Deep Rock Galactic is a 1-4 player cooperative first-person shooter video game where players work together while exploring procedurally generatedcave systems. Players take on the role of four space dwarves assigned to various missions, which include many objectives such as mining specific minerals, stealing alien eggs, eliminating targets, or retrieving lost equipment. These are usually the main objective, required to complete the mission. It is possible to complete a secondary objective to receive extra credits, which are used to improve the player's weapons and abilities of the classes, and experience points, which increase a players level. The game takes place in dark caves on Hoxxes IV, a dangerous planet full of minerals, biomes, and bugs. Biomes are where the missions take place, and range from galactic salt mines to radioactive tunnels. The main antagonists are various swarms of alien arachnids called Glyphids.
Classes
Overview
There are four playable classes to choose from: The Engineer, The Gunner, The Driller, and The Scout. Each class has their own experience level, with the player's progress shown as their player rank. Once a player has reached level 25 on a class they are offered a promotion, resetting their class levels and unlocking end-game content. Players can choose their class while in the lobby by using the character selection terminal inside of any of the players' bays. Each of the four playable classes has two primary and two secondary weapons options. Initially only one primary and secondary weapon is offered to the player with the other weapon option unlocked as the player progresses through the game. Weapons can be upgraded by choosing a weapon upgrade at specific levels. Weapons can also be overclocked, some overclocks add a small benefit with no downside, others offer a huge upside with a significant penalty.
Class Summaries
The Engineer uses a shotgun as his primary weapon and a grenade launcher as his secondary weapon by default. These can be replaced with an electrical submachine gun and a plasma gun which fires horizontal plasma beams. To support his team the Engineer has a platform gun that fires circular platforms, and a deployable sentry gun that automatically locks onto enemies. The Engineer acts as a primarily defensive class, utilizing his sentry gun as area denial to prevent the Glyphid swarms from approaching too closely. His grenade launcher can be used to clear large groups of enemies and his plasma gun effectively deals damage and strips armor from the larger Glyphids. He works well in conjunction with the Scout, who can grapple onto the Engineer's platforms and mine isolated minerals. The Gunner uses a minigun as his primary weapon and high-caliber revolver as his secondary weapon. These can later be replaced with a high-caliber autocannon and a rapid firepistol. To support his team the Gunner uses a zipline gun that fires anchored ziplines, and a deployable shield generator that generates a protective shield bubble. The Gunner acts as the team's source of heavy firepower and is able to kill a large amount of bugs quickly. His zipline gun makes up for his lack of mobility and allows the team to traverse difficult terrains such as chasms and cliffs. His shield generator provides protection for his team during Glyphid swarms, preventing most bugs from entering the shields radius while it is deployed. The Driller uses a flamethrower as his primary weapon and semi-automatic pistol as his secondary weapon. These can later be replaced with freeze cannon and plasma pistol respectively. The Driller uses handheld power drills to dig through terrain much faster than the regular pickaxe does as his utility tool, and a satchel charge that carves out a large portion of terrain, or kills enemies in its blast as his deployable. In most use cases, the Driller allows the team to navigate through blocked paths with ease, or forms shortcuts with the help of his power drills, which is especially useful when returning to the Droppod after the missions objectives are completed. The Scout uses an assault rifle as his primary weapon and double-barreled sawed-off shotgun as his secondary weapon. These can later be replaced with a semi-automatic rifle based on the M1 Garand and dual-wield machine pistols respectively. The Scout uses a grappling gun to quickly navigate around caves as his utility tool, and flare gun to fire bright, long-lasting flares anchored to the terrain as his deployable. In most use cases, the Scout moves ahead of the team with ease with his grappling gun for reconnaissance and aids his team by illuminating dark caves with his flare gun, uncovering hidden ore veins and dangers. The Scout is also able to mine difficult-to-reach ores or items with ease and safety, especially with Engineer's platform. However, the Scout needs to be careful to not overextend due to his limited self-defense capabilities. His weapons heavily favors a hit-and-run tactic by kiting around and hitting enemies without them being able to retaliate.
Reception
The Early Access version of Deep Rock Galactic was well received by critics, who praised the game's atmosphere and challenging levels. Multiple reviewers compared parts of the experience of Deep Rock Galactic to Minecraft and Left 4 Dead. The full version of the game was released on May 13, 2020.
