As much as I’ve loved developer Rusty Moyher’s games over the years, namely the awesome multiplayer arcade shooter Astro Party and the absurd traffic destruction game Box Cat, there’s something really special about his most recent game Dig Dog – Treasure Hunter ($2.99). It’s so simplistic but at the same time deceptively deep, and features moments of twitchy action as well as moments of contemplative strategizing. In a nutshell you play as a dog who must dig around a level in search of a bone. Enemies and hazards stand in your way, but once you’ve located and collected that bone you’ll be whisked off to the next level. Repeat and try to get as far as you can. It’s a lot more challenging than it sounds.
So anyway, Dig Dog launched back in January of this year and for the first time since release it has received an update as well as a price drop. The main feature of the update is new unlockable color palette options. Any of the bones you’ve collected during a game session will be tallied up at the end of your game and go towards filling up a progress bar. Each time you fill up the bar you’ll unlock a new color palette which can be chosen in the options screen. This actually gives a nice sense of progression to Dig Dog rather than the usual high score chasing, and makes every run feel meaningful even if you end up having a poor game. There’s also a new Coin Bark item which allows you to shoot any collective coins at enemies, and this update includes some nice quality of life stuff like the ability to turn off screen shake and support for the latest iOS screen sizes.
Like I said, Dig Dog is one of those games that has that “special sauce" that makes for a great experience. It’s the type of game where you’ll be having the best game ever and everything’s going your way, and then suddenly out of nowhere something will go completely awry and you’ll find yourself dead, and after a nice chuckle you’ll immediately fire up a new run. It’s got that roguelike flavor! You can find out more by reading our review of Dig Dog, and if you want your mind completely blown, you can read up on how Rusty Moyher coded the entire game using just his voice. Look ma, no hands. And of course for the first time ever you can pick up Dig Dog for its sale price of $1.99 which is a buck off of its regular price.
