Deep Rock Galactic Preview

“The only good bug is a dead bug!” This quote from the movie Starship Troopers has been yelled by me so many times while playing Deep Rock Galactic that I think I may have to start paying royalties soon. Oh well. This game brings out the front-line infantry in me.

As mentioned in our previous preview, Deep Rock Galactic is a 1 – 4 player online first-person shooter developed by Ghost Ship Games and launched on the 18th of February 2018 on Steam Early Access and Xbox One Preview. A year later, this game feels so polished with much improved graphics, new skins, better animations, more missions, and new enemies. I have to say, the developers at Ghost Ship Games have not been slacking off at all.

Deep Rock Galactic is unique in that there are many different maps to choose from. However, once you select an area, the maps are all randomly generated. These can range from being very simple and small caves to being enormous caverns where one can easily get lost. There are four different classes to choose from: Gunner, Driller, Scout, and Engineer. Each class is unique and has their own set of weapons. For the tutorial, you will start off as a Gunner just to get a feel for the game. What is truly great about this game is that one can play as a complete newbie or play as a veteran and still have a lot of fun. Below, I will list some of the many changes and features of Deep Rock Galactic that has been made since its initial debut.

The graphics and animations have been dramatically improved from a year ago. Now, everything looks crisp and clear. Before, the bugs would just charge at you and attack with only one animation. Enemies are now even more varied and terrifying. They have added bugs that will burrow and pop up in front or behind you. They have exploding bugs that will leave craters on the ground. There are bugs that will fly towards you and grab you. They even added a bug that heals other bugs! All of them are terrifying and so satisfying to kill. Bugs are smarter and will actively try to surround you. New attack animations have been added such as sideswipes. Some of the smaller ones will even jump at you. Let me tell you; nothing is more terrifying than seeing a swarm of bugs un-burrow in the distance and start climbing the walls to get the drop on you. You have two options: stand your ground and fight or run away screaming. I usually choose to run away screaming. That usually ends well. (It does not)

Gun skins have more options as well as more ways to customize how you want your gun to work. Of course, you have to level up but that can be easily done. The developers made this game with casual gamers as well as hardcore gamers in mind. There is no pay-to-win for this game. Grenades for each type of class are also in the works and we can expect another big update on this in early May of 2019.

New missions since the first release have also been added. Now, instead of just mining for Mortkite, you also have the option to do missions where you collect eggs, mine for Aquarq, salvage M.U.L.E.s, or eliminate Dreadnaughts. All of which you can adjust the difficulty or “Hazard Level”. 1 being the easiest and 5 being the hardest. Hazard 1 is for very new players. Hazard 2 is “normal” mode. Hazard 3 is tough. Hazard 4 is very challenging and where everyone will die a lot. But Hazard 5 is for the hardcore who love pain and death on a regular basis.

I will say that the best thing about this game are the developers themselves. Ghost Ship Games are very engaged with their gaming community and do take feedbacks into consideration. They often will tease new enemies or news on the subreddit www.reddit.com/r/DeepRockGalactic. Not only that, but they will even engage with the community regularly and respond to criticism and comments both professionally and humorously. If you have not tried out Deep Rock Galactic yet, I highly recommend you do. Especially if you enjoy running around in a panic.

Deep Rock Galactic is out on Steam Early Access and Xbox One Preview.