Deep Rock Galactic (PC)

Dwarves in fantasy stories face an all too common problem. Their insatiable greed pushes them to dig deeper and deeper, eventually unearthing danger their societies aren’t prepared to handle. The corporation Deep Rock Galactic has found out a solution to this issue though, because when it sends its dwarves hunting for precious minerals far below the surface of the planet Hoxxes IV, it arms them to the teeth with heavy firepower.

 

Deep Rock Galactic is a mix of first person shooter and a mining game, both just as important to success when it comes time to undertake a mission. Up to four players can head out together onto a hostile planet in this science fiction adventure, although if you are going to go solo, you are at least provided a handy robotic helper named Bosco who can serve as back-up for both digging up specific materials or firing upon the many creatures infesting the incredibly dangerous planet’s depths. Depending on the mission type and the region of the planet it occurs on, the exact goals and dangers you encounter will ask you to effectively mix self-defense with gathering resources or clearing out threats, most excursions usually having periods of quiet exploration where you put your dwarf’s gear to work searching for the objectives before the aggressive fauna lead to flashpoints of more involved action where you put your more lethal hardware to use.

The places you explore on Hoxxes can be quite distinct in appearance despite being hundreds of meters below the surface. Icy caves with windchill that can literally freeze you, caves with crystals that conduct electricity, and strange organic ecosystems with harmless large animals join the more expected rocky caves and red hot tunnels. These areas are constantly changing though, the game utilizing guided randomization to create large subterranean cave systems you’ll need to navigate to complete your work. That reliance on procedural generation can lead to some weaker designs, such as obnoxiously large vertical orientations that are hard to search, but those feel like outliers when generally you’ll get area layouts that help the game constantly bring fresh challenges and a persistent sense of exploring the unknown. There is no major storyline in Deep Rock Galactic, the player freely undertaking the latest generated level offerings with Missions asking you to clear a few levels of a certain type to unlock new equipment or features. The actual goals are made deliberately varied through these guiding missions despite the randomization refreshing level designs frequently. Some will be purely about the mining, the dwarves needing to find a certain amount of resources to harvest with the pickaxe they all carry. Others are going to be a touch more involved, refining missions seeing you build pipelines and defend them while the Deep Scan missions have you searching for buried resonance crystals so you can accurately set up a Drillevator. Some missions are more about the aggressive lifeforms you find on the planet though, dwarves sometimes being sent out to cull alien eggs, take down massive Dreadnought monsters, or even perform some industrial sabotage by undermining a rival company’s digging efforts. You also get secondary objectives to keep in mind that aren’t as vital, usually finding specific resources or doing some lighter extermination work on more passive creatures like Bha Barnacles and Fester Fleas. There are even potential complications or boosts, like an area providing more gold than usual or featuring an infestation of cave leeches that will snatch you up. The range of features to mix together guarantees a wide swathe of possible content even before you start to factor in how the dwarves themselves even factor into things.

 

Each of the four classes of dwarf brings something unique to the table in terms of how they fight and how they can maneuver. The Scout’s grappling hook lets him easily get to minerals that can sometimes be in high and hard to reach places, but the Engineer is the one who can create platforms to stand on wherever he shoots his specialized tool. The Gunner may be known for his heavy firepower, but he can create ziplines the whole team can take to help cross huge gaps. The Driller feels a bit less like a team player, despite the Engineer being the one who can literally build sentries so he might not need the help in combat as much. The Driller has the unique tool of a heavy duty digging drill that can carve tunnels quickly, this certainly having some use cases but at the same time he can feel like he’s left a little high and dry if you end up in one of the more complex area designs without other dwarves on the team to give you a boost. Cooperation with other dwarves is the key there, a team not necessarily needing a dwarf of each type but they do make the work go much faster and allow you to tackle the higher difficulty digs. You are free to set the Hazard Level for a dig before you head in, but while 1 is very easy and 4 is quite tough, levels 2 and 3 do feel like they struggle to establish a midrange difficulty. Hazard Level 2 is too easy, even for a solo player, enemies not coming in big groups or bringing their toughest creatures too often. Hazard Level 3 though can see that solo player being overwhelmed by swarms that crowd the screen with enemies, this clearly meant to challenge teams more but ends up a bit tough to call any hazard level “Normal mode” as a result.

 

While the dwarves all have a set of default weapons, the more you play as them, the more you can unlock. The Driller for example starts with a flamethrower, but invest enough time in him and complete missions successfully, and he’ll unlock a freeze ray and acid blaster that can replace it, letting you better tailor your fighting style for a character so that ultimately their navigation tools are the set in stone feature of that class while you can redefine their role in combat. Promotions let you take this even further, dwarves who reach level 25 able to start doing harder linked missions called Deep Dives but also gain access to Overclocks that can alter weapon effects in considerable ways. Couple this with a perk system that can give you new abilities like a brief midair hover or the ability to turn an enemy bug into a temporary companion named Steeve and you end up with a good range of customization for your diggers to motivate you to keep diving in and risking your life on Hoxxes. A failed excursion does lead to barely any rewards coming back with you though, and there are plenty of surprises waiting deep below because you can’t ever fully predict what the game might throw at you.

Glyphids are the game’s main form of opposition, spider-like aliens the size of dogs practically guaranteed in every dig but they come in a wide range of forms. Basic ones can be deadly as they swarm you in massive numbers, but they might receive support from exploders and web spitters to make you really need to watch where even these simpler looking foes might be crawling in from. There are giant glyphids like the Praetorian who are armored so your weapons fire will be much weaker if you’re not hitting their weak spot, and specialized bugs like the Stingtail can yank you from far away to pull you into danger and away from allies. Flying Mactera can introduce a bit of a variety, a good fit for sometimes spacious and sprawling caverns where they’re free to fly around and pelt you with gunk, but generally, contending with Glyphids and their variations will make up a great deal of the battle action in Deep Rock Galactic. There are foes unique to regions or dig types, Industrial Sabotage featuring mechanical sentries and even a boss fight that set them apart, but it can almost be surprising to undergo a mission where you run into enemies outside of the usual bunch despite there being a few outside the Glyphid swarm. On one hand it leads to interesting surprises, Stabber Vines giving their region a unique and intelligent danger, and even the Glyphids have rare types the Bulk Detonator that can clear out a massive chunk of rock with their huge blast so you suddenly need to consider where you even want it to die so you don’t lose on out on minerals. Your ammo is limited with digging unless you collect enough Nitra on-site and call in a resupply, even familiar foes able to apply pressure differently if you’re struggling to find that precious red resource, but it does feel like greater enemy diversity would help set apart the missions more strongly.

 

Despite Mission Control making sure you often know that the dwarves are expendable, Deep Rock Galactic is often a rather light-hearted game, the four classes enthusiastic to go digging even if they’ll gripe about some aspects about it. While they’ll banter and make observations during their work, one cute touch arises in how attached they become to their helpful hardware. When you find minerals down below you need to put them in your robotic mule, but the team calls it Molly and will actually call for it like its alive. Escort Duty sees you protecting and occasionally repairing a massive drilldozer so it can break through a heavily protected Heartstone, but the team has nicknamed the excavator Doretta. Despite it being designed to fall apart after a mission’s end, you can bring back Doretta’s “head” to honor its sacrifice. The dwarves can even get drunk and dance back on their orbiting space rig above the planet, and since failure often just means you head back and try again, there’s not too much of a problem even if a mission isn’t completed successfully. Many unlockables or cosmetics bought with the gold you mine can look quite silly too, the game embracing the boisterous nature of their dwarf leads by letting them be excited to go digging even when the man in charge reminds them they’re considered less valuable than what they dig up. Deep Rock Galactic’s format ends up feeling suitable for occasional co-op adventures, quick solo jaunts, and the kind of action you can play for a time and come back to months later and hop right back in, obligations not huge and rewards not keeping you too often from enjoyable content worth experiencing.

THE VERDICT: A great deal of variety is found in Deep Rock Galactic thanks to its range of objectives and the areas being generated anew so frequently, so even though the Glyphids feel a bit overused, the general gameplay loop ends up feeling effective rather than repetitive. The goals focusing often on exploration, digging, and mineral acquisition give you quieter periods where you’re discovering what makes the current area unique, but then enemy swarms and unexpected foes lurking below give you surges of excitement and danger to make the work livelier and riskier. A good deal of personality comes through as well despite the heavy focus on providing missions without a story to guide them, but working towards unlocking new gear and earning promotions still gives you objectives in sight to motivate you to dig deep again and again.

 

And so, I give Deep Rock Galactic for PC…

A GREAT rating. There are definitely going to be some mission types in Deep Rock Galactic that you might not like as much as others. Hunting down crystals in Deep Scan levels can sometimes be a bit rough as you’re trying to find something hidden beneath the floor with just a proximity sensor, Industrial Sabotage is a lot more demanding in terms of combat than other missions, and some regions on Hoxxes can be a pain to climb about in if you’re not playing as a more mobile class. However, Deep Rock Galactic also gives you some incredible moments of triumph because it has a powerful mix of objectives, dangers, and that all important need to get back alive. The drop pod that takes you out of a place when a mission ends can appear in a tough spot to reach, leading to mad dashes to make it out in time. A low health dwarf who has exhausted their revives and resupplies can feel that wave of relief wash over them when they find the health crystals growing in the world. There’s a need to be smart out there, measuring ammo usage so a big beast doesn’t leave you with little recourse, but cooperation, even when you’re solo and you’re just relying on helpers like Bosco and Steeve, can still lead to memorable escapes or impressive turnarounds. Each dwarf has a limited set of equipment but also that gear all feels very helpful because of the smart limitations imposed on you, but a team of skilled players can still face powerful opposition that tests how they can handle their work. The game’s longevity comes from how digging missions can take on so many different forms, the occasional duds leading to the rare grueling experience as the price for many more excursions being exciting and memorable. Area generation is probably where the game could afford to grow though, enemy types, more unique features, and perhaps some guard rails against the more obnoxious layouts a good direction to go, but at the same time, Deep Rock Galactic remains easy to jump back into because rarely do two digs feel alike. Nothing is guaranteed, which means sometimes working towards your goals is stymied by a tough barrier… that barrier reshaping into a new area entirely when you’re ready to play again and thus alleviating potential roadblocks and leading to frustrating designs disappearing.

 

Deep Rock Galactic is certainly a great multiplayer experience for people to hop into, see how they can work to develop their dwarves, and experience what new shapes the caves of Hoxxes have taken as it is doubtful they’ve played a level exactly like it before. Solo play is also quite tenable with the provided boosts and ability to manage your own difficulty, although Hazard Levels do feel more impactful for the lone wolf player. Some great surprises hide beneath the planet as well, special finds in forms of treasures and foes that keep the sense of discovery alive even once you know most of the Glyphid types you can expect to encounter again and again. Deep Rock Galactic hit on a rock solid design approach and iterated on it well with a range of mission types to keep it fresh, so even though sometimes an area you head to isn’t a great find, you’ll be hitting design paydirt so often that you’ll easily dig on through the tough times to keep engaging with the game’s strong mix of area exploration and violent action.