Deep Rock Galactic Offers a White-Knuckle Multiplayer Fix on Xbox and PC

Lately, whenever I get home from work and a few hours go by, I've been getting texts from my buddy that read, "Space Dwarves?" "I'll log on now," is my immediate reply, and within minutes we're cussing like sailors, shooting like spartans, and mining like, well, space Dwarves.

In Deep Rock Galactic (available now in early access on Xbox and Steam), you and your friends will form a small squad of brave, foul-mouthed miners, and venture into the depths of alien planets to hunt for rare materials and artifacts. Mission types rotate across various planets, ensuring that each time you boot up the game, you'll be in for a novel experience. Sometimes you're tasked with bringing back a set amount of currency; sometimes you'll be asked to mine a certain quantity of rare crystals; maybe you'll need to burrow deep into the walls of a dark cavern to retrieve eggs or fossils.

No matter your objective, you can count on being absolutely drenched with eerie, lonely ambience, and beautiful colors. There's something oddly soothing about taking your pickaxe to the voxel-rendered rocks and pillars around you, and watching them chip and fall away as precious metals and crystals *tink* and *clank* onto the ground by your boots. You'll feel like a daring explorer as you toss brightly-colored glowsticks into the darkness ahead of you and march into unexplored tunnels and caverns.

There are four different classes to choose from, each with their own perks and unique equipment, and each with their own upgrades and vanity cosmetics. Those of you who enjoy destroying things will love the Gunner's heavy gatling gun, while more strategic thinkers will appreciate the Driller's ability to quickly plow through walls and discover new pathways or shortcuts.

Teamwork is important -- really important -- since the map and UI offer minimal insight into your surroundings. Players will have to work together to find new tunnels, reach key artifacts, and fight off alien insects.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that, at regular intervals, you and your mates will have to hold your ground and fight off waves of angry aliens. Some are tiny and bite at your ankles; some explode as soon as they take damage; others boast rock-hard shells and emit poisonous gasses. Teamwork in exploration is encouraged, while teamwork in defense is pretty much required if you want to survive.

And if you do survive, and you manage to collect the requisite materials and drop them into your mobile, spider-like, autonomous treasure bin, that's when the real thrills begin. When you and your team all agree that you're ready, punching a giant red button on your collection droid will summon a dropship to take you all home. As soon as it lands, the clock starts ticking, and you have to haul ass to make it back in time. It can, and will, leave without you.

Curse words and laughter soon fill the air as you and your squad frantically race to find your way back to where you originally spawned. You'll hate yourself for having taken certain risky jumps down into new caverns and digging strangely-shaped tunnels earlier, because you'll either have to retrace all of those steps, or else create new paths back to the dropship and risk getting lost.

Your mad dash is of course made even more stressful due to new swarms of aliens who will be at your heels. If you and your friends have run low on ammunition, health, or mobility tools, the trek back to the dropship can absolutely be your downfall. Typically, though, missions only take around half an hour to complete (or fail), so hopping back into another mission always sounds like a great idea.

We're excited to see how Deep Rock Galactic evolves. As it is, for $25, it's easy to recommend to anyone looking for a casual or challenging co-op fix. Give it a shot, and we'll see you in the dark below.