If You Are Missing the Dread of Subnautica, Try Digging a Hole
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Polygon writer Claire Lewis shares how the indie title A Game About Digging a Hole successfully replicates the solitary dread and progression loop of Subnautica in a surprisingly tight backyard package.
Finding a game that captures the specific, isolating dread of Subnautica is notoriously difficult. Many attempts lean too heavily on dialogue or cluttered narratives, ruining that vital sense of complete solitude on an alien world. Writing over at Polygon, Claire Lewis recently highlighted a surprising indie find on Game Pass that manages to nail that exact vibe without needing an entire ocean to do it. A Game About Digging a Hole trades planetary depths for a suburban backyard, but it surprisingly channels the same psychological tension.
The premise is straightforward. You play as a fresh homeowner who purchases a cheap property specifically for the rumored treasure hidden beneath the grass. Armed with a basic shovel and a battery-powered metal detector, you start excavating. The gameplay loop centers on risk and reward. Digging drains your battery, and if you let it run dry, the tool explodes, damaging your health and destroying your collected ore. You sell your findings at a garage terminal to buy upgrades, refills, and essential gear like a cheap jetpack, but returning to the surface gets progressively harder the further down you go.
Just like the legendary survival craft title, this modest indie project succeeds because of its atmosphere. You are entirely alone in your self-made cavern, shaping the tunnels with your own hands and dealing with the consequences of poor architecture. As you push deeper, strange structures and unsettling audio cues begin to surface, replacing oxygen management with battery anxiety and fall damage. It is a short, punchy experience you can finish in an afternoon, proving you do not need a massive open world to deliver a genuinely memorable descent into the unknown.
Tags: Subnautica, Indie Games, Game Pass, Polygon, PC Gaming
Original article: Polygon