Deep Rock Galactic
Intense overall intensityWhat's in it
Players drink in-game beer and cocktails at the space rig's bar (the Abyss Bar) between missions, some granting temporary gameplay buffs.
Dwarf characters shout frequent strong profanity during combat and banter.
First-person weapon combat against swarms of alien insectoid creatures that burst apart with colored blood and gore; targets are monsters, not humans.
Dark, claustrophobic procedurally generated caves with sudden swarms and some eerie biomes create tension, but there is no gore-horror or dread framing.
The hostile enemies are alien wildlife (glyphid bugs and other creatures) killed as the core combat mechanic.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
In Deep Rock Galactic, one to four people team up in a first-person shooter that casts them as bearded dwarves mining across outer space. The randomly built alien caverns can be tunneled apart completely as the crew harvests minerals and holds off wave after wave of attacking alien insects. Shooting drives the action: firearms, blasts, and equipment cut down the beetle-like creatures, which pop apart into splatters of bug matter, but everything is rendered in an exaggerated cartoon style, and the game carries no wounded humans, sexual material, or nudity. Foul language turns up often among the characters, and once a mission wraps, participants can order beer and mixed drinks at the ship's tavern to gain temporary boosts. Built around playing online with as many as three unknown teammates, it opens both spoken and typed chat, and it sells nothing extra inside the app.
How it's framed
Bloodshed here reads as a jolly job on the payroll of a mining company — the insects register as vermin and roadblocks to sweep aside during the hunt for ore, handled with a rowdy, cheerful dwarf attitude instead of any grit or dread. Rounds of alcohol come across as a festive break, and the prevailing feel is teamwork and shared spirit, captured in the rallying cry 'Rock and Stone,' well removed from anything bleak.
Details
- Developer
- Ghost Ship Games
- Publisher
- Coffee Stain Publishing
- Released
- May 13, 2020
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