Deep Rock Galactic Early Access – What to Expect

The release for Deep Rock Galactic is upon us. If you’ve been around here for a while you may remember that we were one of the first to report about the game and since then I’ve been following it closely and have been involved in the closed and open alphas. But what can we expect from the game when it launches on the 28th?

WHAT IS DEEP ROCK GALACTIC?

Deep Rock Galactic is a 1-4 player co-op-first sci-fi FPS featuring space Dwarves, 100% destructible environments, procedurally-generated caves, and hordes of alien bugs.

Work together as a team to dig, explore, and fight your way through a massive cave system on the planet Hoxxes filled with hordes of deadly alien bugs and valuable resources. You will need to rely on your teammates if you want to survive the most hostile cave systems in the galaxy!

Choose from 4 classes of Dwarves each with their own special unique weapons and tools to help you get the job done. Utilise grappling hooks to reach new areas, set up turrets to fend off bugs, use massive drills to make mince meat of the terrain. What ever you choose you can be sure that you’ll be equipped to deal with the job at hand.

 

WHAT DO YOU DO?

You will take on the role of one of 4 classes of dwarves and team up with up to 3 other players or go it alone on various missions where you will be tasked with mining for specific resources, or completing other objectives as you navigate through deep caves and caverns all procedurally created.

As you play you will rank up your characters and be able to spend your hard earned cash on upgrades for your flamethrowers, gatling guns, portable platform launchers, and you can change the way your characters look. You will be facing off against all types of hostile aliens all shapes and sizes with unique attacks that will require team work to best them or face being overrun by the hordes.

THE ‘WORLD’ OF DEEP ROCK GALACTIC

Congratulations, New Dwarven Employee, on making the smartest decision of your life and joining DEEP ROCK GALACTIC! You have taken your first step towards becoming an essential part of the most tenacious space mining corporation in the galaxy!

At DEEP ROCK GALACTIC, we pride ourselves on having obtained practical dominance of the most lucrative belts of the Outer Rim. While our foolish and cowardly competitors generally regard these systems as too volatile or high-risk, to us they are home.

At this time, we have a total of 87 ORBITAL SPACE RIGS in operation throughout more than a dozen Outer Rim systems, with 16 more currently under construction.

However, a new mission is upon us. While our digs are many, we are currently preparing our most heavily orchestrated mining operation to date: The complete subjugation of the planet HOXXES IV. It is to the best of our knowledge the single most dangerous planet in the galaxy, and it just so happens to contain the richest concentrations of minable material ever discovered. Many before us have tried taming Hoxxes. All have failed. Except for us.

And it is where we will be sending you.

Management bids you welcome. 🙂

WHAT WILL BE IN AT LAUNCH?

The game will be releasing on both Xbox One and PC via Steam and the Window Store. If you pick the game up via the Windows store on PC then you will be able to cross play with players on Xbox One.

At launch we will see 5 mission types across 7 biomes with 4 hazard levels. As the levels are proceduarlly generated this will alter the length, layout and in some regards the difficulty of each level – it will kind of feel like a new level each time.

A number of other additions and changes were listed in a recent newsletter some of which I’ve detailed here.

• New Mission selection map with procedurally generated missions
• Seven vastly different Biomes with new minerals and lots of new cave content
• Two new mission types added (“Kill” and “Egg Hunt”), as well as various Secondary Objectives added
• Total overhaul of the UI, HUD & Menus
• First-Day-At-Work Tutorial Flow to help new miners get their bearings
• Introducing Bosco, the all-purpose-drone! He will assist you any time you embark on a solo mission
• Quick Join terminal added to player cabin (simple match making)
• Basic Vanity Shop where you can buy new armors, hats and beards! Lots more to come here in time.
• Memorial Hall added to Space Rig, showcases previous Closed Alpha testers and unlock statues
• 10+ different languages supported, translated by our awesome community! (only on Steam for launch)

Most of the other changes or new things were balance tweaks.

As the game is releasing to early access there are obviously plans to make more additions and changes to the game. Some of the focuses post launch will be:-

• More game modes
• Much more varied cave systems, and more types of biomes
• Many more tools, gadgets, and equipment
• More character classes, each with access to their own unique gear
• A deep and meaningful Meta game

SHOULD YOU GET IT?

If you’re a fan of games like Left 4 Dead and Vermintide then I can see you really enjoying Deep Rock Galactic. It has that similar gameplay loop of fun hectic battles but with the addition of the procedural maps for you to explore and mine through to your hearts content. During the closed alpha’s I had a lot of fun playing with friends and teaming up with random players too. Deep Rock Galactic has a very unique visual style that I personally love, but I can see some being put off by it, but honestly, try not to let it, because it is a really fun game.

Deep Rock Galactic Releases 28th Feb for Xbox One and PC – Steam official price still TBC, but you can expect it to be around the £20 mark. UPDATE, the price has just been confirmed at £18.99 on steam and £19.24 on Xbox.

-Will