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After the past three years, I’d have happily never heard the word “plague” again, let alone in the context of one of my favouriteco-op games. Yet after an early play around withDeep Rock GalacticSeason 3, I’m already sold that this update – which centers around a corrupting, planet-wide infection – could be its best one yet.
Deep Rock Galactic: Season 03 - Narrated TrailerWatch on YouTube
Deep Rock Galactic: Season 03 - Narrated Trailer
Sadly, I was playing as Scout, prompting Akopyan to warn that the boomerang may be bugged in this preview build. And shortly after descending to a plagued Hoxxes, I confirmed that it was – my ‘rangs didn’t fly anywhere near where I aimed them, so were only useful as point-blank Glyphid deterrents. Crikey.
Still, there were bigger things demanding our attention, as we soon came across a cave with multiple Rockpox Contagion Spikes: hellish tangles of spiky rock and glowing pustules. It was our job to clean them up, so Akopyan called in a supply drop with the necessary tools. Not blue gloves and anti-bac gel, but two cleansing foam guns and two dwarf-strength handheld vacuums.
Three seasons in, I wouldn’t have objected to some brand new bugs, rather than remixes of existing foes. But in practice, these Rockpox variants change up the combat routine just enough to make them feel like worthwhile additions. As a Scout, it’s always fun enough to grapple hook over a vanilla Praetorian and unload a magazine into its abdomen, but taking down the infected version with just a few well-placed shots is good hunting too.
This was a more familiar piece of DRG workmanship; the process of calling down two fuel pods, connecting them to drills on either side of the meteorite, then protecting and repairing them amidst bug attacks, feels like a more mechanical cousin of the hacking mini-missions introduced in Season 1. Perhaps a little more deviously designed, though – having to maintain two stations, potentially on completely different levels of cave, splits up your team and weakens your strength in numbers. In exchange, you don’t have to all stand in the same tiny little circle, waiting for the Glyphids to come to you. It’s fine.
Better than fine, really. I had a brilliant time, fending off the new bug types and hoovering up contaminants. I also had a few quick goes with the other throwables: the Gunner’s grenade is a gleefully loud radial sprinkler of bullets, and the Driller’s fire-and-forget saw blade contraption fits perfectly into his arsenal of amusing friendly fire incidents waiting to happen. And I can at least see the intention behind the Scout-a-rang: like the Driller’s default throwing axes, their reusability could make them invaluable for long, tough missions and Deep Dives.
Best of all? Season 3 ditches the bots. Akopyan’s reasoning is that one year is a long time to stick with robot-focused updates, but I was sick of those floating beep-boop bastards within a week. Their excessive health, jerky movement, and lack of animation response to damage made them so unfun to fight that my friends and I started actively avoiding missions where they’d most likely show up - and don’t get me started on their narrow elemental weakness making some fire-based weapon loadouts simply better than others. The Rockpox Glyphids might not be all-new, but they do spice things up without punishing you for lacking a specific damage type.
If you’re less inclined towards enjoying yourself than I am, rest assured that Rival Presence missions will still be available after Season 3, just less often. Otherwise, it’s all Plaguefall from November 3rd, and even with some broken boomerangs to fix, I’m looking forward to mucking in.
