Old World

The Old World.

The Old World is an area explored by Rusty in SteamWorld Dig. It is the second area in the game. It is found beneath Archaea and above Vectron. The Old World features rocks that can only be broken with the drill, corrosive green fluids, and is the home of the Shiners.

Story

The Old World is a polluted and dirty layer of crust, full of former humans who devolved into simple-minded, drunken, and aggressive creatures called Shiners. It's implied that Uncle Joe visited the area before Rusty, and left upgrades for him.

Gameplay

Old World adds new elements to the game, such as acid, which can either drop from the ceiling or form pools that hurt Rusty when he comes into contact with it. There are new enemies called Shiners that deal more damage than previous enemies, and take more hits. There is also the addition of Booze Barrels, which will explode after being hit, falling, or by Rusty or an enemy being in close proximity for too long.

There are two types of Shiners: regular Shiners are found sleeping in caves, flailing wildly when awoken, and occasionally carrying dynamite, which they will throw at Rusty; while Boozers, larger but stationary, throw glass bottles at Rusty. Boozers die instantly if they fall or are launched any distance.

Like Archaea, there are three upgrade caves to be found as well as other small caves, and a Teleporter halfway through.

In the third upgrade cave where the Fall Dampeners are found lay a hidden generator for Vectron. Destroying it is required to complete the game, while doing so before entering Vectron is required to complete the 'Sequence Breaker' achievement. The Fall Dampeners are actually not necessary to enter Vectron.

Upgrades

The upgrades found in the three main caves of Old World are:

• Dynamite - Dynamite can now be used and the player starts with five uses.
• Steam Punch - Another mining tool, that uses water and charges up to destroy blocks.
• Fall Dampeners - Stops the player from taking fall damage.

Trivia

The Half Life 3 easter egg.

• In the Steam version of the game, an easter egg referencing Half-Life 3 can be found at the top of the second upgrade cave (pictured to the right). It references the fact that the game still hasn't come out by showing it close to release in the alternate future of the series.
  

  Rusty outside the Super Mario castle.
  • The Wii U version of the game also has an easter egg, be it much larger. It can be found in the first upgrade cave by Steam Punching upwards, to the left of the entrance. Once the block is broken, a secret path will be revealed and lead to a Mario castle. Rusty can go inside and go through a small area based on level 1-2 from the original Super Mario Bros.. The area features sellable Mario Coins that play the famous sound effect when collected, as well as Mario-themed blocks.
    

    Rusty near the Warthog.
  • There's one more easter egg, that can only be found on the Xbox One version of the game. It can be found in the third upgrade cave, in Old World, underneath the area covered in mushrooms. A stick of dynamite is required to destroy the mushroom on top of the entrance to the secret path, which leads down to a small area containing a Halo Warthog that can be flipped in a similar fashion to the Halo games. Once flipped three times, a door will open to reveal a big orb. A base from the famous Bloodgulch map can also be seen in the background.