[b]7/10[/b]
Drill and bomb through platforms to recover the stolen treasure.
[b]What is it:[/b] A puzzle platformer in which you have to collect coins and reach the flag. As a drill-bit, you can change the environment by digging through sandy soil. Later mechanics include megadrills, which can be used to destroy harder stones, and dynamites, which can be used to destroy sand or push away stones and other things.
The story: An "evil villain" has stolen your family's treasure and scattered it throughout the land. It is up to you to go retrieve it.
The gameplay: grid-based movement, you move one step at a time. You can climb up walls, drill through sandy patches, place megadrills or dynamites, altering the environment to make a path to the coins and then to the exit. You must retrieve all the coins in the level before you can finish the level. You have to be careful not to destroy the coins or the exit, since a dynamite blast, a falling platform, or even just dropping them off screen can make them inaccessible.
The concept is neat and could lead to interesting puzzles, and although some of the official levels are quite interesting, I think that the game could use a harder set of levels, perhaps in a mod. I particularly enjoyed the "Forbidden techniques" mod, it shows that there are some tricks that could be used to make some really hard levels.
[b]How hard is it:[/b] Easy to moderate, but the game has the potential for some very hard levels.
[b]How long is it:[/b] 46 levels, for about 1-2 hours, but there's workshop support for additional levels.
[b]Level design:[/b] A good start. New techniques are introduced in some easy levels, then harder levels force you to apply what you learned in interesting ways. The two new features are introduced in separate level paths before they are used together in the last part of the game. But there's so much more to explore, perhaps in upcoming mods.
[b]Quality:[/b] Good. Different profiles, good achievements, cloud save and workshop, undo and reset, controller support, a few settings, fast and responsive. Could use a few more achievements, a lot more levels, more settings. The game is open source! Unfortunately the level editor is a separate Windows-only application.
[b]Worth the price:[/b] Expensive for a 2h game, maybe if more levels are added.
[b]Most positive aspect for me:[/b] Interesting mechanics.
[b]Most negative aspect for me:[/b] Too short and easy.
[b]What would make it better:[/b] Add more levels. Make controls rebindable. Add a setting for disabling screenshake (and shorten or remove the delay it involves). Reduce the price to 5$ until there are more levels available.
[b]Also consider:[/b]
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/252410/SteamWorld_Dig/?curator_clanid=25928931]SteamWorld Dig[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/571310/SteamWorld_Dig_2/?curator_clanid=25928931]SteamWorld Dig 2[/url], another drilling game collection with a lot more drilling and fewer puzzles.
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1047870/Something_Ate_My_Alien/?curator_clanid=25928931]Something Ate My Alien[/url], platformer that also involves digging and puzzles.
[quote]For more puzzle game reviews, news and everything puzzle-related, follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/25928931-Puzzle-Lovers/]Puzzle Lovers[/url] and check out our [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/puzzlelovers]Steam group[/url].[/quote]
