Summary
Developer: Ghost Ship Games
Publisher: Ghost Ship Publishing, Coffee Stain Publishing
Platforms – PC (Reviewed)
Review copy given by Developer
NOTE:
The following game is being reviewed in an Early Access State, the game may change after the release of this review, this review reflects the game at the time of publishing
Deep Rock Galactic is one of the most well-crafted co-op games out there, featuring a charismatic cast of characters, an addictive gameplay loop, and too many iconic voice lines to count. Rogue Core, the franchise’s second roguelike spin-off, has big boots to fill, and focuses on tense encounters that place a higher emphasis on teamwork and combat.
If you are wondering what makes one title different from the other, the original Deep Rock Galactic is a somewhat chill mining simulator with light combat, while Rogue Core is a mad dash against the clock that requires very tight teamwork and a solid understanding of the game’s basic mechanics. You and the other dwarves will be constantly overwhelmed by hordes of enemies, as you scrounge for as many upgrades as you can without overstaying your welcome.
Rogue Core’s cast features five characters, whose roles are defined by their suit powers instead of weapons. Every character has a job to perform, either as a damage dealer, support, or tank, but those roles are not exactly set in stone, and everyone has to do a bit of everything regardless.
In roguelike fashion, rather than customizing your weapons at the space rig, your equipment is now picked from a randomized selection at the start of every run, meaning your character has the outline of a playstyle through its active skills, but can focus on different aspects of its kit through upgrade choices.
On paper, Rogue Core’s buildcrafting looks great, but in reality, most of the game’s weapons feel weak and don’t have the same amount of personalization that was found in the original DRG, while the characters feel frail and don’t deal that much damage through their skills. The Slicer class is possibly one of the biggest wastes of potential in the whole roster, flirting with the idea of being a melee character but in reality only slashing through a small amount of enemies every once in a while.
To emphasize group play, Rogue Core brings in a new armor system that ensures you have to rely on your teammates. Armor acts differently from the original game’s shields, protecting you from hits, but not regenerating once it depletes. Most enemies will tear their way to your health bar in a couple of hits, and only one class can generate armor on demand through a cooldown ability, meaning everyone else has to hunt for leftover supplies and can’t fight for long.
The game’s ammo economy has also taken a huge hit, as you will constantly run out and have to check every corner of the map for refills. Ammo is gained by interacting with resupply pods, much like in the original game, but now they cannot be called down on demand, which makes restocking before or during big encounters much harder.
On top of your ammo running out extremely fast, picking up a second weapon also halves the amount of bullets that your primary can carry, further emphasizing the game’s misguided attempt to be “hardcore”, which really only translates into being punitive for no reason. You can do everything right and still lose a run because the odds are simply not stacked in your favor.
Rogue Core’s higher focus on cooperation also creates a constant stop-and-go, as all players have to gather around Ellis, this game’s version of the M.U.L.E., to pick upgrades every couple of minutes. The upgrade selection is shared between players, putting the game at odds with the original DRG’s design philosophy of easygoing cooperation. Taking from your teammates doesn’t make sense in a title that doubles down on teamwork, and worst of all, most of the upgrades feel painfully useless.
As a whole, the game’s upgrade system needs a big overhaul, which should cut the timer in half, give everyone a personal selection to choose from, and automatically prompt players to choose regardless of where they are. More importantly, those upgrades need to be relevant, because wasting time mining for expenite as the mission’s danger level goes up feels incredibly unrewarding at the moment.
It’s great to see that Ghost Ship and Coffee Stain have been paying close attention to what the community has requested over the years, as Rogue Core feels like the next step in the Deep Rock Galatic formula, but in an effort to please the community, the developers might have overlooked some of the aspects that made the original DRG such a blast to play through.
The game’s runs feel incredibly unrewarding at the moment, not only because everyone is so weak and desperately trying to claw their way through a simple mission, but also because you are constantly taking from your teammates because of the shared weapon and upgrade system. This is bound to breed toxicity in the higher difficulty levels, and might even create lobbies that reject newer players.
Rogue Core needs quite a few changes to be enjoyable, both as a roguelike and a co-op title. The missions are highly unfriendly, the classes feel weak, and teamwork ends up as more of a necessity rather than something you enjoy partaking in. We are still rocking and stoning, but things need to change fast for Rogue Core to be as good as the original Deep Rock Galactic.
