After spending two years in early access, Deep Rock Galactic made its full debut in 2020, releasing on PC and Xbox One to commercial and critical success. Though the game's general premise is nothing overly new, Deep Rock Galactic's 4-player co-op felt like a breath of fresh air in the sometimes oversaturated genre, with some flashy sci-fi visuals, and a strong emphasis on secondary objectives that fleshed out the gameplay.
Flash forward another two years, and Deep Rock Galactic is still going strong, having just been ported over to the PS4 and PS5. With the base game finally finished, developer Ghost Ship Games has turned its attention to honing in on the game's live-service elements. The developer seeks to bring new missions, weapons, and cosmetics to the game, a whole load of which have just been added in Deep Rock Galactic Season 2, Rival Escalation.
Deep Rock Galactic Season 2's New Missions and Enemies
Deep Rock Galactic Season 2 is bringing a brand new mission type to the game. Along with the eight mission types already available in the game, Season 2 is bringing a new mode called "Rival Signal." During this event, players will come across a series of communication relays while on their regular mining travels.
To shut down these communication relays, players will first need to stop the central router, hack into the connecting antennas, and steal and extract the sensitive data before the server gets a chance to self-destruct. Players' actions won't go unopposed, however, as the mysterious Rivals have dispatched a swarm of driller robots to protect the relay. For those particularly unlucky, they may even encounter a Rival Nemesis, a dangerous robotic boss resembling a squid.
Deep Rock Galactic Season 2's New Weapons
Perhaps the most exciting new additions to come with Deep Rock Galactic's Season 2 update are the slew of new weapons. With four new weapons heading to the game, players will be able to mow down their opponents with even more variety than before. Each of Deep Rock Galactic's four classes receives a shiny new weapon with this update.
For the Scout class, the Nishanka Boltshark X-80 will be added to the armory. Functioning like a steampunk/sci-fi crossbow, this weapon is capable of firing some pretty powerful bolts, including special ammunition such as triple bolts, or elemental bolts like acid, fire, and ice.
The Engineer class receives the Shard Diffractor, capable of firing an immensely powerful beam directly in front of the player. Those caught in the Shard Diffractor's beam can expect to take heavy damage, while those in the surrounding area will be affected by the weapon's inherent AoE.
The Armskore Coil Gun is the Gunner's new weapon. Much like the Engineer's Shard Diffractor, the Armskore Coil Gun fires one powerful charged beam, however, this weapon is capable on burrowing deep into the terrain, and leaves a trail of fire in its wake which is capable of dealing some significant damage to enemies.
The final new weapon coming in Season 2, the Colette Wave Cooker is the Driller's new piece of gear. While this is yet another beam-based weapon, the Colette Wave Cooker has some unique visual flairs. The beam fired from the weapon is invisible, and when an enemy is killed with it, a unique death animation plays, with the enemy having been "cooked" from the inside.
Deep Rock Galactic Season 2's New Cosmetics
As should be expected of a live-service game, Deep Rock Galactic's second season is also bringing a plethora of new cosmetics to the game, all available via the game's Performance Pass. However, unlike Fortnite, Apex Legends, and other competitors, Deep Rock Galactic's Pass can all be unlocked without paying a cent.
100 tiers of new beard options, headwear, and upgrades are all available with the game's Performance Pass, and make a great incentive for those looking to invest some serious hours in Deep Rock Galactic's second Season. To start unlocking these items, players simply need to play the game, and earn the crafting material needed to unlock each tier.
Deep Rock Galactic is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
