Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor Review

Do you ever get that feeling where your backlog is huge and then something reels you in out of nowhere, and you can’t get enough of it? Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor has just graced us with its presence on Xbox Game Pass, and I haven’t stopped playing. I am enjoying it so much that I’ve not only been playing on my Xbox Series X, but also on my gaming laptop, and I am considering installing it on my Lenovo Legion Go. If you love auto-shooter rouguelites, then you’ll want to check this one out for sure!

Addictive & Satisfying Gameplay

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor follows the same premise as almost every other title in this genre. You start weak and build up strong, slaying enemies and levelling up your weaponry, health, speed and other perks. Runs through the game are short and snappy at around 20 minutes tops, which is great if you just want a quick blast or long sessions with multiple runs.

What I adore about this game, though, are the mining mechanics, which give you something else to think about during the gameplay loop. All of the terrain you encounter is breakable, and you can also carve out paths to escape the hordes or buy yourself some time. Where there are materials present, it may take a bit longer to mine, so you need to be mindful of the enemies swarming towards you. You can, however, obtain buffs to make mining faster when you level up.

Character Classes, Upgrades & Weapons

There are four classes in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. Gunner, Engineer, Driller and Scout. Each has its own set of attacks, and my personal preference was the Gunner for maximum firepower. With Gunner, though, you’ll be sacrificing pace for high damage output. An engineer can deploy turrets, a driller can cut through and navigate terrain faster, whereas a scout can move faster but at the expense of less firepower.

Earning XP from defeating enemies will grant you a choice of power-ups during your run. This could be upgrades to weapons, damage boosts, increased health and speed and more. Between runs, you can purchase permanent upgrades using credits and resources mined during gameplay. It all becomes a bit of a grind, but the grindy gamers out there will love how much replayability is involved to see and do everything on offer.

Visuals & Audio

Whilst Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is from a top-down perspective, the visual presentation is stunning. The game is rich in detail, with a warm colour palette and excellent lighting effects. All of the biomes within the game are varied, and the mining physics often allow you to carve out your own paths within the game and making for spontaneous movements. If you’ve played the original Deep Rock Galactic game, then you’ll instantly recognise the character design. Enemy design is also superb, with the hordes and bosses drawing towards you en masse.

Xbox Series X performance is fantastic, with the game running at 4k and 60fps locked. I didn’t notice any issues, even when the intensity ramped up with a lot happening on screen. There are some great accessibility options with colourblind modes and also other options to tweak and change. Audio design is another strong point here, with weapon fire feeling punchy, mining effects echoing through Hoxxes IV’s caverns and explosions really popping off.  The team at Ghost Ship Games has done great work.

Final Thoughts

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a standout experience in the bullet-hell auto-shooter roguelite genre. It stands toe-to-toe with some of the best experiences out there, such as Vampire Survivors, Brotato, Army of Ruin, and more. Since the game landed on Xbox Game Pass, I have poured close to 30 hours in so far, and I can still see so much replayability and longevity here. The fact that I’ve wanted to install the game on all of my devices to get my fix just speaks to me about how much of a great game this is. If you’re on a budget and want a game that will give you potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay, then for the price of £19.99, it is so worth it. Alternatively, if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, get it downloaded immediately; it’s an addictive masterpiece.