Turmoil – the 2D oil-rush sim from Dutch indie studio Gamious – has arrived on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and the Microsoft Store with its third paid expansion, Deeper Underground, and creative director Jos Bouman has given Xbox Wire an in-depth look at what went into making it.
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A decade of drilling, millions of copies sold
Turmoil has been running since it launched on Steam in June 2016 after an Early Access period. The game is now available across PC, consoles and mobile, and Bouman told Xbox Wire that its reach has exceeded even his own expectations.
“After playtesting and calibrating the game for many months, we actually had high hopes that it could do well. Of course, the exact level of success – the longevity, the sheer number of platforms – still amazes us.”
The game’s back catalogue already includes The Heat Is On DLC (bundled with the Xbox version) and a substantial free multiplayer expansion. Deeper Underground is the latest addition to that lineup, and Bouman credits the team’s compact size for the deliberate pacing between releases – the studio could only prototype new mechanics once console, mobile and multiplayer work was finished.
What’s new in Deeper Underground
The centrepiece mechanic is petrol – a refined, more profitable resource that players produce by combining oil and water found underground. Unlike raw oil, petrol cannot simply be pumped and sold; it must pass through refineries, adding a meaningful planning layer to Turmoil’s time-pressured loop.
| New Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Petrol | Refined oil + water; sold via refineries for higher profit |
| Water | Found underground; enables petrol production and cheaper drilling |
| Dynamite | Breaks through hard rock that standard drills cannot penetrate |
| Rubies | New underground treasure to collect and sell |
| Deep Mode levels | Standalone drill-as-deep-as-possible challenges |
The Deep Mode (called “Deep Down” levels in Bouman’s own words) directly addresses a long-running fan request. Players repeatedly asked for more verticality, but Bouman explains why that couldn’t simply be bolted onto existing levels.
“That would harm a key aspect of what makes the gameplay work so well: the ability to see everything on a single screen, allowing the player to balance digging deeper with managing everything above ground.”
The solution was to make Deep Mode a wholly separate challenge type – strip out the storage and sales loop entirely, and focus purely on how far down a player can drill with limited resources. It sits alongside the new full campaign rather than replacing the familiar formula.
Song titles, future plans and two new games
Deeper Underground carries on a naming tradition – The Heat Is On nodded to the Glenn Frey track, while this expansion echoes Jamiroquai’s late-90s hit. Bouman confirmed that David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure” was discussed internally before the current title won out, and joked that letting song titles drive development goals would make Turmoil: Bohemian Rhapsody quite the design challenge.
On the subject of what comes next for Turmoil itself, Bouman stayed cautious: “I can’t announce anything right now. But as long as we’re able to come up with new and original content and features, we’ll be chugging along with Turmoil.”
He did, however, reveal that Gamious is currently developing two new strategy games. Bouman is the lead designer on one of them, and says some team members also worked on Turmoil more than ten years ago. No titles or release windows were given, but Bouman expressed hope of unveiling the project “soon.”
Should you pick it up?
Deeper Underground launched on PC via Steam on September 12, 2024, and is now available on Xbox as of July 14, 2026. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux on PC. For players who have already exhausted the base game and The Heat Is On, the petrol refining system and Deep Mode challenges represent the most mechanically distinct content the series has offered to date.
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