The DiG Game Poster

The Dig is a point-and-click adventure game developed by LucasArts and released in 1995 as a CD-ROM for PC and Macintosh computers. Like other LucasArts adventure games, it uses the SCUMM video game engine. It also features a full voice-acting cast, including notable voice actors Robert Patrick and Steven Blum, and a digital orchestral score. The game uses a combination of drawn two-dimensional artwork and limited, pre-rendered three-dimensional movies, 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 included a good deal of 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 suddenly 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, but mostly positive reviews, with critics primarily praising its atmosphere and soundtrack. Multiple reviewers said the game’s puzzles were too difficult, and other aspects of the game, such as its graphics, voice acting, and dialogue, received mixed receptions. A novelization of the game was written by science fiction author Alan Dean Foster in conjunction with the game’s development.