Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

It’s clear that Deep Rock Galactic managed to transfer its charisma even into this genre detour. Survivor, however, achieves far more than a simple spin-off. Beneath the familiar façade of space dwarves lies a cleverly designed game unafraid to demand precision and persistence. A well-built progression system and meaningful upgrades make it strikingly hard to put down. Forget the vampires: the age of stone and rubble has arrived. The king is dead; long live the king.

Vampire Survivors is no longer the king of the genre.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor doesn’t necessarily revolutionize its genre, but it doesn’t need to. With this entry in the action roguelike autoshooter genre, Funday Games has created a delightfully enjoyable game that will keep you coming back for more.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors is easily one of the best bullet heaven titles out there – which is no small feat, considering the amount of competition there is nowadays. Excellent visuals, lovely gameplay, with the unique mining mechanics that add a lot of depth to the runs. There’s a ton of content to grind towards, with even 300 unique achievements at launch, making this title a strong candidate to stay installed on your SSD for quite some time. A bit of a shame perhaps that it lacks any sort of co-op, since that’s a huge part of the original Deep Rock Galactic experience. Even so, this is one of the finest bullet heaven games out there right now, and with it launching on Game Pass, you have no excuses not to dig into the deep dungeons of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is more than just another Vampire Survivors clone—it’s a faithful spin on the co-op classic that carries over its humor, class personality, and suffocating cave atmosphere. The lack of camaraderie stings, and the grind and balance issues get rough in the endgame, but the core loop of digging, shooting, and upgrading never stops being fun. For fans of either genre, it’s an easy recommendation.

If you're a fan of the broad "bullet heaven" genre, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is undoubtedly one of the best games in this category, thanks to its breadth of offerings and overall well-thought-out gameplay. It's a shame there are a few minor stumbles overall, but nothing that seriously compromises the quality of the final offering. And it's all at a truly competitive price.

A fine addition to a young genre, Survivor adds smart twists, most notably its level-based structure; however, unlike the mainline Deep Rock Galactic, it’s single-player only.

Auto Shooter, set in the proven Dwarven Universe, already offers a complete package, with hordes of creatures and rare resources to discover underground. However, the difficulty level is high, and the repetition of biomes and missions unnecessarily and artificially extends the game's scope.

I'm not the most dedicated Survivor player, and admittedly I've only played Deep Rock Galactic a couple of times just to hang out with friends, but with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor I was surprised several times to find when I looked up from my PC that it was already dark, and I had to go to bed (work to do). I think there are few better compliments for a title like this.