Motherload
Dig straight down on Mars in a drilling pod, sell what you find, upgrade the pod, and go deeper than the last run could survive.
Motherload is XGen Studios' mining game, and its whole structure is a loop you tighten yourself. You fly a pod down into the Martian crust, drill through dirt, haul ore back to the surface, and spend the money on a better drill, a bigger fuel tank, more cargo space and a stronger hull. Each upgrade buys you a few hundred more metres of depth.
What kills runs is not the depth itself but forgetting the trip home. Fuel is consumed on the way down and on the way back, gas pockets and lava appear as you go deeper, and a full cargo hold with an empty tank is a dead pod. There is a story at the bottom, and most players hit the fuel wall several times before they see it.
Controls
Arrow keys to fly and drill, space or Z to use items, return to the surface to sell
Tips
- Buy fuel tank upgrades before drill upgrades. A better drill just gets you deeper into a hole you cannot climb out of.
- Turn around at half a tank, not a quarter. The climb back costs more fuel than the descent did because you are carrying ore.
- Dig diagonally rather than straight down. It costs a little more time and gives you far more ore per trip.