Natalie's Review Bunker

Started by Natalie, December 29, 2022, 09:59:21 PM

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Natalie

"Remember Natalie? She's back - in blog form!"

Have you ever wished you could just turn on your computer and see someone's unqualified opinions on your favourite media? In the past, such a thing has been unimaginable, a false creation of a heat-oppressed brain. But thanks to new advancements in technology, CalRef is now able to offer you this exclusive service!

Seriously though, I miss being good at writing. I used to be a real writer, you know, someone who's never happy with anything they write, and now look at me. It's been so long since I've written anything I've forgotten how to hate it. It simply won't do. I've decided a goal of mine for 2023 is to look for more creative outlets, so this topic is going to either collect various media reviews written throughout the coming year or die as a monument to my personal failings. It'd be cool to get some feedback on these since I'm really rusty at this sort of thing, but mostly I'm just trying to keep myself honest. Please enjoy.

Natalie

There's a concept that comes up a lot in designing and analyzing video games: the gameplay loop. A gameplay loop is the broad, abstract set of actions the player is frequently performing throughout the game. In Halo, you could say the core loop is entering an area, locating enemies, killing them, and figuring out which way to go next. In Super Mario 64, it's entering a painting, selecting a star, and exploring until you figure out how to get it. Of course, each iteration of this loop might feel vastly different to the player. It's not a bad thing, nor is it a critique, but it's present. I recommend Action Button's review of The Last of Us for much deeper insight into the development of top down cyclical gameplay in a game that does its best to disguise it.

What's interesting is that some games don't even try to hide it, presenting a loop as a matter of fact. This shows up a lot in roguelikes, where the repetitive nature of beginning new runs is central, and it's perhaps most fully embraced by idle and clicker games where the only gameplay involves waiting for time to elapse. It's strange, right? Lots of titles emphasize plot and spectacle and emotion and variance in ways that make it feel like we're constantly experiencing something new, yet there's a certain comfort in the discovery of a routine.

It's that sense of routine that bridges SteamWorld Dig 2 to its predecessor and distinguishes it from other games in its genre. If you haven't played the first, the general premise is that you're a robot in a steampunk western town, digging down into the mine below the city to kill monsters and find resources you can sell on the surface. That right there is your loop: enter the mine, dig in an area you haven't finished digging in yet to find stuff, and return to town when your health runs low or your pockets get full so you can get cash and buy upgrades. But SteamWorld Dig 2 isn't a roguelike - indeed, the mine permanently retains almost all the changes you make to it rather than resetting or randomizing. Rather, it's a Metroidvania (AKA Igavania [AKA Castleroid]). This is where the game shows the most growth from its predecessor, with a fairly large, less linear world to explore and key items allowing access to new areas throughout, and it adds a new wrinkle to the loop: searching for secrets.

Qualitative analysis time: I like the repetition of SWD's game loop. Burrowing deeper and deeper through the mines, discovering new types of ores and enemies and key locations. It's comfortable. And it's also a little personal in the way you can decide how to approach your mining and get used to the tunnels you create. I would probably play a roguelike or pseudo-endless version of this game for longer than I should admit. But the way it combines with the new exploration elements is awkward at times. A big part of this is that you have several distinct mines now rather than just one. Each new mine you enter starts with the weak enemies and low value materials you'll have long since outgrown, and each mine also ends rather unceremoniously. The game's two overworld sections have very little meat or challenge. Because of this, there are portions of the journey where the routine becomes a bit of a chore as you studiously explore in the absence of any real tension, only surfacing because your torch keeps running out, and this is where the overt loopiness of the game flow starts to wear thin. Most Castleroids only draw you back the hub by offering you utility; SWD2 has limited inventory space, limited lantern fuel, and areas so cumbersome to navigate that you'd rather fast travel home and back out to another warp. In practice, I think any one of these would have been enough. With all three, you can only get so much done before that loop kicks in and interrupts your travels.

But the bigger issue from this world structure is the secret-gathering. Deeply hidden secret areas in Metroidvanias can be great; I love Symphony of the Night, and some of the rooms in that castle are pretty obscure. But most Metroidvanias present you with a largely static world to parse and navigate. SWD2 has a few consistent ways in which it telegraphs its secrets, but by asking you to make your own path through the mines it removes its own ability to guide you. As a result, a lot of hidden areas require you to dutifully dig to the edges of the map to check for false walls or breakable blocks, and in low-light areas it's even more difficult to spot. There is an unlockable ability to make these locations easier to spot, but it doesn't come until late in the game and doesn't show on your minimap, meaning you'll still have to scour every inch to see those sparkling blocks. (Or look up a user-made map, which I did for the last five or so secrets I missed.) I should stress, you don't need to do this to beat the game, but a neat postgame challenge is locked behind 100% completion. And the end result is that if you're going for completion without using external help, SWD2 asks for a lot of your time.

Well, a lot of time relative to the overall game length. Unlike some people, I found SWD2 disappointingly short. I beat the game with a fairly high completion percentage in about 10 hours, then spent another few hunting for secrets before using a map to find the remainder and maybe 60-90 minutes on the final secret. I've got 15 hours on file and a solid hour of that was me being AFK, so factor that however you like. The ending also felt a little underbaked, unfortunately. I won't go into details here but the conclusion was so abrupt and brisk that it slightly undercut my previous investment in the world and left me feeling like something was missing.

Let's talk positives, though. Despite my quibbles with the overall flow, the core gameplay loop is still really good for most of the duration. I haven't talked about the puzzles which appear in caves, but they're generally fun and not too tricky. The game's Metroid-style upgrades are satisfyingly powerful and significantly increase your mobility and options in a way I really liked. And the overall gamefeel is pretty nice, with only occasional hiccups in what are otherwise solid physics. On the story side, the writing is fine, if a tad predictable. But my favourite aspect was the cog system. Replacing the linear equipment purchases of SWD1, you unlock blueprints for upgrades to your various abilities. You can toggle these on and off from town, but each one requires a certain number of golden cogs to use, which you find by solving puzzles and discovering secrets. It's effectively the same as the badge system in Paper Mario, except you find badge points in the wild. You're actually given good reasons to change up your loadout for different locations and it encourages going out of your way to try and get extra cogs to kit yourself out. More games should explore this type of progression.

This is the part of the review where you're supposed to tell the audience if the game is worth it, but I don't think that's super useful for indie releases like this. This game regularly goes on sale for $5 or less. If you're reading this, you're probably curious enough to get your money's worth out of it. The real question is whether this game is worth your time, and I'd say... probably? If you liked digging around in the mine in the first game, you'll probably like doing more of that here. And if you're a big Metroidvania fan who's already played the big ones, this is a nice palate cleanser. For anyone new to that genre, there are several games I'd prioritize higher than this one unless the steampunk mining overtone really speaks to you, but SteamWorld Dig 2 is well-polished and more than playable enough to warrant a positive outlook, even if the parts don't come together how I'd like.

Recommended If You Like: SteamWorld Dig; the "Drindy Adventure" mode in Mr. Driller DrillLand; the idea of playing Spelunky but not its difficulty level

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CalRef-exclusive bonus feature: The main character, Dorothy, is often referred to as Dot. This grows the Dot Cinematic Universe by one.