Bite-sized Review:
Drill Core

By Chris Picone, 27 September 2024

Drill Core is a resource mining game with a day (mining) & night (defence) cycle, and metaprogression between runs.  

Aesthetics

Drill Core is a highly polished experience.  The core game's all about cool little micropixel dudes zipping about on jetpacks pulling resources out of rocks while you construct buildings and turrets.  Everything looks really good although the turrets and levels can feel pretty same-ish.  Otherwise, Drill Core also features some really ritzy cutscenes and UI, lots of flashy special effects, and a great sense of humour.  

Gameplay

During the day, your little micro miners zip about breaking rocks while your collectors grab any iron, gems, and coal, which they return to your drill core.  Occasionally you'll disturb some wee beastie but your guards will quickly jump in and start shooting.  Coal allows you to dig deeper and progress the level but the other resources are used to construct turrets or buildings that allow you to research upgrades, train new men, add to your defences, or provide you with a range of bonuses.  It's fun at first but can get a tad grindy and repetitive. However, there are also a range of other resources that allow you to unlock permanent upgrades between levels that expediate some of this.  Once night falls, however, you'll have to quickly rush back to your core as giant rock snakes threaten your minesite.  During this phase you'll also be attacked by swarms of aliens that will chase you down the mine shaft. You'll need to build a range of turrets to protect yourself.  The turret points change as you dig deeper, which is a little weird and clunky, and you don't get new points every time you dig down so the slots are limited but you can upgrade them.  Many buildings also give you access to active abilities that allow you to fire additional weapons or send attack drones or a range of other bonuses; the interactivity is pretty good.  Occasionally a boss will chase you down the tunnel too, and that can get pretty intense. As you defeat levels you unlock new ones but I've found so far they all tend to feel a bit samey. Probably my favourite feature are the "qualifications" which are unlocked by completing secondary objectives.

Verdict

Drill Core is a fun mining game although it can get a tad grindy and repetitive at times.  The night time defender phases are fun, particularly the boss fights. If you don't mind a bit of grind and you're a fan of the genre, you'll have a great time with drill core. It's definitely one of the more highly polished titles out there. 

Links: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2821800/Drill_Core/