Having fallen down a deep dark crevice, I found myself being surrounded by small arachnid-like bugs that were actively trying to gnaw my legs off. Tossing a flare into the distance, I spotted a Glyphid Praetorian, an armored arachnid that spewed acid at anyone unfortunate enough to stand in front of it. Seeing as its weakness was the glowing abdomen at its back, I sprinted past the arachnid swarm, double barrel shotgun in hand. Two well placed shots later, the Praetorian was dead, allowing me to finish off the rest of the swarm with my assault rifle and pickaxe.
Now that the smoke has cleared, I threw out another flare in front of me and resumed my search for the minerals that I was supposed to mine so that I could get out of here and collect my paycheck.
In Deep Rock Galactic, as a dwarven miner mercenary working for the namesake company, you’ll be undertaking jobs on a resource-rich planet named Hoxxes IV, a rather inhospitable planet that has creatures that will try to eat your face off and is home to a variety of biomes with their own environmental hazards, really making you work for that hazard pay.
The arachnids, called Glyphids in the game, comes in various shapes and forms. There’s the small ones who try to overwhelm you. There’s one that explodes when they get close to you or when shot. And there are those that prefer to spid acid from afar. Other than the arachnids, players also have to contend with flying bugs and static enemies such as the cave leech, which is very much like the barnacles from Half-Life, latching onto unsuspecting prey and dragging them into its jaws.
Each of the four classes has their own unique weapons and equipment that makes them stand out from one another; the Engineer has turrets that can help to keep the swarm at bay; the Scout carries a Flare Gun that illuminates large areas for better visibility; the Gunner packs a Shield Generator that can help defend his teammates; Drillers get a flamethrower to roast enemies (literally, not figuratively) that get too close.
But what is a miner without his pickaxe and flares? The humble pickaxe is the game’s multi-tool, making short work of dirt, mineral deposits and small creatures alike. Flares only last for a short time, so if you’re going to be hanging around an area for a while, be sure to chuck them out once in a while unless you like surprises.
Occasionally, you may run into a situation where you need to reach higher ground (or the high ground, if you prefer) and your pickaxe can’t reach that high. With the exception of the Driller, the other classes have a tool that they can use to get around; the Engineer has a gun that instantly materialises platforms that players can climb or stand on; the Scout is able to zip around using his grappling gun; the Gunner carries zip-lines that lets players go up or down between any two points; the Driller is equipped with a Power Drill to make quick work of any obstacles in front of you, be it rock or enemies, rending them into fine dust.
There are currently only a few mission types that are available to the player with objectives such as mining for a specific mineral or digging out alien eggs from their nest. Each mission also has a secondary objective, which you can complete for additional rewards.
Up to three other dwarves can join you in your spelunking adventures but if you decide to venture out on your own to enjoy some solitary time in the dark caverns of Hoxxes IV, you’ll be accompanied by a robot affectionately named “Bosco”. Now you see, its official designation is “APD-B317” but that’s a mouthful, hence Bosco. Management doesn’t like it when employees give their robot companions names but not like you really care about their opinions either, right? Oh and “Bosco” comes with short range automatic weapons that can help you whittle down the arachnid swarm and it is upgradeable to sport a rocket launcher for times when you really need to cause some serious damage. Or just to show off.
During your adventures underground, you’ll come across a variety of non-mission critical minerals such as gold, nitra or rare minerals that allows you to upgrade your equipment. Collecting gold helps you to line your pockets with more in-game currency (Credits). Nitra is required to call in a supply drop that replenishes your ammunition and health. Just be sure to stand clear of the landing zone unless you want to be “saved” by the supply drop. Unlike certain video game protagonists though, you can only carry so much ore on your person and that’s where the other robot companion comes in.
Meet “Molly”, aka the M.U.L.E, which serves as a mobile depository for your team, helping you to store all of the ore or secondary objective items that you’ve collected. I’ve noticed that the Alien Eggs are technically as large as Molly’s chassis so I’m not sure how does it store so many of them. Well, some things are best left unanswered I suppose.
Molly is also your ticket out of the caverns where upon completion of the main objective, you can hit that big button on its back to call the Drop Pod. Once the Drop Pod has arrived, Molly will start heading towards it, dropping a trail of green flares behind it. There’s a time limit for extraction and if you want to get back home safely and not be left behind, you’d best follow the green flares.
When you’re not out on a mission, you’ll be in a central hub, called a Space Rig in the game, where you and your fellow dwarves can hang out, choose their class, modify their loadout and appearance, have a couple of drinks at the bar while dancing to music and of course, choose the next mission that they’d like to undertake. Or make a mess of the place.
Yes, there is a bar in the game where you can chug down different drinks, some of them giving you buffs while some that just get you plain drunk. I once did a mission drunk. Wasn’t very pleasant but it felt like the most dwarven thing to do. Management didn’t like it though. Management doesn’t like a lot of things.
“Bottoms Up!” 
“Can’t a dwarf have some fun?”
All in all, despite the game being in Early Access, I had a blast playing with friends as we tried to survive swarm after swarm while trying to complete a mission. However, as with all session based games, there will come a point where it will start feeling repetitive and grindy despite the maps being procedurally generated and you’ll start feeling that you’re doing the same thing over and over again. Sure, there is progression in the form of perks, vanity and class unlocks but there’s only so much grinding that one can do before you’ve exhausted all of the content.
In terms of aesthetics, the developers chose to go with a voxel-like look that is very reminiscent of Minecraft which in my opinion, allows it to stand out from other Unreal Engine games.The character voices sound dwarven enough, with the exception of the Handler, who’s all professional and no-nonsense like. The visual and audio feedback from hitting your targets with your weapons are satisfying too.
The game currently has a decent amount of content and already feels more complete than most other Early Access games that I’ve played and as always, more content is good but it also depends on the kind of content that is being added to the game and how often. As an Early Access game, Deep Rock Galactic is bound to evolve and change over time, with the developers having announced their roadmap for the game in 2019. Players can expect new enemies, weapon mastery and skins, mods for gear and more in the coming months.
Similar Games: Payday 2, Vermintide and Left 4 Dead 2.
Tldr: 4 Player FPS Co-op Game featuring Dwarven Miner Mercenaries taking on hazardous missions on an inhospitable planet for a capitalistic mining company that only cares about the bottom line.
*The game is currently still in Early Access as of the time of writing, 29th January 2019. Names of the players I played with have been censored for their privacy.
Writing With Biscuits 