When it comes to simulation games I’ve learned to expect the unexpected. Traditionally this genre would try to tackle things that were quite complex, like flying a plane or trying to get to the stars, but in the last generation all manner of odd jobs got their turn at bat, as the genre shifted in a more simplified direction. With the very literally-named A Game About Digging a Hole, it appears that the level of complexity has once again shifted even further towards simplicity, though that isn’t to say it doesn’t at least throw some surprises at you.

As the title states, this game is all about digging a hole. Drawn in by the promise of some buried loot in the back yard, you’ll set about finding it, starting your dig on a spray painted X with a humble shovel and the hopes of finding something of value. Getting started is a bit of a slog, with you simply pulling out some rocks and other low-value minerals, but you’ll at least be able to get enough money from them to continue your project, even getting the opportunity to expand a bit with better equipment. Then, a bit further down, you’ll find your first stash of money, but there’s more, as you’ll encounter some open areas, and a little more than you’d initially bargained for.

The challenge here, aside from the simple matter of having the patience to slowly get started and stay determined to keep going, is mostly with execution. Unsurprisingly, your digging is implemented in an odd way, almost removing what amounts to globs of dirt somewhat awkwardly from the landscape, deforming the soil in unusual ways. Unfortunately, the remaining soil isn’t subject to gravity, so you’ll periodically bump into floating bits that aren’t always easy to get out of the way, and yet they’ll still block you. As you keep making more money you’ll also have the chance to use dynamite as a tool, and its implementation is even more sketchy and wildly inconsistent. It’s really only effective at clearing very hard materials, throwing it into the hole to try to clear a bunch of land at once does nothing at all, but even then problems with it simply clipping through the soil to go somewhere you didn’t intend can also make it fail you when you’re trying to use it properly. 

The problem here is that with a pretty narrow range of gameplay elements that needed to be implemented, some key ones weren’t handled as well as they should have. Throw in a relatively short runtime of a few hours, and the somewhat uneven experience of trying to clear areas well enough to not constantly get caught on little bits of dirt and rough edges while trying to ascend back out of your hole, and this has some sim appeal, but with some notable caveats.