DIG VR Review: This Humorous Light Sim Has Its Charms

DIG VR offers an entertaining light sim with a great sense of humor, and it's out this week on Quest. Read on for our full review.

Comedy is a tricky thing to do successfully in games. Away from the luxury of scripted cutscenes where timing is strictly controlled, pulling off effective laughs can be difficult in a user-controlled medium. You wouldn't expect hilarity from a power-digging light sim and yet DIG VR has some of the most relatable British humor I've ever seen in a VR game.

That's mostly achieved through great environmental design and the setting, which takes clear inspiration from PowerWash Simulator VR. This campaign sees you accepting jobs across the town of Diglington in the County of Digshire, with tasks ranging from preparing the "Grasp 'N' Bury" music festival to clearing up a new estate for a pompously over-the-top elitist, Sir Harold Diggersly. You get the idea.

DIG VR pleasingly opts for an authentic motion control scheme with great physicality, using two levers for movement and two sticks to control your excavator's arm. You've also got optional thumbstick controls that swap between the movement and arm levers when pushing in the left and right analog sticks. It's a good alternative, though motion controls are preferable. Since you can't get out of the vehicle, swapping the arm's attached tools involves holding down the X button.

The campaign begins with more straightforward tasks you'd expect like excavating, penalizing you if you go dig beyond the boundaries or dump dirt outside of the designated area. Two difficulty settings also turn this into a risk or reward situation; Graded Mode is a more challenging but welcome option that deducts your rank for mistakes like driving or destroying nearby objects, while Zen Mode doesn't penalize such errors in exchange for a smaller payout.

Digging wouldn't be terrifically exciting on its own but the campaign maintains that absurdity by gradually introducing new tools. I've never seen such a multifunctional excavator in all my life. Drilling holes in the ground and attaching a buzzsaw to mow down trees is one thing, but it's very funny seeing this heavy machinery used for mowing patches of grass or hedges with an attached trimmer. Are there more practical ways of handling such tasks? Naturally, but anything goes in Diglington.

DIG VR is a slow-paced experience that rewards patience when things go smoothly. When I'm not in the mood for a fast action game, clearing through these missions with the in-game radio playing is surprisingly relaxing. The eight in-game stations offer some decent choices ranging between lo-fi, classical, and DigFM, and I appreciate how changing stations or volume needs your physical input. The developers didn't miss a trick here with its parody adverts too, which sound incredibly similar to something you'd hear across UK radio stations.

That's boosted by a vibrant presentation on Quest 3, which feels considerably polished for standalone hardware and fits the lighthearted approach well. Different skins, decals and paint colors offer some wacky choices like alarm clocks across your vehicle. It's a nice touch for those after some personalization, and this is where you'll spend your earnings after completing missions.

Unfortunately, a handful of issues leave me feeling frustrated in places across this campaign. Precisely aiming your arm with motion controls can be quite finicky, and that makes completing some tasks a chore. That's especially true with excavating dirt. I'd often dig up an area with relative ease, only to struggle with the last 10. Repeatedly digging to only get 1-2% closer to completion gets annoying fast, considering you also have to empty the bucket each time.

One mission involves clearing up a mess across a construction site, and compacting the dirt around the four sides of a support pillar requires frustratingly precise handling since a slight collision can penalize you. While Zen Mode alleviates that frustration, some vehicle cosmetics are only unlocked by achieving an S rank in Graded Mode. I want the rewards but not enough to reset a mission.

Another level requires demolishing a brick wall with the drill to help someone start building a fence, then attaching the grabbing tool to dump the remains in a nearby skip. Perfectly fine idea on paper but picking up roughly 20 different pieces when you can generally only grab one or two at once, depending on where the broken pieces landed, quickly becomes tedious.

Just Add Water has made a great effort to keep this premise varied beyond the main campaign. My thoughts haven't changed much from my earlier preview; the novelty of these mini-games soon wears off but there's still fun to be had. Bowling with the ball attached via string to your machine's arm got a few laughs from me, while scooping up balls from a ball pit is more challenging than it appears. Hooking ducks magnetically is my favorite with the online leaderboards keeping this competitive.

Capping this off are three additional modes. Sandbox Mode provides a useful playground to test out the game's additional tools, while the Lost Treasures game is a fun idea that leans into the carnival-style mini-games well. Detecting treasure using your bucket like a detector is a unique approach that rewards successful hunts with a new item, gradually building up a treasury at your warehouse. Online co-op is also supported across DIG VR, but I couldn't test this during the review.

DIG VR Review - Final Verdict

There's plenty to love about Just Add Water's latest game on Quest. DIG VR delivers an enjoyable premise backed by a vibrant presentation, comically silly minigames, and beautifully British humor. That's ultimately hampered by some tedious campaign missions and fiddly controls for certain tools, but if you're after a light sim you can take your time with, DIG VR will fill that gap.

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