Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is arguably the best version of this genre – and yes I even include the original Vampire Survivors and the more recent Jotunnslayer in that statement. It’s an almost perfect transition from 1st person Dwarf-em-up to isometric bullet heaven, transposing the core mechanics effortlessly.
Although fully solo, the central loop feels almost exactly the same. You drop into a dark cavern infested with Starship Troopers-style bugs, with an onus on mining as much precious ore as you can before extracting out. The difference is that in the game this spins off from, the aim is to explore and load up on as much ore as possible, whereas in Survivor it seems like the primary concern is to draw out and kill elite megabugs while collecting precious ore almost as a bi-product.
There are four classes to pick from, which actually take some time to unlock. Initially you take the engineer into the caverns, accompanied by your little defence drone that helps gun down the hordes of bugs that pour at you now and then. A progress bar at the top of the screen shows how many bugs you need to kill to hit certain milestones, such as invoking swarms, calling down supply crates that you need to clear the area for first, and eventually summoning in the elite. Finish four areas and you’ll reach the boss fight, which adds new milestones to the bar and eventually sees you tackling a colossal monstrosity. Kill that one, and you go home.
Unlock many Survivor-likes, you will get to return to your home base after a set number of stages, meaning you’re not just desperately trying to survive for as long as possible with death an eventual inevitability. You will unlock a total of 4 weapons from a steadily growing pool that differs with each class, each weapon adding a new auto attack to your arsenal. As you gain levels at a frankly astonishing rate, you’ll be able to choose from 3 buffs and boosts that do things like increase HP, fire rate, reload speed, armour, or damage.
Periodically, you’ll level up your weapons granting them higher damage and multiple buffs and debuffs such as increased reload speed in return for lower clip size or whatever, presenting an element of tactical thinking to make it more than just a mindless blaster. The more special ore you mine, the more upgrades you’ll be able to afford between stages and at the end of each run.
You also unlock gear that you can equip between runs and upgrade using ores you mine, which boost your stats and survivability overall. It’s a game that showers you with progress rewards while at the same time making you work for it, and the result is an incredibly satisfying gameplay loop that unlocks new areas and mission zones faster than it unlocks new classes, so you don’t get visually bored even as you’re levelling up your miners.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor on the Switch 2 is exactly the same game as you might have played on PC or console already, and as such is hardly essential if you have access to it anywhere else. If you don’t, however, then this is an absolutely must-have game for anyone with an interest in the genre. It’s frantic and good-looking, presents itself in bite-sized chunks, and always feels like it’s rewarding you just for playing. For a commute, or even just for killing a few minutes here and there, it’s the perfect distraction and plays wonderfully on Nintendo’s handheld.
