Sometimes a game doesn’t need a massive world, complicated systems, or deep lore. Sometimes you just want something simple, satisfying, and addictive.

And A Game About Digging a Hole is exactly what it says it is.

The “story” is basically just a fun excuse to get you started. You’ve bought a house and there’s supposedly treasure buried in the garden, so naturally you respond like a totally sane person and immediately start excavating your back garden like you’re being paid by the metre. It’s not deep, but it doesn’t need to be, it gives you a reason to dig, and then the game lets the loop do the rest.

No gimmicks, no pretending, no big sales pitch. Just you, a shovel, and the unstoppable urge to turn your garden into a Sarlacc pit. Developed by indie studio Cyberwave, it’s also free on Xbox Game Pass, and it feels like the perfect “I’ve got an hour to kill” game that accidentally steals your entire evening.

I loaded it up expecting to jump on for a little bit, and suddenly I’m deep underground ignoring dinner like I’ve been assigned a higher purpose. I must dig.

The Loop Is Ridiculously Simple, And That’s Why It Works

The gameplay loop is pure caveman brain in the best way. You dig, you find resources, you climb/jetpack out of the hole, you sell them, then you buy upgrades, so you can dig deeper, faster, and for longer.

However, your digging tool and Jetpack run on the same battery, and when it hits zero, it doesn’t just shut off politely. It explodes! If you’re still underground when that happens, you’ll lose what you’ve collected and take a hit for pushing your luck.

What I love about this game is how your progress isn’t hidden behind menus or numbers. It’s right there in front of you.

It’s the hole.

Figure 1: The Hole, Your Constantly Visible Progress
Image Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/designed-in-just-a-few-weeks-this-usd5-indie-game-about-digging-a-hole-has-journeyed-to-the-centre-of-steams-top-sellers-chart/

And every time you come back up, look down, and see how much bigger it’s gotten, you feel that tiny little hit of pride like you’ve achieved something meaningful for society, even though all you’ve done is damage property and collect rocks.

A big part of the loop is also how limited you feel early on. Your inventory space is small, so you’re constantly forced into these short trips where you grab what you can, climb back up, sell everything, and dive straight back down again. It sounds repetitive, but it actually keeps the pace moving, and it makes upgrades feel exciting because every extra inventory slot directly increases how long you can stay down there before you’re forced back to the garage.

There’s also a nice little layer on top of the digging, because you’ve got a metal detector-style scanner that flashes faster the closer you are to a buried item. It turns the hole into more than just “go down”, you start chasing signals for hidden loot like keys, money, and underground chests, and suddenly you’re digging sideways on purpose instead of just drilling deeper.

And it’s not just one straight drop either. You end up breaking into caverns and underground pockets that make the garden feel surprisingly layered, and the deeper you go, the more the game starts rewarding you with rarer ores. It’s a simple progression curve, but it’s satisfying, because it makes depth feel meaningful instead of just being more dirt.

Figure 2: A Mine Shaft Entrance Beneath the Garden.
Image Source: https://www.gamegrin.com/reviews/a-game-about-digging-a-hole-review/

A small thing I appreciated is how clear the HUD is. At a glance you always know what matters, your health, how much battery you’ve got left before things get explosive, how much money you’re sitting on, and even your depth in metres, which is a simple but satisfying way of turning “digging a hole” into visible progression. It’s clean, readable, and it supports the whole loop without cluttering the screen.

Crunchy Animations, Clean Visuals, Surprisingly Polished

For a small game, it’s genuinely polished. The art style is coherent, it looks clean, and it knows exactly what it wants to be. The animations and sound effects have a satisfying weight to them too, everything feels responsive, and the digging has that “one more scoop” rhythm that keeps you locked in.

The audio design matches the simplicity too. There’s some menu music, but once you’re actually playing, it’s mostly ambient sound, things like digging, birds, and the general outdoor atmosphere. It’s subtle, but it works, because it keeps the game feeling calm and oddly immersive, and it makes the digging itself the main “rhythm” you fall into.

It doesn’t pretend to be more than it is, and honestly, I respect it for that. The scope is crystal clear, and it executes that core idea well.

Upgrades That Actually Feel Like Progress

The upgrade system is simple, but it does the job perfectly. You’re improving things like your shovel, your inventory capacity, and your battery life, which directly affects how long you can stay down there before you have to resurface.

The upgrades genuinely change how the game feels minute-to-minute. You can improve your digging tool so it clears more dirt per scoop, upgrade your backpack so you can stay underground longer before you have to haul everything back up, and improve your battery so you’re not constantly panicking about running out halfway through a good streak.

And it’s not just “numbers go up” upgrades. You can also buy tools that make deeper runs possible, things like lamps to keep your hole readable once daylight disappears, and dynamite to break through stubborn rocks that you can’t be bothered chewing through one scoop at a time. The deeper you go, the more these stop feeling like optional extras and start feeling like your actual survival kit.

Figure 3: The Upgrades Menu/Workbench in the Garage
Image Source: https://www.gamegrin.com/reviews/a-game-about-digging-a-hole-review/

And because the game is short, the upgrades hit at a good pace. You don’t spend hours stuck with slow tools, it ramps up quickly, and before long you’re tearing chunks out of the earth like a professional garden menace.

It’s Relaxing… Until You Realise You’re Addicted

This game is weirdly calming. It’s repetitive, but in a relaxing way, like clearing clutter or tidying your room, except instead you’re carving out a personal underground empire.

It’s the kind of game where you can throw on a podcast, zone out, and let muscle memory take over. You don’t have to overthink it, you don’t have to learn complex mechanics, you just dig, upgrade, repeat. But keep an eye on that battery life.

Short and Sweet, But I Wanted More Depth

The main issue is that once you hit the end, there isn’t much reason to stick around. After the main story, it’s mostly just an achievements mop up, and while I did 100% it, I won’t lie, I wanted more.

Not because it disappointed me, but because the core loop is so satisfying that I genuinely wished there was more content built on top of it. I wanted to dig deeper, I wanted more secrets, more reasons to keep going.

Because the systems are already there. The upgrades, the tools, the risk of losing resources, the management of inventory and battery, it feels like the game is begging for a longer endgame where you can really push them further. More upgrade tiers, deeper layers, more things to find, more reasons to keep drilling down.

Unfortunately, there is a bottom, and it is not as deep as you think.

Accessibility and Settings, Basic Comfort Only

Accessibility-wise, it’s very minimal. You do get the basics, including master, music, and SFX volume sliders, FOV, look sensitivity options, invert Y-axis, and an autosave toggle.

But there’s no colourblind support, no text options, and nothing that really helps with readability or later moments if you’re sensitive to sudden tension.

It’s not a huge issue for a game this small, but it’s still noticeable.

Final Verdict, A Perfect Little Time Waster That Knows Its Lane

A Game About Digging a Hole is exactly what it says on the tin, and that honesty is its biggest strength. It’s polished, satisfying, and simple in a way that makes it dangerously easy to lose time.

It’s not a game that’s going to change your life, but it is a game that will make you say, “I’ll stop after this upgrade,” and then you’re still digging an hour later.

If you want a short, clean, oddly addictive indie game, especially on Game Pass, it’s 100% worth a go.

Rating, 3.5/5
Time spent, 3h16m
Achievements, 10/10 (1000G)