Deep Rock Galactic spinoff adds mining to Vampire Survivors, and it works

polygon.com:

When I first sit down to play Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, I resolve to give the game a spin for 20 minutes and then pause for a productive note-taking session. Three hours later, I realize that I am a fool. This is one of those sticky games that can be played in short bursts, but I keep diving into new rounds, and as soon as I close the client down I’m thinking about playing it again.

What is Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and how has it so effectively commandeered my brain? It’s a pastiche of Vampire Survivors, a top-down auto-shooter, interpreted in the world of Deep Rock Galactic. The premise in Survivor is the same as the original Deep Rock Galactic — dwarves fighting through bugs and beasties to mine valuable ore in the world’s most unsafe workplace. But while the original title is a four-player co-op game, in this new spin-off, I’m alone.

I play a dwarf on a solo mission down in the mines. It’s me, my friendly robot Bosco, and a couple of simple guns. Bosco and I shoot at everything in our vicinity, and I can mine my way through walls of rock and stone. The problem is that every monster in the mines is coming for me, and my starting weapons only make a dent in their armies. Luckily, ore and monsters both drop experience, which I can use to upgrade my gear or buy new power-ups.

A run will start like this: I have a couple of objectives, like getting a few specific minerals, or murdering a number of bugs. Some runs, I get a powerful kinetic plasma gun that bounces off terrain. Other times, I have to rely on a shotgun’s powerful knockback blasts. When I complete one wave, I delve deeper into the mines, and the danger ramps up continually over time. Before long, the screen is crammed full with voracious insectoids and