The Riftbreaker: World Expansion II

Drilling through limestone is the expansion's headline mechanic, and it splits reviewers, with more of those who discuss it critical than keen. Fans enjoy the change of pace ("Liked digging around and setting up my own little tunnels"; "It felt refreshing to play."), and like making shortcuts and their own chokepoints. Critics describe holding the drill or melee button to carve out room to build, cramped maps that are "hard to traverse", and more time getting from point A to point B. "The digging aspect is an absolute chore," says one launch-month review that still recommends the expansion. A few critics add that the digging rarely matters tactically: burrowing enemies arrive with every wave and come through the walls anyway, so it "doesn't matter which walls you bring down". Deep Rock Galactic and Lumencraft come up as comparisons, approvingly and otherwise.

Price comes up in both directions. Launch-month reviews often call it cheap, a "Fair price point" and worth full price, and one detailed review says "This DLC would be worth the price just for that single tower!" about the energy pylon. Reviews written later lean more toward waiting for a discount, and some say it is too small for what it costs ("pay 9.99 for less content"). Length estimates vary widely: some players finished in two to three hours or less, while others report around six to eight hours with optional missions and full exploration. Several positive reviews add that it is short and that they wished for more.

15 reviews compare Into The Dark with the other DLCs, and nearly all of them rank it lower, usually behind Metal Terror and sometimes behind Heart of the Swamp. Several of those comparisons come from players who still recommend it: "its the weakest of a good trilogy of expansions!" and "My least favorite of the DLCs, but over all I still enjoyed it." The negative versions say Metal Terror gave better rewards and more variety, and this one "just feels forced". One launch-month reviewer argued the opposite, saying the developers did an even better job this time, with boss battles and a slew of new enemies.

Players who like the story value the lore: Ashley's past, the Anoryx enemy from her earlier campaign, and the backstory behind her arm. Critics go into more detail. They call the plot boring, say it lacks a proper start or end and does not connect to the main campaign, and complain about the ending. The dialogue draws particular fire: "unskippable, poorly written, poorly acted 5-minute-long dialogue scenes" in one review, long and boring boss conversations in another. Mild reviewers land in the middle ("It's not a BAD story, I just didn't really care").

The expansion unlocks fairly early in the campaign, and players who start it then report a steep spike: swarms, repeated deaths and limited resources. Several advise finishing a good part of the tech tree first; one says "the difficulty spike of this DLC is quite a bit". Players who arrive with late-game gear report the opposite, calling the campaign and boss "far too easy" or a "cakewalk", and one says the boss is "laughably easy" if you have already done everything in the base game. Two reviewers suggest playing it before reaching top-tier gear to get any challenge.

Reviewers describe a two-stage Anoryx boss with a health bar, the game's first proper boss by their account. Some call it cool and well designed and want more fights like it. Others call it underwhelming, out of place in a base-building game, or poorly animated, and the ease complaints above apply here too: with maximum gear it ends very quickly. One reviewer notes a choice in the first encounter that changes how hard the rest of the questline plays.

The new creatures, especially enemies that revive the dead or summon more foes and burrowers that dig in from unexpected angles, are interesting to some and exhausting to others. Fans like the variety and the challenge they add. Critics say summoners that keep spawning creatures "through goddamn walls" turn fights into a grind, that later maps throw many of them at once, and that many other enemies are reskins.

Opinions on the unlocks run from "useful new tools" to "nothing useful or interesting at all". Reviewers who mention the energy pylon, which moves power wirelessly between outposts, like it; one longtime player also came around on the Sonic Grenade and self-rebuilding Crystal Walls. Critics say the new weapons are weaker versions of existing ones, that the final reward is less impressive than Metal Terror's, and that little carries over into the rest of the game. One negative review goes further, arguing the cave restrictions mean you "play with less stuff" during the DLC, and several reviewers note that mortars, orbital abilities and some towers are unavailable underground.

Sunlight and wind only exist in specific spots, so players lean on geothermal, biomass and the new pylons. Some enjoy being pushed out of their comfort zone ("a cool twist"); others find the power system "very odd" or simply annoying.