Deep Rock Galactic: Beginner’s Guide

What’s more badass than Dwarves? Aliens Dwarves! Ghost Ship Games’ newest title, Deep Rock Galactic, put players in the skin of groups of Dwarves cooperating to eliminate hordes of alien monsters and mine ores in procedurally-generated caves. While that sounds fun—and it is!—, new players might get a bit lost. This guide is here to help you!

Beginner’s Guide – Deep Rock Galactic

Once players log into Deep Rock Galactic for the first time, they’ll have the option to complete a tutorial. You may refuse and come back to it any time, but if you’re new to the game and the genre, why not take a few minutes to understand the basics of gameplay?

After the tutorial, you’ll visit the Space Rig, the HUB area where you can purchase vanity and equipment upgrades, begin and abort assignments, and have a drink at the Abyss Bar.

New players must complete Conquer Hoxxes IV, a 10-mission-long assignment, which will give you your first Crafting Resources and Credits.

Once you complete this introduction, you’ll be free to explore the various planetary regions of Hoxxes IV. And that’s when the real fun begins!

Mining and (not) Dying

In the Mission Terminal, you can select planetary region, mission type, and game mode. Once you’re belted up, you will be transported to your chosen cave system to get the job done!

The caves in Deep Rock Galactic are tricky, both because of their procedurally-generated nature and the many creatures that will attack you, sometimes in swarms.

You may be tempted to use flares all the time, but don’t forget that they’re limited! They do refill over time, but if you overuse them, you’ll have to wait a few moments before you have more. So, maybe exploring in low light might be a better long-term solution in some cases.

Do remember about your map, which allows players to see a small recreation of the area around them. That’s useful for checking areas for any Ore that might’ve escaped you and for devising escape routes when you have no time (or HP) to fight.

You can also create waypoints with your Laser Pointer to remind you of locations. In addition, this device can ping other players and identify ores and enemies.

While you’re out there mining your way through the caves in search of riches, you’ll have a secondary objective that you can try to complete before the time’s up. Those reward Credits and XP, so it’s worth the trouble!

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Co-Op is one of Deep Rock Galactic’s greatest elements, and if you can, gather a group of friends with microphones to make sure the mission will go as smoothly—and as fun—as possible.

The game has four Classes: Driller (crowd control and create quick entrances and staircases), Engineer (turrets and Platform Gun to give the team higher grounds to stand on), Gunner (powered minigun for efficient defence and Zipline Gun), and Scout (Grappling Hook, Flare Gun, and a Field Generator that slows enemies down and increases damage taken).

It’s important that each team member choose a Class, understand its perks, and how it can be used in tandem with other Classes to compose badass strategies!

Be careful with one thing, though: there is friendly fire, so be careful when things get chaotic! Speaking of damage, there’s also fall damage.

Last but not least, don’t forget to upgrade! The aliens will get nastier and more numerous and the caverns longer, so you’ll want to keep up with the growing heat.

Hopefully, this guide was helpful! Good luck with your exploration!