The Dig. Most underrated, groundbreaking games of the 90s

The Dig was first conceived as script for one of the episodes of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories. Then, it was supposed to be turned into a full-fledged film of the famous director. The plot was about scientists sent to an asteroid heading towards Earth in order to blow it up and avoid a catastrophe. On the spot, they find out that the building is empty and contains an abandoned complex of some alien civilization. The heroes have to decide what steps to take, discover the mystery of the aliens and return home somehow. However, the estimated production costs were considered too high and the idea was shelved.

Later, Spielberg was delighted with the adventure-game version of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, and it was decided that The Dig would become a computer game. For various reasons, it was the longest development process of all LucasArts' productions. The first meeting was held in 1989 at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, and the game only saw the light of the day in 1995. Many ideas were rejected during creation, because the title was supposed to contain, among others, RPG elements and some survival mechanics. Project leaders changed, and they also made changes to scenario and its main assumptions. One version was a bit dark and brutal, with scenes of caustic acid death, and Spielberg liked it particularly, but after hearing the complaints of a couple of toddler parents about the brutal scenes in Jurassic Park, he instructed to moderate the amount of violence in The Dig.

Despite selling over 300,000 copies in 3 years after its release, the game was considered a disappointment, mainly due to the huge development costs. The creators admit that it was a bit over hyped. Reviewers complained about too difficult environmental puzzles, more reminiscent of the Myst concepts than LucasArts' adventure games. Mixed feelings were aroused by the graphics that got a bit rusty, dialogues and voice acting was also scolded. Only the soundtrack and cutscenes were praised. Perhaps The Dig suffered the most because it was very different from previous LucasArts creations – much looser, with more humor for everyone. But it doesn't mean that it was a weaker position and that it didn't deserve a top spot among adventure games from this famous studio.

1. The Dig in our encyclopedia