The Dig (video game)

The Dig
The cover artwork for The Dig, displaying the three astronauts in the story
The cover artwork for The Dig, displaying the three astronauts in the story
Developer(s)LucasArts
Publisher(s)LucasArts
Designer(s)Sean Clark
Brian Moriarty
Artist(s)Bill Tiller
Writer(s)Orson Scott Card
Brian Moriarty
Steven Spielberg
Composer(s)Michael Land
EngineSCUMM (visual)
INSANE (cut scenes)
iMUSE (audio)
Platform(s)MS-DOS
Mac OS
ReleaseNovember 24, 1995[1]
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

The Dig is a 1995 point-and-click adventure game developed by LucasArts for PC and Macintosh. Like other LucasArts adventure games, it uses the SCUMM video game engine, as well as the last SCUMM game on MS-DOS. It features a full voice-acting cast, including voice actors Robert Patrick and Steve Blum, and a digital orchestral score. The game uses a combination of drawn two-dimensional artwork and limited, pre-rendered three-dimensional clips, with the latter created by Industrial Light & Magic.

The game is inspired by an idea originally created for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories series. Unlike other LucasArts adventure games, which typically includes humor, The Dig took a somber approach to its science fiction motif. In the game, the player takes the role of Commander Boston Low, part of a five-man team planting explosives on an asteroid in order to avert its collision course with Earth. Discovering the asteroid is hollow, Low and two of his team are transported to a long-abandoned complex, filled with advanced technology, on a strange alien world. Low and his companions must utilize xenoarchaeology to learn how the technology works, discover the fate of the alien race that built it, and solve other mysteries to find a way to return home.

The Dig received mixed-to-positive reviews, with critics primarily praising its atmosphere and soundtrack. Multiple reviewers said the game's puzzles were too difficult, and other aspects, such as its graphics, voice acting, and dialogue, received mixed receptions. A novelization was written by science fiction author Alan Dean Foster in conjunction with the game's development.

  1. ^ Colker, David (November 23, 1995). "Lots of Mouses Will be Stirring". The Los Angeles Times. p. 343. Retrieved June 9, 2023. Visual effects are dazzling on two of three CD-ROMs due in stores for the holiday buying blitz...The big three CD-ROM releases of the holiday season are about to hit the stores...The canon of Western culture will not likely be enriched by the 11th Hour, Rebel Assault II, and the Dig, nor was it meant to be.