Deep Rock Galactic is the best co-op game I've played in a very long time, and I've been looking very hard for a few years. It's a first person shooter for up to 4 people (dwarves) that has random level generation. I have a few itches that I am dying to have scratched: red faction guerrilla destruction, fantastic lightning with a lot of shadows and atmosphere, a dark sense of humor, and a general playfulness. Even more important than all of those, the controls are pretty tight, especially the aiming. The old funfactor is very high, and I know that if I quit playing for a month, I can jump right back in and contribute to the team.
The random caves have a ton of structural variety. I've played for nearly 30 hours and only once recognized that I had been in the same room before and that it would be a dead end. The caves can be a room to room affair, a huge interlocked spiraling series of caves, just one huge cylindrical pit, a huge open cavern, or any combination thereof.
There are 8 biomes. Magma and glacial seem simple enough, but each has unique hazards such as lava vents, freezing winds, sand storms, salt stalactites, poisonous gas, radioactive crystals, electric crystals, fissures that crack open as you move, and so on. Certain enemies are also only in certain biomes, which, on top of each one having very different coloring, gives each area a specific feel.
The classes are all interesting in their own way, and compliment each other well to the point that two people running the same class is a liability. The devs are constantly patching to solve issues and add content: they doubled the number of weapons and added 4 enemy types in the last 2 months. Better than that, the aiming is tight on a controller, there aren't many connection issues, and the community has very few griefers.
The devs have a great sense of humor. The dwarves make dark, comical quips while you are mining and killing bugs. You can get drunk on the main ship, and the dwarves often make comments about how they don't like elves, but there are no elves in the game. They talk about how the dispatcher that sends them down to the planet has it nice and easy. One of my favorites, "Sometimes I wonder if all there is to life is mining, then I punch myself in the face." You can go into a mission drunk and the quips get even darker. It is an eerily close approximation to being drunk as well with double vision and occasional stumbling depending on how drunk you are. So much attention to detail.
There is a two hour demo that is not really long enough to get a feel for the classes, especially without a guide. If you are interested in playing on xbox, and don't mind a small crew of salty 30 somethings that seem to enjoy failing spectacularly as much as winning, please send me a message. The game is a little steep at the regular price of $25, but it is damn good.
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