Digging Together Review – Fun With Friends, Hollow Alone

▶ TL;DRDigging Together is the kind of game that exists because the concept – dig for treasure with friends – is inherently appealing. And when the stars align and you've got a full squad ready for some low-stakes chaos, it delivers exactly what it promises: dumb fun, exploding dynamite, and the temporary destruction of friendships over buried gold. But that's all it delivers. There's no depth beneath the surface (ironic, given the subject matter), no compelling reason to return after the initial novelty wears off, and absolutely nothing for solo players. At $5, it's not a ripoff – but it's also not a recommendation unless you know exactly what you're signing up for. It's fine. That's the most accurate review I can give. Digging Together is fine.

The Good Stuff: Chaos With Mates

When Digging Together works, it works because of the people you're playing with rather than the game itself. The premise is simple: everyone starts digging toward buried treasure, choosing roles like Digger, Scanner, Carrier, or Energy Master to divide up responsibilities. You can cooperate and share the loot, or flip to competitive Treasure Hunt mode where friendship means nothing and sabotage means everything.

There's something inherently funny about watching your mate get crushed by falling rocks they should've seen coming, or "accidentally" placing dynamite right in their tunnel. The physics-based destruction creates organic chaos – tunnels collapse, players get knocked around, and the race to treasure becomes a slapstick comedy of errors.

At $4.99 – literally the price of a coffee – it's hard to be too harsh on a game that's clearly built for casual sessions. If you've got a regular group who enjoys games like Unrailed! or other quick co-op experiences, there's a few hours of entertainment here. The stylised visuals are pleasant enough, and the pick-up-and-play simplicity means nobody needs a tutorial.

The Problems: Where's the Rest of It?

Here's where I have to be honest: Digging Together feels like a demo stretched into a full release.

The core gameplay loop is dig, upgrade, dig some more, find treasure. That's essentially it. The role system sounds interesting on paper, but in practice the differences between Digger, Scanner, Carrier, and Energy Master feel negligible. There's no meaningful progression system that makes you feel like you're building toward something. Once you've played a few rounds, you've seen everything the game has to offer.

The upgrade system is particularly underwhelming. You'd expect a game about digging to let you unlock better tools, special abilities, or interesting modifiers – but what's here feels token at best. The stamina system is also oddly punishing without corresponding upgrades to offset it, which makes the pacing feel sluggish when it should feel frantic.

Performance issues don't help matters. For a game with fairly simple graphics, Digging Together can chug in ways that feel unoptimised. Other players have reported bugs where co-op partners can't see tunnels being dug after a certain depth, which defeats the entire point of the experience. Some achievements are reportedly broken too – minor in the grand scheme, but indicative of a product that needed more time in the oven.

The Solo Experience: Don't Bother

I'll be blunt – playing Digging Together alone is genuinely boring.

The game is so clearly designed around the chaos of multiple players that solo mode feels like an afterthought. Without friends to create emergent comedy, you're just... digging. In silence. Following a map. There's no AI companions, no interesting solo-specific mechanics, no narrative hook to keep you engaged. It's the gaming equivalent of eating birthday cake alone in your car: technically possible, but missing the entire point.

If you're considering this as a solo purchase, don't. The game doesn't even pretend to offer a compelling single-player experience, and I'd rather developers be upfront about that than waste anyone's time.

Who Is This For?

Digging Together occupies a very specific niche. If you tick all these boxes, you might enjoy it:

• You have 2-3 friends who will actually play with you (not "maybe someday" friends – actual committed participants)
• You want something cheap and simple for a single gaming session
• You're okay with a game that's more "party activity" than "deep gaming experience"
• You've already played the better options in this space (Unrailed!, Overcooked, etc.)

If you're missing any of those criteria, your money is better spent elsewhere.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Tested with 2-4 players in co-op sessions and solo.

Life Meets Pixel is an independent gaming publication. We provide honest coverage regardless of how we receive our review copies.