Drill Core uniquely combines elements of roguelikes, mining games, and tower defense. In a grim futuristic setting, you manage a drilling platform for a corporation that focuses on extracting valuable materials for profit, all while claiming to prioritize “safeguarding the future”—whatever that means. During the day, you drill down toward the planet’s core, hoping that you have sufficiently prepared to fend off the monstrous hordes of bugs that descend from the night sky.
The Foundations of Drilling
Stages, or contracts, are categorized by difficulty levels (1-10) and can take place in one of three biomes: Cavernous, Frost, and Jungle. During my 35 hours of gameplay, I primarily focused on the Cavernous variant, while tackling a few contracts in the other two. From my experience, I found that each biome presents unique challenges that necessitate adaptation; however, switching between them felt more like minor knowledge checks instead of fresh experiences.
Before starting a contract, you’re provided a digging platform that is stocked with an energy core, three types of buildings, and two basic turrets. The buildings consist of barracks that allow you to hire workers (miners, carriers, and guards), factories that produce construction materials, and laboratories that unlock upgrades for your workers. As you progress, you can unlock two additional platforms, each with different buildings and workers. I chose to stick with the starting platform to learn the basics.
From Dusk Till Dawn Till Dusk
You begin by directing your platform to dig down one level toward the required depth specified by the contract, which typically involves three or more levels. Throughout the day, you’ll direct your miners to drill through individual blocks of varying hardness, some of which contain ore or hazards. The ores that your carriers collect can be used for construction, platform digging, or for permanent upgrades purchased between contracts.
You can utilize the ores to enhance existing buildings, increasing their speed or capacity. Additionally, you can construct buildings that become randomly available as you collect Technology ores. These buildings yield both daytime and nighttime abilities, such as command over drones that assist with ore collection or ones that attack enemies. Technology ores also offer options for turrets and worker upgrades, requiring you to make frequent decisions on how to develop your platform.
It’s crucial to efficiently route your miners’ drilling to reach the ores that will help you progress through the day/night cycle, especially coals, which enable your platform to dig to the next level once you have collected a certain amount. In addition to careful routing, responding appropriately to hazards while mining is essential to avoid losses. For instance, drilling beneath a Boulder block can crush all your miners in an instant, while neglecting a Hatch block when you are low on guards can lead to your carriers being defenseless against newborn bugs, forcing you to spend precious ores on rehiring units. The act of navigating blocks and making spending decisions creates a tension that keeps you on your toes, but unfortunately, the lack of precise control over your units can occasionally lead to frustrating deaths.
When night falls, waves of bugs come to assault your platform. During the first couple of nights, they can be easily handled by your starter turrets. Though as the nights progress, particularly on higher difficulties, enemies can quickly breach your defenses and destroy your core, ending your run.
Nighttime generally demands less micromanaging due to brevity and fewer options. You can pause the action to set up the perfect shot from a rocket launcher or build a last-second shield to defend the core, but a lot of the action relies on how your various turrets are arranged. There are multiple enemy types with varying amounts of health, speed, and unique abilities, such as shooting webs at turrets to slow them down. Extra-large enemies appear in later night cycles and may require adjustments to your offensive setup to counter their attack.
Drill Core is at its best when your experience is put to good use, allowing you to effectively balance all the resources at your disposal. A genuine sense of accomplishment comes from successfully mining a surplus of ores while minimizing worker losses once you have learned how to mine quickly and avoid hazards. Additionally, it’s incredibly satisfying to perfectly arrange your turrets to slow down, weaken, and ultimately eliminate large groups of enemies at night. You’ll soon find yourself quickly finishing contracts that once held you back.
Cracks in World Building
Drill Core’s presentation feels disorganized. While the premise of the game is satisfactory, the objectives and stakes are not clearly defined. Additionally, the game lacks originality and cohesiveness in its art design. The sprites are animated with sufficient detail, and the effects suitably convey the actions taking place. However, the intros, menus, and in-game visuals fail to create a consistent or standout style. Lastly, the music is adequate but tends to fade into the background; a greater variety of tracks could help alleviate the monotony.
The Core Experience Matters Most
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Drill Core. Its approach to gameplay offers enough novelty, especially for someone like me who hasn’t been overly exposed to these genres. For better or worse, the game has some steep difficulty spikes. I found myself hitting a wall at the 8th difficulty level due to both the challenge and my growing fatigue. My experience could have been less tiring if the game had prioritized onboarding, providing more instructional guidance instead of relying so heavily on repetitive trial and error. Fortunately, I eventually found my rhythm, and most of my playthrough felt satisfying. Ultimately, Hungry Couch Games has demonstrated with Drill Core that they can create a solid game, and I will be looking out for their future projects.
