Recent reviews by DaBlightcaller

I have a moral obligation to give this game a positive review, as the indie dev studio Ghost Ship Games provide more respect for your money and intelligence than many AAA Studios out there today. This is coming from a sucker who buys into Call of Duty every year inhaling the same copium that "maybe this year won't be so bad", but in my heart, I know as long as Activision owns Call of Duty, there will be no change. This goes for a lot of AAA games to be honest, Call of Duty is just the one I'm most familiar with.

So, through the lens of someone who is disheartened by the modern gaming industry, here's the reason why I think Deep Rock Galactic is worth the time & the money (even at full price, a rare praise).

To start, none of the DLC is in any way shape or form required. All of it is purely cosmetic, and unlike... "other" games with skin packs, the vast majority of cosmetics (90+%) are free to earn in-game through various means. Such methods include: Finding packs of fallen miners, finding abandoned cargo crates, acquiring matrix cores & crafting in the forge (after your first promotion), progressing through the game (leveling up & upgrading gear), participating in seasonal events (Christmas, Halloween, Lunar New Year, Anniversary, Easter, etc.), and the seasonal performance pass which is free for everyone, and after each season, the devs add in all cosmetics included in the pass back into the normal game loot pools, so nothing goes away (Though the seasons last quite a while, so if you play with any consistency, you will probably finish or be close to finishing the performance pass before the season is over).

Ok, so the game isn't predatory in terms of siphoning you of your money at every turn, but is the game itself good?
Well, just search for any reviews on Steam or on Youtube, and you'll have your answer. I am not going to explain what this game has to throw at you, because you should probably experience things yourself, as going in blind and experiencing the wonders of this alien world for the first time is something everyone should experience. I will instead give some beginner tips.

1 - When starting out, feel free to play all the classes to get a feel for which one you like the most, but when you find out which one you like, I would recommend sticking to it until you have your first promotion, as the whole game just opens up to you after that. (Promotion is basically like a Call of Duty prestige, you can get a promotion by leveling up a class to level 25, selecting the promotion assignment, playing through the assignment missions, and then going to the memorial hall where the promotion terminal is found. Do make sure you have enough credits and minerals to pay for your promotion. It will reset your level for that class back to level 1, but you keep all your gear & cosmetics.)

2 - While most people would recommend playing with friends, I say that it is not necessary. This game is built for a co-op experience, so it is generally a better experience to play with friends or team up with randoms (the community is very friendly, don't be shy, and this is coming from a Call of Duty player), but playing solo has it's own allure as well. You get a robot buddy named BOSCO to help you on missions, and he can do things like revive you, mine minerals, carry things, attack enemies, and shine a light, so solo is possible and enjoyable. Also, once you get acquainted with the game, I do recommend doing a lot more solo missions if you want to get better at the game, as you'll learn self-reliance, and it's also how I learned the game. I just grinded solo for about 100+ hours before properly starting to play with friends or randoms. Solo isn't for everyone though, so again I say, just try solo, try playing with randoms, and try playing with friends, and see what you like most.

3 - There is much drip to acquire in this game, but drip will not save your life in the caves, so when first starting out, I recommend saving your credits & resources for upgrades to your gear to help you survive, but also for new weapons so you can try different playstyles.

4 - Do note that once you hit level 25 on a class you no longer earn XP for them, and you can do your promotion assignment as a different class, and I would recommend doing it as a different class as it'll give you experience with another class other than your main. It is recommended to know how to play each class, but you don't necessarily have to as in the majority of games, there is no restriction on how many of one class can be in a team, though do be aware some people do make their lobbies with a 1 class per team member limit.

5 - As you're starting out, don't forget to select an assignment and play your assignment missions, as this is the primary way of unlocking new gear, features, some cosmetics, and promotions.

There are probably more tips to give, but just look up a guide on Youtube, they explain things more thoroughly, and they're everywhere. Or you can ask more experienced players (greybeards) in-game, since the community is friendly and a lot of people enjoy teaching new players (greenbeards).

There are some things you should be aware of which could sour the experience depending on the way you like to play games, everything in this section is purely subjective.
1 - The game is very grindy, there is so much to unlock and discover, you may be put off by the sheer amount of content. I have several friends who are just casual players who could not get into the game because the playstyles they might've enjoyed were locked behind several levels & resources. Try not to be overwhelmed though, none of the content is going anywhere, so you can feel free to take a break if you need to and come back when you feel like it.
2 - If #1 didn't deter you and you're the grindy type like me, do be aware that after a certain point, you'll have all the perks, upgrades, & weapons and the game becomes just grinding for minerals & credits to buy all the cosmetics. However the devs are always updating this game with new seasonal content, so there will be new things to grind for after unlocking everything. If you're not the grindy type and you just like to play the game, this will not bother you.
3 - This is a smaller dev team, so updates might come out a bit slower than you like. This can be seen as a positive or a negative. On one hand, it gives you more time to complete the performance pass, but on the other, there can be a long content drought between seasons depending on if such things bother you or not. Fortunately, each update pretty much is a banger, as the devs have a lot of passion for their game, and it shows. So when an update does drop, it is glorious.

To summarize my thoughts on the game as a whole, I'd give it a 10/10 to be honest. My only regret is that I can't play it for the very first time again. Rock & Stone.