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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited
Spectrum
Member since Dec-25-13
154 posts |
Feb-28-24, 00:37 AM (EDT) |
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"Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor"
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No, not Deep Rock Galactic, that should be its own thread for arguably the best 4-person multiplayer coop Left4Dead-inheritor out right now. DRG Survivor is their entry into what we can term the Survivor genre, after the indie breakout Vampire Survivors. After its release in 2022, it spawned a whole number of clones and evolutions. For the VTuber fans, that includes the excellent and free HoloCure. The Survivor genre is a reverse bullet hell. You control a character from a top down view that automatically fires various patterns of projectiles based on the weapons you have while monsters spawn in from the edges of the screen and you do your best to move around them and not die either for as long as possible, to a certain time limit, or until some other metric is achieved. DRG puts their own spin on some of the common mechanics by keeping the identity from the base game. Currently on each run you're doing a set goal of 5 stages, where on each stage you're trying to kill enough to fill up a bar and fight the stage boss, then get to the extract to go deeper (or go home if you can kill the run boss), akin to a Deep Dive from the base game. For the number lovers, after every run is a fairly detailed stats screen which breaks down how all of your weapons performed and various other pertinent stats for a run. Additionally, while most Survivor genres have you running around a relatively wide open terrain with some obstacles, the DRG Survivor terrain is subterranean and cramped...except that you possess the ability to freely dig through and make your own paths to control monster routes and create places to fight. You're dwarves, after all! Speaking of your digging ability, that also lets you mine for resources out of the walls. Two resources can be spent between stages to buy power on that run (or restore your health or reroll offered powerups on level up), while rarer resources are how you buy meta-power between runs. Lastly, as a somewhat more minor change, whereas the original Survivors focused on specific weapon combos that become extremely powerful and combine to free up inventory slots (letting you get even more power), DRG Survivor wants you to focus on maxing one or two weapons only, as they get 'overclocks' instead at 6/12/18, with the 18 overclock usually being extremely strong (unless you get very unlucky). There are sometimes downsides attached, akin to how overclocks work in the base game. My only complaint is that when you first unlock a weapon at a meta level, you can't overclock it. You first have to get it to 12 in a run, then on future runs that weapon can be overclocked. There are currently 3 stages with different terrain hazards in play and the 4 DRG classes have 3 variants which have different starting weapons and stat bonuses. |
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Gryphon
Charter Member
22464 posts |
Feb-28-24, 01:52 AM (EDT) |
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2. "RE: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor"
In response to message #0
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>The Survivor genre is a reverse bullet hell. You control a character >from a top down view that automatically fires various patterns of >projectiles based on the weapons you have while monsters spawn in from >the edges of the screen and you do your best to move around them and >not die either for as long as possible, to a certain time limit, or >until some other metric is achieved. The grumpy old man I am fast becoming insists I point out that all of these games, including Vampire Survivors itself, are descendants of Robotron 2084. Admittedly, there's precedent for this kind of flagrant terminological disrespect. Rogue wasn't the first "roguelike" game either. :) --G. I still remember the flamewars on usenet over the coinage of that term. "What's next?" one of the early posters to rec.games.roguelike wondered rhetorically. "Will we group discussions of all domesticated mustelids into rec.pets.stoatlike?" -><- Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ zgryphon at that email service Google has Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam. |
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Kendra Kirai
Member since May-22-16
608 posts |
Feb-28-24, 02:22 AM (EDT) |
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3. "RE: Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor"
In response to message #2
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-28-24 AT 02:37 AM (EST) > The grumpy old man I am fast becoming > insists I point out that all of these > games, including Vampire Survivors > itself, are descendants of Robotron 2084.I think there's a difference there; Robotron is a Twin-stick shooter, and while Deep Rock Galactic Survivor has user controllable targeting as well, it is mostly in the Bullet Heaven or reverse danmaku genre of game, with firing being done automatically, often at whatever's closest. The differences between a Twin-stick shooter and a "Survivors" type game like this aren't large, but I think they're at least as large as, I'd say, the various types of RPG; cRPG, jRPG, aRPG...or the various turn based strategies like X-COM compared to Final Fantasy Tactics compared to Super Robot Wars. So, while the lineage clearly has a root ancestor, there's been evolutionary branches since then - Primates all have a root ancestor, but you'd never say a chimp is the same as a spider monkey. (Well, not without making a biologist really angry with you.) Edit: > I still remember the flamewars on usenet > over the coinage of that term. "What's > next?" one of the early posters to > rec.games.roguelike wondered rhetorically. > "Will we group discussions of all domesticated > mustelids into rec.pets.stoatlike?" This exact same thing happened when people started using the term "Metroidvania" after Symphony of the Night came out and there was a sudden flush of Metroid-like exploration and backtracking in action games. Though I think the main split was whether or not it should be 'Castletroids'...I think we're in the good timeline. |
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version 3.3 © 2001
Eyrie Productions,
Unlimited
Benjamin
D. Hutchins
E P U (Colour)
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