Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

Mine, Shoot, Collect, Repeat.

Much like the Soulslike, Roguelike, and the various flavors of the Metroidvania, the Suvivors genre is booming. Earlier this month alone, Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel slashed its way to consoles, and after over a year in early access, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is ready to carve and mine its way onto Xbox and PC, bringing with it a much-needed element of personality to the genre. 

As someone who adored Deep Rock Galactic and tinkered with all its customizable elements, as well as the engaging multiplayer component, it is not surprising how well its aesthetic fits this type of game. While the title does lack the multiplayer that made the base game so engaging, I rarely missed it while taking dives into its gem-filled caverns, increasing my damage, adding to my arsenal, and upgrading my miner at every step. It’s a slow and steady grind to boost even a percent or two, but the addictive gameplay makes it all worth it. 

The personality of the series shines here with commentary from the miner as well as the voice that issues out warnings of swarms that are incoming or that your supply pod is about to land, requiring that you mine away the debris and rocks at its landing zone for it to land. These things may seem trivial to praise, but few Survivors games have any sort of voice work, so it is deeply appreciated here. 

As you land, you’ll kill enemies and mine away rock to earn experience. You’ll have various options that show up as you level up. These vary between weapon upgrades, passive perks to your miner, such as boosted health or recovery, but each also comes in a variety of tiers, such as common, rare, or legendary. Supply Pods will also drop various toys, and you’ll often find gear in green cases when you are decimating your foes. There is a lot that contributes to leveling up, equipping better gear, and, of course, the weaponry that unlocks every few levels. 

Each run has you attempting to destroy a big creature. You’ll push through numerous levels to reach it, leveling up your guns, adding to your arsenal, and ensuring you can survive. At first, your options are limited, but you’ll start to unlock new weapons and kits that aid in bigger gains in damage, and, especially, far more increased health and damage. 

A lot of this comes down to collecting resources that you can then spend to increase a wide assortment of perks. From better critical hit damage, more health, to more damage, there are a lot of currency options that are required for these upgrades, which are shared across all classes, not just whoever you are working on. While you may not always complete a dive, ensuring you maximize your resource gains is crucial to leveling up and making your miner far more powerful. 

There are four dwarves to choose from; however, three are unlocked at the start. You start with the Scout, then unlock the Gunner, with the Engineer and the Driller to follow. While there are only four classes, there are an additional dozen sub-classes, allowing you to find your own way in how you want to play. While this does take many attempts and dozens of hours to get to where you may be far more comfortable with your build, it certainly does feel worth it to see all that progress amount to something worthwhile. This also translates into earning gear and upgrading it, making you a far more formidable force. 

Across the five biomes, you’ll want to earn gold and nitra, each committing to buying upgrades between each round. These upgrades are the same perks and enhancements you find as you level up, such as boosting your level of a particular gun, increasing your overall kinetic or projectile damage, increasing your fire rate, radius pickup, or just increasing your overall max health, again, each with rarity tiers that make it hard to really choose what you want. 

When you defeat the elite enemy on each round, you’ll then need to make it to the drill pod. You’ll have thirty seconds to do so, collecting any leftover experience, mining any nearby gold or nitra, and then hauling ass to the pod. Failure to do so will result in a game over, so make sure you exercise caution and speed to proceed.

Weapons vary from multi-directional bullets, shotguns, cryo-grenades, rifles, autorifles, pistols, and more, each being able to level up, increase your fire rate and damage, and more. Having a well-rounded arsenal is crucial, as you want as much coverage in shooting and keeping you alive. Sure, you can boost your health and earn more armor, but having a wide range of bullet power is easily the most important factor here. The weapons all feel great, and as you increase their potency, they hit really hard and can take down most elites in seconds. 

Escort Duty is likely my favorite mode of the main missions. Here, you escort a Drilldozer into the depths of thick enemy forces and keep it fueled and moving until you can find and crack the mysterious Ommoran Heartstone. Having this added objective really makes you rethink how to play, as you are not only protecting yourself. 

As you complete levels, you’ll progress through Hazards, which increase the challenge. Each is unlocked as you complete challenges, such as completing a dive, upgrading the Deepcore GK2, and collecting various resources, such as gold. Once you hit certain hazard levels, you’ll unlock more content to play, such as Masteries, which are special dives that unlock permanent stat upgrades, and Anamaly Dives that have some insane challenges to pull off and certainly offer up some nice variety to the main missions. 

Vanguard Contracts and Lethal Operations round out the rest of the general content. Vanguard Contracts rotate daily, and offer up combinations of positive and negative mutators that greatly modify the difficulty. These provide a specific set of gear and conditions, including what class you are expecting to play as well as your starting weapon. These missions are wildly different from one to the next. That said, there is a timer to them, so you’ll need to wait for the next one. 

Lethal Operations, however, are designed to challenge you in unique ways. They are ultra-difficult challenges that have similar positive and negative modifiers to the Vanguard Contract mode; however, you’ll also experience faster enemies, fewer resources, and movement speed, and varied environment hazards that can easily wipe you out. This mode is for the best of the best, making sure you bring your A game, and then some. 

Deep Rock Galactic has a great, simplistic look, and it carries over here in spades. The game is full of fun enemy designs, and a ton of color and variety in its biomes to really push past much of the game’s repetitive nature. It offers some truly engaging progression, while not really pushing past the boundaries of what the genre offers. Like any game in the genre, it takes several hours to really get to a place where death isn’t around every corner, and few provide the gameplay hook to really keep you playing. Thankfully, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is one that truly gets the genre right and is an absolute blast. 

Developer - Funday Games.
Publisher - Ghost Ship Games, Ghost Ship Publishing. Released - September 17th, 2025. Available On - Xbox Series X/S, PC. Rated - (N/A) - No Descriptors. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X/S. Review Access - Review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.