A simple and wholesome experience all round, there’s not really anything strictly bad about this game, I enjoyed my time with it, its just a basic fun time where you dig to reach objectives, make money by mining ore which can upgrade your tools and rinse and repeat. Its a satisfying loop despite the fact that it gets a little repetitive since I had to go back to el machino constantly to trade, but as you progress it does become less frequent.
This game has lovely presentation, a charming cartoony artstyle with a goofy steampunk aesthetic and a really quality soundtrack too, some of the beats hit kinda hard. I was expecting something with procedural generation or randomness not unlike spelunky or minecraft or some kind of roguelike, but its actually a very intentionally crafted metroidvania with thoughtfulness in its placement of enemies, ore, tools, objectives etc. There’s clear barriers for progression until you get new tools and said tools feel excellent to use, especially the grappling hook and jet pack which make traversal so much more fluid and fun. This is also a game with very little focus on combat, every ‘boss fight’ is crafted around your movement and digging, just as you’ve been practicing throughout the game (though ‘combat’ exists to an extent), which was the right decision, but still, none of the boss or enemy encounters are particularly interesting or enjoyable, they’re more of an obstacle and an inconvenience than something I actively want to encounter.
In general though, the game is fairly basic but quite effective and I really enjoy being given a far away objective that I have to find my own path to get to, all the while exploring caves (which offer some great platforming & puzzle challenges), gathering upgrades and becoming more efficient at the core gameplay loop, simple but well executed stuff. The economy and upgrade system is also very well implemented and balanced, allowing me to upgrade at a good pace but still feel restricted enough as to feel like I had to prioritise and choose my upgrades meaningfully. The cog system letting you take out and re-use cogs like a ‘slot’ mechanic rather than a currency mechanic was a great choice. There’s also tons of secrets to be found, a charming and generally jovial tone and the game is just the right length for what it sets out to do I think, an all round good, albeit easy and inoffensive time.
This game has lovely presentation, a charming cartoony artstyle with a goofy steampunk aesthetic and a really quality soundtrack too, some of the beats hit kinda hard. I was expecting something with procedural generation or randomness not unlike spelunky or minecraft or some kind of roguelike, but its actually a very intentionally crafted metroidvania with thoughtfulness in its placement of enemies, ore, tools, objectives etc. There’s clear barriers for progression until you get new tools and said tools feel excellent to use, especially the grappling hook and jet pack which make traversal so much more fluid and fun. This is also a game with very little focus on combat, every ‘boss fight’ is crafted around your movement and digging, just as you’ve been practicing throughout the game (though ‘combat’ exists to an extent), which was the right decision, but still, none of the boss or enemy encounters are particularly interesting or enjoyable, they’re more of an obstacle and an inconvenience than something I actively want to encounter.
In general though, the game is fairly basic but quite effective and I really enjoy being given a far away objective that I have to find my own path to get to, all the while exploring caves (which offer some great platforming & puzzle challenges), gathering upgrades and becoming more efficient at the core gameplay loop, simple but well executed stuff. The economy and upgrade system is also very well implemented and balanced, allowing me to upgrade at a good pace but still feel restricted enough as to feel like I had to prioritise and choose my upgrades meaningfully. The cog system letting you take out and re-use cogs like a ‘slot’ mechanic rather than a currency mechanic was a great choice. There’s also tons of secrets to be found, a charming and generally jovial tone and the game is just the right length for what it sets out to do I think, an all round good, albeit easy and inoffensive time.