Deep Rock Galactic Season 2 adds a threatening layer of robot to your mining expeditions
Beware the killer Toblerone
Miners, how are we? Good, I hope. Soon you'll be even better, as Deep Rock Galactic Season 2 is set to line the caverns with new materials. And robots! Killer robots that resemble glowing chunks of Toblerone. That's the less good part. Still, survive the mechanical menace and you'll earn plenty of new goodies for your dwarven bod. Trust me, I've checked it out ahead of time and have come back pleased, and scratched... and burned.
Deep Rock Galactic Season 2 will launch on 28th April and it introduces an all-new mechanical threat to your mining expeditions, alongside some new secondary weapons, a refreshed Performance Pass with new cosmetic items, and a new mineable currency that's used in the in-game store to – you guessed it – buy lots of cool hats and beards for your favourite dwarves. All of this is free if you own the game too.
I recently had the chance to give the game's new season a go, diving into an expedition with an ominous red marker next to it that basically meant: you will encounter horrible robots. And that we did! The fundamentals of Deep Rock Galactic remained the same, as I and a couple of folks from Ghost Ship Games took on a basic mission that required mining a certain amount of malachite. Only, encounters ranged from the usual alien spiders and grubs to extra instances of killer Toblerone.
Deadly encounters were signaled by glowing orange light, cables, and a low hum. One new event had us hacking nodes within a certain time limit as robots poured in, which was chaotic fun. Another time I hacked a flying patrol bot that zipped around and zapped things for us; it was a proper cutey. No chance for me to try out the new secondary weapons, though, although one of the devs had a handheld railgun which tore through multiple enemies and surfaces. You can see most of them in action via their blog post.
Later, we'd get chased by Mr. Tickle's robotic spawn who burst through the ceiling and snatched us up with his long, flailing limbs. The devs described him as a "displacement" tool, designed to separate you from the pack. In other words, a spiteful bastard who flung me into a wall and into the dark. Thankfully my very experienced teammates saved me from disaster with a few flares and a guiding pickaxe.
All in all, I liked how Season 2 was essentially a layer of robot, as opposed to total machine overdrive. It was still Deep Rock Galactic as I knew it, with more variety and greater challenge. I wouldn't say the number of events or robots is staggering, but there's enough here to keep you interested, especially if chasing cosmetics is your bag.
It's worth noting that Season 2's arrival naturally marks the end of Season 1. Not to worry if you missed out on anything in Season 1, though, as all of its cosmetic items will still be unlockable through end-game Deep Dive challenges and random events. You just have to survive robotic Mr. Tickle, that's all.