There was a time when digging a massive hole in your garden would probably result in concerned neighbours and a call to the council. In gaming? It apparently results in another hit indie concept, because iDigging has now launched on Xbox Series X|S following its earlier success on PC through Steam.
And yes, this really is a game about secretly digging up your back garden while trying not to get caught by your nosy neighbour or the police.
Published by Dreland Enterprises and developed by TWEN, iDigging takes the oddly satisfying loop of mining, scavenging and upgrading, then wraps it all in a slightly ridiculous suburban setup where digging itself is illegal. Of course it does…
At A Glance
- Title: iDigging
- Publisher: Dreland Enterprises
- Developer: TWEN
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S
- Price: £7.89
Dig First, Ask Questions Later
The setup behind iDigging is wonderfully stupid in the best possible way.
Your life has fallen apart. Your wife has left you for the neighbour, your house is empty, you’ve got no money and society has somehow decided that digging on your own property is completely illegal because somebody once discovered treasure underground.
So what is the reasonable response? Probably to move on with life. The actual one though? Well, that’s to grab a shovel and start digging anyway. What’s the worst that could happen!?
That’s where iDigging begins, as players slowly carve deeper and deeper beneath their garden searching for valuables, rare resources, furniture, metals and hidden treasure that can be sold to rebuild both your home and your reputation.
The deeper you go, the better your equipment becomes too, progressing from simple shovels and pickaxes all the way up to drills, dynamite and increasingly ridiculous excavation tools.
The Neighbour Is Watching…
Of course, it wouldn’t be much fun if you could simply dig in peace.
The neighbour constantly spies on your activities and may call the police if he notices suspicious behaviour. That means players need to actively hide evidence of their digging operations using camouflage carpets, clever tool placement and other methods designed to avoid getting caught.
The addition of co-op support for up to five players probably helps too, especially as these kinds of sandbox games tend to become far more entertaining once friends start accidentally blowing holes in the garden with dynamite.
Digging Games Really Are Having A Moment
It’s surprising just how popular digging-focused games have become over the last year or so.
We recently covered the launch of Hole Digging Master on Xbox, while A Game About Digging A Hole ended up scoring a solid 4/5 in our review thanks to its strangely addictive gameplay loop. As we said at the time: “We were captive to A Game About Digging A Hole for two hours, and we just wished that there were more secrets to match the moreishness of the mining.”
iDigging looks ready to tap into that exact same appeal, only this time with added neighbours, police inspections and enough suspicious backyard activity to make the entire street uncomfortable.
Head on over to the Xbox Store and grab a download of iDigging right now.
