Digseum - ★★★☆☆
Image: Rat Monthly / IndieLoupe
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Developer: Rat Monthly
Publisher: Rat Monthly
Release: 9 December 2024
Price: €2,99/$2.99/£2.49
Playtime upon Review: 2.3 hours (to completion)
For someone who has played a fair few incremental games over the years, I have a confession to make: I somewhat despise the genre. What starts as a dopamine-inducing rush to hit each fresh milestone quickly descends into a part-time job that demands your attention for quarter of an hour each evening, until you question what it is you’re actually doing, fight against the sunk cost fallacy, and abandon it altogether. That is, until a shiny new idler turns your head, and the process starts all over again. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to enjoy that initial rush, without having to commit to it for the foreseeable future, all in the name of incremental progress?
Enter Digseum, the debut game from developer Rat Monthly. Armed with a digging mechanic that likely feels familiar from other titles (notably Pokémon Diamond and Pearl), Digseum offers a simple game loop of Excavate-Upgrade-Repeat. The player is tasked with running a museum which, presumably through some awful administrative error, has opened with zero exhibits for its colourful little stickmen to enjoy. Ergo, it’s off to the Mud Pit to find some.
It turns out that giant feathers and golden monocles alone aren’t going to get you anywhere fast, so on your journey you go, unlocking new areas and upgrades along the way.
“There’s something inherently satisfying about Digseum’s excavation mechanic that keeps you wanting to go back to it. ”
Despite its appearance and what its Steam tags might have you believe, I’d refrain from using the term “Idler” to describe Digseum. My first playthrough was completed in a single sitting, only rarely waiting for my funds to tick up to afford a new upgrade. If doing so was going to take longer than a few seconds, I'd hit the excavate button and get to work uncovering a relic or two to fill the time. Would that make me reach the next milestone any faster than leaving the game running and doing something else? Probably not, but there’s something inherently satisfying about Digseum’s excavation mechanic that keeps you wanting to go back to it. The sound design, responsive animations and clean UI all tie into that gratification you get from each simple click.
As with any game, there are a few areas where Digseum falls short. While expansive and fun to explore, Digseum’s Prestige/NewGame+ mechanic, the Dream Tree, is arguably lopsided in a way that can devalue previous decisions if you happen to invest in the ‘wrong’ direction. In the search for the Dream Fragments you use at the Tree, relics can become somewhat irrelevant as you find yourself desperately digging for a final fragment before you prestige. Perhaps most disappointingly, one of the earlier zones which players unlock (Mount Stone) promises a uniqueness which is then never replicated in future areas - it excluded, each zone is mechanically identical, albeit with a pleasing change of decor and ground that's ever-so-slightly harder to break. With that said, for a game that costs less than €3/$3/£3, it's difficult to complain that you've not had value for money.
Unfortunately, it’s currently quite difficult to find anything out about the developer - a quick Google might provide a useful January horoscope for those of you born in 1996, but not much about Rat Monthly and any upcoming projects they may have planned. The end credits hint at more to come from them, and with a solid debut providing a Clicker that actually respects the player’s time, it will be interesting to see what they bring out next. Digseum is awarded ★★★☆☆ by IndieLoupe.com.
The reviewed product was purchased by IndieLoupe.com.
