Deep Rock Galactic has been on a whirlwind of a journey through Steam’s Early Access program, and they’ve done surprisingly well with it thus far; keeping players informed consistently with roadmaps and updates, discussing what players do and don’t like, and generally conducting themselves as professional developers. It sounds like a bizarre statement to make, but the libraries are filled with titles that receive support, and end up stumbling somewhere along the way. Bloodstained: Symphony of the Night is an unfortunate example of development communication mysteriously disappearing (along with a slew of planned features); it’s difficult to release a game with everything that you want to add to it.
Regardless of how pleasant that statement is to make, it’s one that has been proven factual countless times, and while likely remain the rule of thumb well into the future.
Today, however, we’re discussing Deep Rock Galactic developed by Ghost Ship Games, which started its Early Access journey a little over two years ago on February 28, 2018. It has received a wealth of support from the community, which in turn has been supported by Ghost Ship Games, and generally positive vibes all-around the title and player base. Today, they have released Update 29 titled The End of the Beginning.
In their road map, this update marks their final major update to the game before the title is officially released in the second quarter of 2020.
Within this update, miners will find that they can finally customize their pickaxe to suit their style. It doesn’t seem as though various pickaxes will operate better or worse than others, and no customizations can be made to, for example, increase your pickaxe swing speed or strength; these are cosmetic changes only that you can unlock by finding lost miners and completing various objectives.
The Miner’s Manual is finally complete as well, giving access to a wealth of information that can be explored on a whim when the player chooses to. Inside the manual, players can read up on everything from various hostile life they may encounter on a spelunk, damage types and counters, and even where to find an abundance of specific minerals that they need to upgrade.l It’s a handy companion between excursions, and might just make you a bit wiser as you explore everything that DRG has to offer. The tutorial has been reworked as well, to introduce players to elements of the game in a more methodical manner than what has been offered prior.
Finally, we have the drop pod getting a bit of a fancy makeover (fuzzy dice screams class), icons that finally match the cosmetic that you’re forging (no more mystery forging), and a pretty comprehensive weapon rebalancing that affects the vast majority of weapons and their overclocking facets.
The launch of Deep Rock Galactic will not be adding any new content; at least none is planned. There will be a bit of polishing various aspects across the title as a whole, but Update 29 is officially the final content patch we’ll get until Ghost Ship Games begins their post-launch support. Post-launch already has them chomping at the bit to craft more mission types to diversify dives into the planet, so don’t necessarily take the end of Early Access as the end of content creation. Stay alert, miners; it’s scary down there.
