not exactly simple, but it is one of my favorite parts of the game. Each ore you find has a specific shape that you will recognize from one legendary game, and the blueprint for the drill will be displayed as a large shape that you need to fill with these smaller shapes to craft the drill. And now, you are playing what - well, Tetris. The smaller shapes can only be mirrored, but not rotated, so you will have to work hard to fill the entire blueprint. However, once you do that, you will receive a drill with 4 random enchantments that will greatly assist you in your mission. If you don't like the enchantments, you can pay to reroll them an unlimited number of times, that is, as many times as you have money, or hammers that do it for free. Enchantments range from faster drilling, enhanced drills, exploding ores, and a huge number of other useful upgrades.
Later, you will unlock the ability to combine the same enchantments into stronger versions, a teleporter that automatically returns you to the surface, the ability to enhance stats with gears you find in chests, and much more.
When you get stuck, you have the option to reset the entire mine - all your progress in depth is erased, but everything you brought to the surface remains with you. So you can grind until you are strong enough to break through to the lowest level.
And when you finally build a strong enough drill to break through level 999, a surprise awaits you!
What kind, you ask? You'll have to put in a little effort and give this game a chance. Or look it up online.
But trust me, at the price of €8.99 currently set on the e-shop, this game is worth every cent!
