Deep Rock has transformed from a "just okay" game a couple of years ago into one of my favorite co-op games. The continued support by the developers here has added a lot of depth to the gameplay without making it overly convoluted, as well as some fun progression and cosmetics through their excellent free battlepass system (notably without the FOMO, all items you miss out on are added into a pool of loot you can get later).
The classes here are very well designed, each with a very distinct identity, and you're always missing some tool from another class when you switch. They also encourage natural teamwork through how their unique abilities combine, for example the Scout can use their grappling hook to get to hard to reach minerals higher up and the Engineer can use their platform gun to create a place for the Scout to stand. This combined with the reward structure of your entire team getting the same benefits for completing missions encourages everyone to work together, and even playing this in random public lobbies most people are very nice and cooperative.
The real star of the game, however, is the procedural generation. I've played a ton of games with procedural levels, and I like many of them, but almost all start to feel same-y over time and you start noticing the patterns in them. DRG's levels are so detailed and natural that I haven't yet felt like I've been in the same room twice. There are definitely distinct biomes, and you'll become familiar with those and some of their recurring traits, but each mission feels like a new and unique level within that biome. It's so natural that you don't even notice it as a positive while you're playing most of the time, but thinking about it afterwards you realize that you haven't been playing handcrafted levels. Combining the generation with how distinct all of the different mission types and side objectives feel, it's easy to see how you could dump hundreds of hours into this game without it getting old.
There's still a lot of the later game stuff I haven't explored yet. At the time of writing I've only promoted one class and am close to doing so for a second one, but haven't explored most of the options with the other two and have yet to scratch the surface of Deep Dives and Overclocks. I just wanted to write a review and update my score here because I think the updates to this game have really transformed it from an interesting but slightly shallow game to something I see being in my regular rotation for a long time to come.
The classes here are very well designed, each with a very distinct identity, and you're always missing some tool from another class when you switch. They also encourage natural teamwork through how their unique abilities combine, for example the Scout can use their grappling hook to get to hard to reach minerals higher up and the Engineer can use their platform gun to create a place for the Scout to stand. This combined with the reward structure of your entire team getting the same benefits for completing missions encourages everyone to work together, and even playing this in random public lobbies most people are very nice and cooperative.
The real star of the game, however, is the procedural generation. I've played a ton of games with procedural levels, and I like many of them, but almost all start to feel same-y over time and you start noticing the patterns in them. DRG's levels are so detailed and natural that I haven't yet felt like I've been in the same room twice. There are definitely distinct biomes, and you'll become familiar with those and some of their recurring traits, but each mission feels like a new and unique level within that biome. It's so natural that you don't even notice it as a positive while you're playing most of the time, but thinking about it afterwards you realize that you haven't been playing handcrafted levels. Combining the generation with how distinct all of the different mission types and side objectives feel, it's easy to see how you could dump hundreds of hours into this game without it getting old.
There's still a lot of the later game stuff I haven't explored yet. At the time of writing I've only promoted one class and am close to doing so for a second one, but haven't explored most of the options with the other two and have yet to scratch the surface of Deep Dives and Overclocks. I just wanted to write a review and update my score here because I think the updates to this game have really transformed it from an interesting but slightly shallow game to something I see being in my regular rotation for a long time to come.
Silverhand
1 year ago
-The lobby is great, has a lot of fun things to do while waiting between missions
-Voice lines are excellent, helps a lot with encouraging cooperation and subtly adds to the worldbuilding, and they're just funny
-The way that warnings and side objectives modify missions and aren't locked to certain mission types or areas adds a lot to replayability
-A lot of the enemies also naturally encourage teamwork with how their weak spots are more accessible to the players they're not targeting
-Small exploits to optimize things feel encouraged and included, giving it a more old school feel that I really like, without them being so good as to be mandatory. Driller digging straight to the drop pod, juggling heavy objects by throwing them and running to catch them, cancelling reload animations, etc.
-Rock and stone!