Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
Funday Games · Shooter, Survival, Action
Overview
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a single player survivor-like auto-shooter. Wield the full arsenal of Deep Rock Galactic, take on hordes of lethal aliens, mine riches, and unlock powerful upgrades. It's one dwarf against all of Planet Hoxxes!
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,998 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
85% of the reviews recommend the game. The mining gets the most specific praise: you carve tunnels through the cave walls to grab minerals, set up chokepoints and escape swarms, and reviewers say that gives an auto-shooter something to think about from moment to moment. Many call it addictive and describe a "one more run" loop that fits into 20 to 30 minute sessions, works well alongside a podcast or with a controller in one hand, and suits the Steam Deck. Fans of Deep Rock Galactic recognize the dwarf banter, weapons, bugs and biomes, and several reviewers who never played the original say they enjoy it anyway.
Grind is the main complaint. Permanent upgrades come in steps of one or two percent, and the higher Hazard levels expect masteries and gear that take many repeated runs to earn. Early access veterans in particular criticize the 1.0 gear system and the harder curve that came with it. Reviewers also raise frame drops late in runs, run-ending bugs and lost saves, the small number of maps and bosses, and the lack of co-op. The paid expansion, which reviewers call Heavy Duty, drew a short wave of price complaints when it came out. Several negative reviews open by praising the core loop and then object to how long the game makes them repeat it.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Mining and digging change how runs playHigh
13% of longer reviews talk about mining or digging. Players use the destructible walls to funnel bugs into corridors, cut escape routes and reach mineral veins, and several say this is what lifts the game above other survivor-likes. One reviewer wrote that "the core gameplay of avoidance is made so much more fun by drilling through walls and messing with the pathfinding algorithm," and another that the game "wants you to actually engage with the levels themselves." Some disagree: they say the timer and swarms often leave no time to mine, or that digging feels slow.
An addictive loop that fits short sessionsHigh
10% of longer reviews call the game addictive or describe the pull of one more run, and 8.5% praise how runs fit into short sessions, a lunch break or an evening with a podcast. Reviewers like that a failed run still pays out minerals toward permanent upgrades, so even a short session counts as progress. One short review sums it up as "For parents who have 20 minutes to spare." A smaller group finds the same loop shallow once the novelty wears off (see the frustrations below).
Plays well on the Steam Deck and other handheldsMedium
8% of longer reviews mention the Steam Deck or another handheld. Players like the single-stick controls and being able to pause at any time: "I think this is my favorite game to play on my Steam Deck." Deck owners also list problems: frame rates drop at higher Hazards, the small text is hard to read, and the game drains the battery fast. One reviewer who doesn't recommend it on the Deck said it "eats the battery like its nitra."
The Deep Rock Galactic flavor, voices and humorMedium
Voice lines, humor or charm come up in 7% of longer reviews. Fans of the original enjoy the familiar dwarves, weapons, biomes and Mission Control, and newcomers say the setting works without any prior knowledge. "The voice acting is excellent and gives the dwarves real personality," one wrote. Others find the lines repeat too often ("The voice prompts repeat A LOT and they get old really fast") and turn the voice slider down, and a few parents ask for a way to tone down the swearing.
A lot of game for a low priceLow
4% of longer reviews explicitly call the base game good value, a steal or worth every penny for the number of classes, weapons, mission types and achievements it offers, especially on sale. Critics of the grind answer that much of that content is the same runs repeated with harder numbers.
Steady updates and no microtransactionsLow
A small group praises the developers for adding modes and fixes through early access and after 1.0, and for selling a single-player game with no in-game purchases: "0 predatory transaction processes, which should always be celebrated." Others complain that updates came slowly and that known bugs stayed open for months.
Easy to play one-handedLow
For a few players with injuries, arthritis or a baby in one arm, the movement-only controls make this one of the few games they can play. "As an older gamer with arthritis, I really appreciate how these games let me step back from fast-paced, twitchy gameplay," one wrote.
Where players are split
The meta-progression grindHigh
19% of longer reviews talk about grind or slow progression, the largest theme in the reviews. It comes up in 39% of negative longer reviews and 12% of positive ones. Critics object to permanent upgrades worth one or two percent, to repeating masteries for every weapon, class and biome, and to Hazard gates that demand both. One called it "an Excel Spreadsheet Simulator." Players who enjoy long-term progression see it the other way: "the grind hits the sweet-spot and feels like a sequence of successes." Several positive reviews end with a warning that the game is built for people who enjoy grinding.
The 1.0 gear systemHigh
Gear or equipment comes up in 12% of longer reviews and 19% of negative ones, usually from players with long play histories, often since early access. Supporters say random gear with stat bonuses and quirks gave the long game a goal; an early access review from 2024 called it "Gear system really was the saving grace." Detractors say the 1.0 rebalance moved much of a dwarf's power into random drops, made higher Hazards depend on lucky legendaries, and buried build-crafting in menus that need bulk selling and filters: "Gear is just a gacha system, which I have no interest in." Several early access players say they liked the game better before 1.0.
Difficulty walls at the higher HazardsMedium
8.5% of longer reviews discuss Hazard walls, difficulty spikes or bullet-sponge enemies, and the topic comes up in 17% of negative longer reviews. Players report sudden jumps at Hazard 3 and again at Hazard 4 and 5, plus individual missions far harder than the rest. Some enjoy the curve: "The difficulty ramp is well tuned." Others hit a wall and quit: "Difficulty spike is absolutely absurd."
Less of a power trip than other survivor-likesMedium
Comparisons with Vampire Survivors, Brotato and similar games run through the reviews, and players disagree on whether the game should deliver the power curve those games are known for. One side likes that runs never turn into standing still while the screen clears itself: "it doesn't really let you become ridiculously strong." The other side wanted that payoff and never got it: "you're supposed to grow stronger in a survivors-like as you progress. Not weaker." This group often also dislikes upgrades that only bump a stat instead of adding a new effect.
The Heavy Duty expansion and paid DLCLow
4% of longer reviews discuss the expansion or DLC. The complaints cluster in the two weeks after it came out: of the 68 negative reviews written from April 27 to May 10, 2026, 41% mention the DLC or its price. Reviewers objected to an expansion costing about as much as the base game on sale, and to a new biome and mission type sitting behind a paywall: "The DLC (9.99) costing more than the base game (8.99 when I bought it) was nail in the coffin." Some buyers were pleased, one saying "the new dlc is exceeding every expectation." The few who comment on its bulldozer-driving Demolitionist class disagree; one found it "much harder to use."
Endless modeLow
3% of longer reviews mention endless mode. Players asked for it through early access and welcomed its arrival, but several say deep endless runs collapse in performance: "at some point your frames just drop to nothing."
What frustrates players
Frame drops at high Hazards, in endless and on handheldsMedium
6.5% of longer reviews raise performance, including 9% of negative ones. They describe a game that runs well early, then loses frame rate once the screen fills with bugs, explosions and status effects at Hazard 4 and 5 or deep in endless mode, even on strong PCs. One reviewer wrote that in endless mode "it will drop to single digit frames and probably crash sometime past level 20." Players also ask for more graphics options than render scale and anti-aliasing.
Repetitive maps, bosses and missionsMedium
6% of longer reviews complain about repetition or thin variety, 10% of negative ones. They point to the same few biomes, a small set of bosses (several name the twin dreadnoughts), two main mission types and familiar side objectives across hundreds of runs. "It has about 20 minutes of unique gameplay that repeat over and over and over forever," one wrote. Some positive reviewers grant the point and say it matters less in short sessions.
No co-opMedium
6% of longer reviews mention co-op or multiplayer, mostly as a wish. Fans of the four-player original find a solo-only spin-off odd: "It's my personal favourite swarm survivor game, but its singleplayer only for some reason!" A few say they would buy it again for couch or online co-op.
Luck-heavy runs and uneven weaponsMedium
5% of longer reviews raise RNG. Players say late runs depend on being offered the right weapons and overclocks, that rerolls cost scarce gold, and that weapons cannot be banned. Some also call several weapons too weak to keep: "A large percentage of the weapons are so bad they actively make you weaker by having them."
Crashes, freezes and lost savesLow
4% of longer reviews report crashes, black screens between stages, menus that lock the player out mid-run, or save files wiped after a crash or update. A freeze often ends a long run, so these reviews are harsh: "I really like this game.. except for when it just wipes my save data and I have to start all over." Later reviews note that mid-run saves were added and several of these bugs were fixed, while others say the black screen persisted for months.
The 30-second drop pod timerLow
3% of longer reviews complain about the countdown to reach the drop pod after the boss dies, which ends the run if the player is late. Players say it forces them to leave minerals and experience behind and turns a won stage into a loss: "30 seconds to get to the drop pod is just not enough time sometimes." A few also report the pod ramp failing to register them.
No control over where weapons fireLow
2% of longer reviews complain about auto-targeting, more often from players with shorter playtimes. Weapons fire at the nearest bug instead of the boss or the dense pack, and some only fire in the direction the dwarf faces: "your shot can get diverted to a singular nearby unit closest to you." Some ask for twin-stick aiming or a target priority option.
Missing options and explanationsLow
A small group objects to the lack of key rebinding and mouse movement ("No keybindings. 2025. Insane."), the absence of a tutorial or codex, sparse tooltips on stats like armor and potency, and no UI scaling for handheld screens.
Visual clutter late in runsLow
At high Hazards, a few players say, the effects hide enemies and hazards, and the effects slider forces a choice between seeing your weapons and seeing the bugs: "One shouldn't have to turn effects visibility down to 0 to see."
3. The player conversation
Short "Rock and Stone" tributes and jokes about addiction sit alongside the longer reviews, and a handful of the short ones say they were written for the Steam Awards. The longer reviews carry the argument, and it runs mostly between two camps who agree the core loop is fun. One treats the game as a relaxing, endlessly upgradable time-filler and accepts the grind. The other, often early access veterans with long histories in the game, feels the 1.0 gear system, the harder Hazard gates and the paid expansion stretched the same loop too thin.
Complaints about aiming come more often from players with shorter playtimes. Complaints about gear, Hazard 5, endless-mode performance and the expansion come from players with long play histories, who often recommend the game anyway. The share of positive reviews moved with the big releases: 80% of the 1,618 reviews written in the five weeks after the 1.0 launch (September 2025, by reviewers' accounts) were positive, and 68% of the 214 written in the two weeks after the expansion came out. From mid-July to mid-October 2026, 84% of 403 reviews were positive.
4. What the developers could do
- Make permanent upgrades feel bigger and cut the repetition needed to reach higher Hazards. Grind is the complaint raised most often in negative reviews, and players single out one- and two-percent upgrades and the many mastery runs required before the later gates.
- Fix frame-rate collapse at Hazard 4 and 5, in endless mode and on the Steam Deck. Players on strong PCs and handhelds report single-digit frame rates once effects and swarms stack up, often ending runs.
- Smooth the jumps between Hazard levels and reduce reliance on lucky gear drops. Players describe sudden walls at Hazard 3 and beyond that feel like gear checks, with legendary drops too rare to plan around.
- Stamp out run-ending bugs and protect save files. Reviewers lost long runs to black screens and stuck menus and lost whole saves after crashes or updates, and several say they will change their review once these are fixed.
- Add more bosses, map layouts and mission types to the base game. Players who have put in hundreds of runs say they keep seeing the same biomes, bosses and objectives.
- Buff the weakest weapons and give players more control over targeting and rerolls. Some players call several weapons dead picks, say auto-targeting ignores bosses, and say paid rerolls with no banning leave runs to luck.
- Add key rebinding, mouse movement, UI scaling, an effects opacity setting and clearer tooltips or a codex. Reviewers list these as missing basics, and handheld owners in particular ask for larger text.
- Give more time, or an option, on the drop pod countdown. Players describe losing a finished stage by a second as infuriating, and a few ask for 60 seconds or a choice of when to leave.
