There's a new game making waves in the gaming community, and it's called A Game About Digging A Hole. Don't let the straightforward title fool you - this indie hit has been making waves on consoles, and one reader is here to give their verdict on it.
The game starts with a bang - or rather, the sound of a van pulling up on a sunny suburban street. The driver hops out and nails a notice to a public noticeboard before driving off. As we zoom in on the notice, we see a brightly colored advert that reads: "House For Sale. Only 10,000$. With Gold Treasure In the Garden! Buy Now & Get Rich!" And just like that, A Game About Digging A Hole begins.
The game is played in first-person view, and you start off in the backyard of the house you just bought. You'll also find a Super Mega Digger 3000 Ultimate 2.0 Detector Set, the primary tool for this game, waiting for you. The game takes place in two locations - your backyard and your garage. Unfortunately, the main part of the house is off-limits, at least for now.
Heading into the garage, you'll find a workbench and a computer. The computer allows you to sell the ores and items you find while digging, which helps you accumulate funds. The workbench, on the other hand, is where you can use those funds to upgrade your shovel or buy a jetpack, which will come in handy later on. You can also replenish your battery and health here, and even purchase dynamite and lamps for deeper digging.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's talk about the actual digging. Once you step outside into the sunlit backyard, you'll see an X marked on the grass. But don't let that fool you - you can start digging anywhere on the lawn. On PlayStation 5, all you have to do is pull the right trigger on the controller, and your battery-powered shovel will take a bite out of the ground. As you dig, you'll uncover various ores, starting with stones and coal. These items will be automatically stored in your inventory, which unfortunately fills up quickly in the beginning.
Once your inventory is full, you can keep digging, but any new ores you find will be destroyed. So it's best to head back to the garage, sell what you've found, and use the funds to upgrade your equipment. Trust us, you'll need those upgrades because without them, your battery charge won't last long.
At first, the gameplay may seem repetitive - dig, sell, upgrade, repeat. But the more you play, the more addictive it becomes. You'll find yourself asking questions like, "How deep can I go?" or "How powerful are those $100 sticks of dynamite?" and "Where is that buried treasure?" Your current depth is displayed on the left side of the screen, and the anticipation of what you'll find next is magnetic.
As you dig deeper and deeper, you'll discover new, more valuable minerals. And as you get closer to these objects of interest, your Super Mega Digger 3000 will reveal extra sensors to help you locate them. But beware, you're not alone down there. There are subterranean structures waiting to be discovered, and towards the end of the game, you'll come face to face with a bestial creature that will send shivers down your spine. That's when you'll need to use your jetpack to escape back to the surface.
A Game About Digging A Hole may be short and may not have much replay value, but for the price of a movie rental, it's well worth a few hours of your time. Just remember to be careful - no matter how deep you dig your hole, make sure you can get out of it again. And who knows, maybe you'll find that buried treasure after all.
As one reader, Michael Veal, puts it, "A Game About Digging A Hole is a very deep game." And we couldn't agree more.
