Gelm
A mining pod with a drill and a glass canopy sits in a lit shaft cut through layered rock, under a dark sky with a large planet.

The game

Dig deep. Strike rich. Come home.

Deepstrata is a 2D mining game. You fly a pod into the crust of Luna, Mars, Io and Callisto, drill for ore, get it back to the surface before the fuel runs out, and spend the money on a better rig. Further in, you build a base underground and hold it through the night. Every site ends at a sleeping guardian you can fight or feed.

Play the demo on Steam Wishlist on Steam Press kit
Platforms
Windows, macOS, Linux / SteamOS
Demo
Free on Steam, out now
Full game
Coming soon
Players
Single-player
Language
English
Developer and publisher
Gelm

The demo

The Deepstrata demo is the first contract: Luna. Learn the pod in a training session, then drill 220 metres of strata, sell the haul, upgrade your rig and find a claim. A Sentinel sleeps at the bottom. Wake it and fight, or feed it and walk away.

  • It takes about an hour.
  • Keyboard and mouse or a gamepad.
  • Demo saves don't carry over to the full game.
  • Deepstrata is part of Steam Next Fest, October 19 to 26.
Play the demo on Steam

Trailer

Gameplay trailer, 52 seconds. No voice-over.

Screenshots

  • A lit row of base buildings in a gallery under Callisto's surface, with the pod docked above.
  • The pod drilling a motherlode in a blast-carved chamber 301 metres down, lit by arc lamps.
  • Creatures attacking a wall at night while a sentry pylon fires from inside the base.
  • The STRATA-9 Guardian asleep in its chamber, with the offering it wants shown below.
  • Io's surface during an eruption, the pod drilling into the crust beside a molten edge.
  • A claim under Luna's surface: Claim Core, Fuel Rig, Ore Processor and Upgrade Dock, with the pod coming down its shaft.
  • The pod beside its lander on Luna's surface at dusk.
  • The Proving Sentinel awake, firing a volley while the pod shoots back from below.
  • The Proving Sentinel asleep in its vault. The caption reads: Dormant, offering: 8 Cuprite needed.

Click one to open it at full size.

How it plays

You are a contract driller for REGOLITH Deep Extraction. You fly the pod down, fill the cargo bay and come back up before the fuel runs out. Then you buy a better drill and go deeper.

Digging

You can drill through almost everything. Fuel burns the whole time you are underground, and a full cargo bay makes the pod heavy. Dig under a boulder and it falls on you. Drill into a gas pocket and it explodes, along with every pocket next to it. Some dirt hides a cache: an ore vein, fuel, a relic, or lava.

Rock formations

Some formations have a rule you can learn. Stress nodes need relieving, pressurised seams need venting, thermal cores need cooling and brittle shelves need bracing. Do it right and you get a bonus on top of the ore. Rush it and the formation hurts you.

Six contracts

  • Certification, Luna. Soft rock and the first descent.
  • The Mars Contract, Outpost Karga. A lost beacon to find.
  • Ember Harvest, Io. Lava and thermal cores.
  • The Cold Archive, Callisto. Slow ice drilling and gas pockets.
  • Site Omega, The Rift. A bedrock maze, every hazard and the STRATA-9 Guardian.
  • Open Contract, Mars Deep. No quotas. Open from the start.

The story comes over the radio while you work.

Base and nights

Further in, you build a base underground: a Claim Core, a Fuel Rig, an Ore Processor and more. At night, creatures attack it. You have to defend the base and still keep drilling for resources.

Guardians

Each site has a guardian asleep at the bottom. Shoot it and you get a fight. Or bring it the ore it wants and feed it instead. Both ways finish the contract.

Difficulty

Every contract can be played on Peaceful, Standard, Hard or Brutal. Harder means more storms, worse caches and more XP. Peaceful has no combat at all: nothing roams and the guardians can't be woken. It's there if you only want the mining.

Play the demo on Steam Wishlist on Steam

Press and creators

The press kit has the fact sheet, screenshots, key art and logos. Contact: Julius, julius@gelm.games.