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Set on the alien planet Hoxxes IV, take on the role of a dwarf and venture into the mines to gather valuable resources and minerals either alone or with up to three other fellow dwarves, all the while needing to fight off the dangerous wildlife and environment in the different biomes of the underground caves. Mine valuable resources, kill bugs and, most importantly, drink beer.
Rock and Stone
A major aspect of Deep Rock Galactic that really works in its favour is the procedurally generated caves that you will explore and fight in. Every time you load up a level, the cave you arrive in will be entirely unique to that specific mission. This means that you will never play in the same cave/cave layout twice, as the entire biome is generated in its entirety as you load in. Yes, the cave has a start, a middle and an end, but each mission is perfectly self-contained and so that is not a problem in any way. The cave system may not be entirely open and connected for you either.
Sometimes you will have to dig tunnels to reach another opening, and other times the entire cave will be a vast open cavern. Each biome (of which there are 13 as of writing this review) are very distinct from each other, with their own natural hazards, materials and unique enemies all to discover for yourself. The procedural generation paired with the uniqueness of each individual environment ensures that every experience is different to the next- because what enemies spawn and when is also particular to every mission you do. There are many different enemies too, ranging from basic bugs that simply crawl towards, range bugs that spit acids to massive armoured behemoths that shake the very ground when they take a step. Between environmental hazards, constant pressure from enemies, swarms and the main objective, Deep Rock Galactic is wonderfully chaotic.
For Karl
All of that is before we even talk about playing the game. You can choose from 4 different dwarf classes: Scout, Engineer, Gunner and Driller. Each class has access to their own specific loadout and plays a key role in any mining expedition. Scouts have powerful flares that light up a large part of the dark caves much better than the regular glowstick the rest of the dwarves get and a grapple gun to quickly relocate, the Engineer can build platforms for everyone to use and has a deployable turret for extra fire support, the Gunner, well, has a large minigun and can deploy a shield generator and a zipline and finally the Driller has two massive drills (surprise) to quickly and efficiently dig through the ground and a satchel charge for a large explosion. Each caters to a playstyle and each class is completely viable: there is no “correct” class to play at any time- the choice is yours.
There are 9 mission types all with different objectives, yet all take around 45 minutes (it can take longer if the expedition is particularly eventful) to complete. The missions vary from filling a quota of a specific mined resource, to setting up your own refinery and pipelines and then defending that, to attacking and destroying a rival company’s property. The length of these levels (and how much you have to do) depends on the Hazard Level of the mission you choose. Hazard Levels also affect the enemy spawn rate, damage, your health regeneration but also offer a multiplier too, for a risk versus reward decision. On top of this, levels can have Mutators and Anomalies attached as well. Mutators could be that more enemies spawn than usual, there are more ranged enemies, enemies deal more damage or even elite, special bugs spawn more often. Anomalies can be double XP, extra critical damage or a special gas that makes you faster and sound like you are on helium.
It is important to note that while each mission can be played with up to 3 other players, it does not have to be. Less players means less enemies with less health too, and when you play by yourself you get a robot drone companion BOSCO. Deep Rock Galactic does function very well as a solo experience, as you can order your companion to mine materials, illuminate the area, fight enemies and revive you if you are downed. It all works well and provides a good experience for a solo venture, but of course it cannot replace the joyful chaos that is achieved with multiplayer.
Every mission ends with a mad dash to be extracted from the caves. The escape lands at some point in the cave and you must run and enter it, all the while being chased by constantly spawning enemies. It is a brilliant and adrenaline-filled conclusion to every mission that never fails to fill me with sheer desperation as I sprint through the tunnels we had previously explored while bugs quite literally are coming outta the goddamn walls.
The only slight criticism I can even begin to think of is that sometimes the environment can be a little difficult to work with on certain occasions. Required materials on the ceiling of the cave or needing to build a pipeline through a lot of the walls and floor to a refinery can be time consuming, especially by yourself. Even so, that’s all the part of job.
Ooh… Shiny
Last but not least: the customisation. You will level up each class as you play it, and with that gain access to alternate weapons and perks on a skill tree to tweak the class to your liking and give it extra buffs when out on the expeditions. Levelling up gives you access to harder and special levels, more rewards and further upgrades to your classes. Reaching the highest level with a class then allows you to promote them- a sort of prestige system which allows you to further upgrade your class. It also unlocks the Forge, which lets you use your upgrade and craft materials to even further upgrade your weapons by crafting Overclocks- endgame modifications which drastically change how a weapon works. Overclocks can have big benefits and also big drawbacks, depending on how powerful it is. And yes, each class has specific Overclocks. And of course, there are plenty of cosmetics (beards included) that can be unlocked or bought with gold. All of this is available in the Space Rig, which acts as your hub for all that you need.
I would like to give extra praise to Deep Rock Galactic for the fact that everything can be unlocked for free by simply playing the game. While the option to spend money does exist in the game, everything that can be purchased is cosmetic. The new content releases (such as missions and upgrades) that come out with each season update are all completely free, as is everything within that season. It is never forced nor incentivised and I really respect that decision. Finally, and this is something that I really admire, any content that you missed can be earned by playing too. Rewards (again, entirely cosmetic unless it is mission rewards) are in rotation and often appear again.
Verdict
I am really struggling to find anything really bad to say about Deep Rock Galactic. No two missions ever go down the same way with random cave layouts, enemy spawns and then mutators on top of that. Different biomes have their own hazards, enemies and materials, as well as the different mission types and difficulty levels offering their own unique experiences. Upgrades upon upgrades and customisation upon customisation make Deep Rock Galactic worth hours of your time and those hours really are just full of fun and chaos.
