One Man’s Trash: A perfectly addictive gameplay loop to be found in the dirt

Sometimes, games with the simplest gameplay loops end up being the most rewarding to play. It’s not about epic battles or prolonged quests; it’s a simple case of repeating the same action over and over again for increasing rewards. That’s exactly the case with One Man’s Trash. 

One Man’s Trash is a game inspired by the success of the former king of hole-digging games, A Game About Digging a Hole. It’s also inspired by the very true story of a man who accidentally disposed of a hard drive containing hundreds of thousands of pounds in BitCoin, but you don’t necessarily need to know either of those things to enjoy One Man’s Trash. 

Shovels are so last year

As much as the idea of endlessly digging a hole is massively appealing to my repressed inner child, handing me a vacuum cleaner and letting me go to town is honestly inspired. Maybe it’s because I find cleaning games oddly satisfying in their own special way, and arming me with a vacuum and sending me into a pit of dirt is like the ultimate virtual cleaning experience. 

The more you suck up the dirt, the more upgrades you can unlock, which enables you to dig up more dirt. Everything in One Man’s Trash is focused on the simple gameplay loop that’s addictive and satisfying in equal measure, almost hypnotic once you get a rhythm going, and endlessly enjoyable. 

Unlockables and upgrades

While sucking up the dirt and trash is enjoyable, there’s something about One Man’s Trash that’s even more fun: Unlockables, mainly in the shape of differently colored vacuum cleaners that become available to use by completing certain collections within the pit. There are trash items, which make up the bulk of the items you’ll collect, and rare items that really bring in the bucks. 

You’ll need to thoroughly explore the hole that you dig and all of the caverns that open up around that hole to find everything. The deeper you dig, the more variation in the items that you’ll find, and the more those items will be worth, which is important for upgrades. 

Upgrades come in waves, and you can upgrade things like the strength of your vacuum’s suction, the length of your rope, and the size of your inventory. Every upgrade makes subsequent trips down into the darkness of your trash cave a little easier, and you’re constantly working towards minimizing the number of times you need to return to the surface. 

You can upgrade individual stats a few times, and then you’ll need to upgrade your overall level, which is the most expensive upgrade of all. Paying for that upgrade allows you to upgrade individual stats again, and then the cycle repeats, with all upgrades getting more expensive the higher you raise them. 

Trains, worms, and pretty lights

The last thing I expected when starting to dig my hole was that I would eventually discover full-sized cars, trains, mines, and even a giant worm that seems intent on jump-scaring me at any given opportunity, but all of that is indeed down in the hole. It’s surprising, considering the relative size of the whole, and I’m not sure who’s throwing away entire vehicles, but they are a treasure trove of rarities. 

If you’re looking for rare items, then these “locations” are your best bet. According to the Steam achievements for One Man’s Trash, there are a total of 12 locations to find, and you may not find them in the correct order. I found train 3, then car 2, then train 1. It all depends on which direction you take and your digging style, but that’s the fun of One Man’s Trash.

Moving on to the worm, this thing is a monstrous beast, and you never see it coming until it’s right on top of you and you’re wondering why your health is going down. There is no warning to signify the approach of the worm, and sometimes you turn around to be confronted by the circular ring of teeth that make up its face. It’s the closest thing to a jump scare in One Man’s Trash, but you’ll need to wait until you reach at least 60-ish meters before it shows up. 

Would it be nice if you could get a warning before the worm is upon you? Sure, but provided you’re not already low on health from a sudden drop, you’re likely to survive. Besides, by that point, you’re probably going to be finding a lot of suspicious sandwiches, which boost your health by 25%. You’ll also be finding a lot of Whoopee Cushions, although I still haven’t figured out what they’re for. 

While there is only one light available to purchase and use, the color it glows seems to change depending on how far down you are when you place it. This isn’t a huge thing, and it’s a small detail that some players may even overlook entirely, but the effect when you look down the hole and see a kaleidoscope of colors should be appreciated in all of its glory.

All the options you need

One thing you can say for sure about One Man’s Trash is that it’s packed with everything you need and none of the bloat. This is obvious in every aspect, but especially within the settings. You can change all of the keybindings to suit your needs, whether using a mouse and keyboard or a controller, and the graphical settings can be tweaked to suit your setup or preferences. 

One thing that made me cheer was the fact that One Man’s Trash has the master volume set to 50% by default. It’s always jarring when you open up a game for the first time and are immediately deafened by the music, regardless of how lovely that music happens to be, but that’s not the case in One Man’s Trash. You can even turn the volume of your vacuum down without changing anything else, which is nice, especially if you’re a fan of the background music. 

You can save at any point, and load at any point if you feel like going back in time just a little bit. You’re not limited by the inclusion of checkpoints that need to be reached before you can save again, and there are no limitations to the number of times or how often you can save. 

In essence, One Man’s Trash takes the concept set out in A Game About Digging a Hole and improves upon the mechanics in just about every conceivable way. It’s an addictive, endless circle of suck, sell, upgrade, repeat, and it’s easy to switch off your mind while you get sucked into the rhythm.