Tag: PVE

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a single player survivor-like auto-shooter. Wield the full arsenal of Deep Rock Galactic, take on hordes of lethal aliens, mine riches, and unlock powerful upgrades. It’s one dwarf against all of Planet Hoxxes!

In case you don’t know, the idea of the ‘survivor-like’ genre is like a giant game of tag. Everyone is ‘it’, they are all monsters and if they touch you, you aren’t going to live for much longer. In order to survive, you have weapons that automatically trigger on a cool down basis. Every enemy you kill drops XP which you can then collect to upgrade your weapons and your character, never allowing you to be too far away from the chaos as you retrace the trail of death in your wake, absorbing all of the gains along the way.

Stemming from the game-changing innovation that is Vampire Survivors, these games are particularly popular on the go as runs tend to be relatively short and meta progression can make even a dud run worthwhile. They don’t tend to require memorising buttons, making them very easy and satisfying to pick up as a palate cleanser between other games.

What makes Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors stand out among an ever-growing genre isn’t necesserily just the IP. The digging mechanic opens up a breadth of possibilities that takes engagement up to a whole new level. Not only are you playing this game of extreme dodgeball, having the ability to mine resources forces you to choose how you want to spend your time, how much risk you are willing take to become more powerful, gives you something to juggle in the opening minutes of the level and opens up manoeuvrability options that can save your life, or get you killed.

I had 3 runs, the third of which got me my first clear. It was intense, the adrenaline was high and I got out by the skin of my teeth. The difficulty rising throughout the levels feels consistant, every run giving you more information and a chance to be better equipped than the last.

While I haven’t played enough of either Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor or Vampire Survivors to make definitive statements, this game has huge potential to have the holding power that Vampire Survivors didn’t quite have for me. I highly recommend giving this one a try if you are even slightly curious. The game doesn’t hold your hand but the learning curve truly is a pleasure.

Demo Length – As long as you want, there is quite a bit of content. There is a disclaimer that it probably wont transfer to the full game. I played for 1hr 30mins.

At a glance
+ Outstanding Survivor-like.
+ Visually easy to read.
+ Mining adds an entirely new strategic layer.
+ Enemy variety.
+ Lot’s of content.
+ Runs feel well paced.
+ Satisfying progression.
+ The components of Deep Rock Galactic blend exceptionally well into this genre.
+/- Progress is probably not going to transfer over to the full game.

More demo impressions here…
More from Steam Next Fest October 2023 here…

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