Burrow Down

What you do

A cozy digging game about a mole with a lantern. Under the garden is a column of soil nine tiles wide and ninety deep, and it gets harder the deeper you go: topsoil and roots, then clay, stone, deep rock and finally crystal caves. Every move costs energy. Digging costs the most, climbing costs a little and walking along a tunnel you already dug costs very little, so the trick is knowing when to turn back. The energy bar shows how much it takes to get home from where you are, and the Home button walks you back along your own tunnels. Treasures are buried along the way: buttons and acorns near the top, teacups and old coins in the clay, fossils and gold deeper down and moonstones in the crystal caves. Back on the grass they sell by themselves, and coins buy stronger claws for harder rock, a bigger lunchbox for more energy, a backpack with more slots, a brighter lantern and boots that make climbing cheaper. Your tunnels stay dug between trips, and each trip home the garden hides a couple of new treasures, so there is always something to find. Run out of energy underground and friendly worms carry you home, though some of your finds drop in the tunnel. Your garden saves on this device, so you can dig a little at a time.

• A garden ninety tiles deep with five layers of soil, from soft topsoil and roots to stone, deep rock and glittering crystal caves.
• Turn-based digging with no timer: every move costs energy, and the energy bar always shows how much it takes to get home.
• Fourteen treasures to collect for your shelf, from a lost button to a starry geode, plus the Star Seed waiting at the very bottom.
• Five gear upgrades that change how you dig: claws for harder rock, a lunchbox, a backpack, a lantern and climbing boots.
• Tunnels that stay dug between trips, a Home button that walks you back along them, and gentle worm rescues instead of a game over.

How to play

1. Press Start digging. The mole starts on the grass above the garden. Press Down to dig into the soil below.
2. Each move costs energy. Digging costs the most and harder soil costs more. Climbing up a tunnel costs a little, and walking along one costs very little.
3. Dig into a treasure to put it in your bag. The bag has a few slots; when it is full, treasures stay where they are until you come back for them.
4. Watch the energy bar. The marker on it and the number beside it show how much energy it takes to get home. When they get close, press Home or walk back up yourself.
5. On the grass your finds sell for coins by themselves and your energy fills up. Spend coins in the Shop on claws, a lunchbox, a backpack, a lantern and boots.
6. Stone, deep rock and crystal rock need stronger claws. Dig all the way to the bottom row, pick up the Star Seed and carry it home to plant it.

Controls

• Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD move and dig, and holding a key keeps going. Press H to walk home along your tunnels.
• Touch or mouse: use the arrow pad, or tap a tile next to the mole to move or dig that way. Tap a tunnel you have already dug to walk there.
• Use the Shop and treasure shelf buttons at the top, the Home button beside the arrow pad, and the toolbar for pause, help, restart, optional sound and fullscreen.

Tips worth knowing

• Dig one main shaft straight down and branch sideways from it. Climbing back up a shaft is cheaper than digging a new one, and the deeper you go the bigger the difference.
• Your first coins go furthest on the lunchbox and the backpack: more energy and more slots pay back on every trip.
• Hard soil costs more energy than it looks. Digging around a stone pocket through softer soil is often cheaper than going through.
• Worm tunnels are already dug. When you break into one, use it to reach treasure without paying to dig.
• A brighter lantern lets you spot treasure from farther away, so you dig straight to it instead of searching.

Accessibility

• Everything can be played with a keyboard: arrow keys or WASD dig and walk, H heads home, and every menu button is reachable with Tab.
• Nothing is timed. The game waits for every move, so you can take as long as you like to plan.
• Energy, the cost of getting home, depth, bag space and every find are shown as text as well as in the scene, and low energy is announced in words.
• Reduced motion removes the digging dust, the camera glide, the lantern flicker and card animations.
• Sound is optional and never needed to play.