November Playstation Plus – Steamworld Dig and Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

The free games for PlayStation 4 PlayStation Plus subscribers are now available – “Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt” and “The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.” Though both games seem simple on the surface, each has a surprising amount of depth and offer a ton of replayability.

“Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt” is a side-scrolling mining game that draws influences from games like “Dig-Dug,” “Metroid” and “Castlevania.” You play as Rusty, a robot who has just inherited his uncle’s mine. As you burrow through the earth, you gather different minerals which can be sold for cash in the hub town above. Earning cash allows you to purchase upgrades which let you dig deeper into the mine as well as unlocking new items to purchase. There are many dangers that lurk below the surface and you’ll need to proceed carefully to reap the fruit of your labor.

Steamworld has strong Metroid-vania influences, in that you need to earn money and find upgrades to access new areas to explore. As you dig, you’ll find upgrades left by your uncle which improves your ability to dig and mine resources as well as finding unique puzzle rooms and challenges which can earn you upgrades as well as minerals to be sold and other items.

With seemingly endless depths to explore and a relatively simple formula, it’s easy to get sucked into Steamworld Dig. I constantly find myself wanting to put the controller down, yet go back into the mine for one more haul, one more load of jewels and minerals which will allow me to purchase that next big upgrade. I haven’t gotten too deep into Steamworld (because I’ve been playing the other free game a whole lot, which I’ll get into next) so I’m not sure how long it is or if there are boss battles but I’m going to have a fun time finding out.

I haven’t played much of Steamworld Dig because I’ve gotten really wrapped up in the second free PS4 game this month – “The Binding of Isaac – Rebirth.” A top down shooter that controls similar to Smash TV, there are two words that best describe Rebirth (as this version, which is both a remake and expansion of the original Binding of Isaac, is called) and those are “weird” and “addicting.”

Rebirth is at its core a parable, the story of Abraham in which God tells him to build an altar and sacrifice his son, Isaac. But that simple comparison is where the similarities end.

In Rebirth, you play as Isaac, whose mother hears voices, which she believes is God, telling her to kill her son. You escape to the basement where the game begins. Using your tears as weapons you fight off incredibly strange, gross and sometimes macabre enemies as you traverse levels created from randomly generated rooms capped off by a boss fight.

There are several different types of power-ups which grant you unique abilities and also alter your appearance. Also, there are many items to collect (money, keys and bombs) as well as reusable items and one-time use items. For example, there are power-ups which increase the range and damage of your tears or perhaps; there is a reusable item called the Deck of Cards which allows you to pull a card, each of which is a one-time use item granting different abilities. But there are so many different power-ups and items, it’s almost impossible to remember or recount them all.

Rebirth comes packaged with several challenge stages as well, which tasks you with completing the game with varying built in power-ups and items. There are also many different characters to unlock, each of which has different base stats and abilities.

This game is what’s known as a “Rogue-like,” in that each time you play, your experience will be different. Like “Spelunky” last month, the more you play Rebirth, the more you learn about how the game world works. Rebirth seems simple on the surface but the more you play, the more you realize just how differently any given game can turn out. Despite its unique, hand-drawn visuals, Rebirth can be pretty difficult and you’ll need to be committed to learning its intricacies to improve. But once you start understanding the game world a little bit more and getting a handle on how enemies operate and what various upgrades do for you, it becomes incredibly addicting and fun.

“Steamworld Dig: A Fistful of Dirt” and “The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth” are both free this month for PS4 gamers through Playstation Plus.