Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core takes one of PC's best co-op experiences into a different genre
Lateral excavations
Having hollowed out the Asteroid of Co-Op (Resource) Extraction FPS, Ghost Ship are sinking their drills into the Planet of Roguelite. The just-announced Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is a crafty feat of genre-splicing in which one to four dwarven miners investigate an alien world whose "core has gone rogue". As in the original Deep Rock Galactic, which we loved, you'll be tunnelling down and fighting critters (exact species TBA) while harvesting precious ores. But this time, there's no returning to the ship once you've loaded up enough. The only way out is down.
The planet in question is Hoxxes IV, home to a wonder substance called Expenite. There used to be a prosperous mining operation there, but all contact has been lost. Your team of Reclaimers must reactivate the old digsites and bypass a strange substance called the Greyout to investigate further. The teaser trailer mixes notes of Dead Space with dashes of Aliens, which is admittedly like mixing raspberry with strawberry jam, but it's an enticing spread all the same.
Rogue Core began life as a Deep Rock Galactic game mode, the developers explain in a Steam post. "Since the inception of Deep Rock Galactic seven years ago, we have had the feeling that the core gameplay would work just as well with the roguelike/lite formula," it reads. "So we started a prototype project as a new gamemode inside DRG. As the prototype evolved, we realised that it had much more potential, and that this would be a great opportunity to return to that open development and Early Access mindset. Thus, it became clear that making it as a standalone spin-off would be the right choice for us."
The spin-off shares a heck of a lot with the original game, including "traversal tools, weapon synergies and laser pointer shouts, not to forget the good old 'Rock and Stone'", but the new roguelite structure - and yes, that's lite, not like - changes the flow of a game. You'll unlock new guns and phase suits between runs, but you'll always start each run with basic gear and abilities, acquiring more powerful kit as you go.
"The difficulty will also increase drastically as you progress in a mission, contrary to Deep Rock Galactic where the difficulty is more consistent from mission start to mission end," the developers add. They're also looking at "co-op mechanics specifically focused on making a 'team build' on the fly and not just 4 individual builds."
Rogue Core is roughly pegged to hit early access in November 2024, after a series of closed alpha tests. Ghost Ship reckons it'll be in early access for 18 to 24 months. As with the original Deep Rock Galactic, the early access build will cost less than the final version. Sadly, Ghost Ship have had to push back the release of Deep Rock Galactic's Season 5 updates to make room for the new game. Assuming everything goes to plan, Season 5 will now launch in June 2024.
This isn't the only Deep Rock Galactic spin-off in the works. There's also Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, which is Vampire Survivors but Deeper and Rockier and you know, more Galactic, with your character hammering at nodes of ore while auto-spewing projectiles into hordes of bogeys. Deep Rock Survivor preserves the main game's extraction loop and procedurally generated areas, but is single-player-focussed. Why not swing your pickaxe at the just-released demo?