Between the launch of Helldivers 2, a Destiny 2 resurgence, and a fantastic new DLC for Remnant 2, 2024 continues to boast some of the best co-op games in the wake of highlights like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo 4 last year. Not to be outdone, Deep Rock Galactic has a huge amount planned for the launch of its new season, with lots of upgrades to look forward to as you and your fellow dwarves dig deeper than ever before in search of rare resources, and you’ll be facing some of your toughest challenges yet.
Season 5 of Deep Rock Galactic is ‘Drilling Deeper,’ a title that reflects the core theme of the new update for one of the highest rated co-op games on Steam. A new Deep Scan mission sees you delving ever deeper in search of a fresh source of Morkite seeds. You’ll start off with a treasure hunt as you seek out the location of resonance crystals using a proximity tracker. Once you find it, you can dig down to expose the crystal, call down a resonance scanner, and perform the eponymous deep scan. Repeat this a few times and you’ll pinpoint the location of the Morkite geode.
Once you’ve got your mark, a new tool called the Drillavator will carry your dwarves downwards, and you’ll have to defend the platform from attack as you descend ever deeper. Patches of harder rock will bar your way, enforcing moments where you’ll need to help keep the Drillavator stable. Reach the bottom and you can harvest all those valuable Morkite seeds for extraction.
Along with the Deep Scan mission, there’s a new event coming in Season 5 that will see you hunting for a mineral called Core Stone – Ghost Ship says this will require “more than just digging it out,” but you’ll have to wait until closer to launch to find out exactly what that means.
You’ll also have to watch out for some new threats, of course. The Barrage Infector is a stationary enemy capable of pelting you. The Vartok Scalebramble, meanwhile, is a reinforced turret that will appear on walls and ceilings. You won’t be able to take this one down with direct attacks – instead, you’ll have to follow its roots to a number of exposed nodules and destroy those to remove the threat.
Scariest of all, however, is the Glyphid Stalker. Much like the similarly named Helldivers 2 enemy, this melee unit is capable of cloaking, leaving just the slightest shimmer trail in its wake. Not only that, but when it reveals itself – with a terrifying shriek – it will use an electrical pulse capable of disabling your shields. I’m already terrified.
The good news is that plenty of new gear is coming to even the odds, with a total of 12 new weapon overclocks, including a prototype ‘unstable’ pump action shotgun that makes each shot a lot more impactful, but at the cost of firing rate and ammo capacity. The gunner’s auto-cannon, meanwhile, can be changed to fire mortar projectiles rather than its usual hitscan rounds – they’re incredibly potent but will hurt you or your companions, so be careful.
Think you’re up to the challenge, then? Season 5 introduces a new difficulty level, Hazard 5+. “It’s not Hazard 6, because we’re putting the control in your hands,” Ghost Ship explains. Once you’ve unlocked this mode, you’ll actually be able to adjust several different factors including enemy numbers, toughness, and aggression levels, along with the vulnerability of players characters, all of which ramps up the hazard bonus you’ll earn from a successful extraction. There are also new anomalies and warnings to watch out for, so stay on your guard.
The Season 5 update will also bring another very welcome addition, which the team is calling season reactivation. This will let you revisit older seasons by setting your lobby to the state of that season, allowing you to explore past content that you might have missed the first time around, or have a particular hankering to revisit.
Deep Rock Galactic Season 5 is called ‘Drilling Deeper.’ Along with the new content, you can expect a new Performance Pass filled with unlocks included for free, along with a new set of paid cosmetic DLC for those who want it. There’s currently no date set, although Ghost Ship has previously suggested it’s hoping the new season will arrive sometime around June – expect a confirmed date in the next few weeks.
Ghost Ship notes that work on Season 6 won’t be looked at until after the launch of spin-off game Deep Rock Galactic Rogue Core, explaining that development on that game has been pushed back because the team has been hard at work delivering all the promised updates for DRG Season 5. Once Rogue Core is out, work on Season 6 can begin, but for now the team says, “after Season 5, it’s Rogue Core, full steam ahead.”
If the rallying cry of Rock and Stone has you in the mood for even more action, take a look through the best FPS games for lots of that. You’ll also find plenty more raucous dwarven chaos among the best Warhammer games.
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