Hello Miners,
We’ve got a big one here! As you may (or may not) have heard, we went live last week for our On the Horizon dev stream. During the broadcast, we lifted the curtain on loads of juicy new details about Season 05 – as well as some news on our overall roadmap, and updates from our Ghost Ship Publishing titles. Thanks to everybody who tuned in, and for all the enthusiasm and great questions you brought to the stream.
In case you weren’t able to catch the broadcast live, we put together this post to run through all the highlights. We’ll take it in chronological order. Throughout the post, you'll find timestamps for the whole recorded broadcast on YouTube, in case you want to see more.
News from Ghost Ship Publishing
We kicked things off by touching base with a few of the games coming out via Ghost Ship Publishing.
Here are the highlights! Three games, three bullet points for each. Easy peasy.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (Funday Games)
First to join us was Anders from Funday Games, one of the developers behind Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.
- Update 2 is on the way, and set for a May release. They’re planning on introducing the Huuli Hoarder, implementing a Dreadnought rework (including new attack patterns), and also an UI/UX overhaul, to help give more insights to the calculations behind your build.
- Update 3 is planned for sometime in the summer. This one’s going to be a design-heavy update, says Anders. He says the ambition is to “transcend the survivor genre” – and they’ll share more about that as they get closer to release.
- The Funday Games team is excited about the idea of DRG:S coming to consoles or mobile, but they’re not looking at that before the game launches as Version 1.0. They’re taking things one platform at a time.
To catch the whole segment with Funday Games and DRG: Survivor, go ahead and jump to the 14:00 mark on the recording.
SpellRogue (Guidelight Games)
Next came Tim from Guidelight Games, with some updates on the dice-rolling deck-builder, SpellRogue.
- Tim and Thorbjørn have been super happy with the game’s Early Access launch, and especially grateful for all the fan feedback that they’ve been able to take in for the first two updates! You can join the SpellRogue Discord here.
- Their big ambition at the moment is to add a fourth playable wizard, with an arsenal of air elemental spells. They’ve had this ‘air wizard’ planned for over two years, and now it’s time to get it implemented.
- Prompted by a fan question, Tim confirmed they’re looking at adding new rare spell types, or “legendary” spells. They’d like to introduce more powerful spells near the end of a run, to incentivize switching up your build throughout each playthrough.
If you’re interested, you can see the whole SpellRogue spotlight starting at 31:05 on the recording.
Dinolords (Northplay)
After that we wound the clocks back to 1002 AD and headed to feudal-era England, to hear from Michael at Northplay Games about their medieval dinosaur mashup Dinolords.
- The team just released a new teaser trailer! If you haven’t already seen it, you can watch that right here.
- On the stream, Michael confirmed you’ll be able to control the dinosaurs yourself – including mountable dinosaurs you can use as your ferocious personal steed.
- The Northplay team is currently tinkering with ways to make the game multiplayer, and have an experimental, “buggy but fun” build they’ve tried with four people at once. “We want to have that experience of building a castle with your friends,” Michael said.
For all the details, you’ll find the Dinolords segment at the 46:45 mark on the recording.
Update to the Ghost Ship Roadmap
After checking in with some of our Ghost Ship Publishing pals, we zoomed out to look at the broader horizon for Ghost Ship.
We’ve published an updated roadmap (including both Ghost Ship Games and Ghost Ship Publishing), which you can see right here! Key takeaways are just beneath it.
Among the many dates on that roadmap, there are two key things to note:
- On our first roadmap for Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core, we said we’d have a closed alpha live right around now. In retrospect, that was a little too optimistic. We’re now aiming for that closed alpha in Q1 of 2025, with the Early Access launch following after.
- We’re realizing that it’s really tough for us to balance development of both Rogue Core and Deep Rock Galactic. That’s what’s caused some delays on the Rogue Core timeline. So, we’ve made a decision: We’re not going to look at planning Season 06 for DRG until we’ve got Rogue Core launched into Early Access.
A wise philosopher once said: Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.
We’re taking that to heart for Rogue Core, so we’ll be taking some time to give that our full attention once we’ve released Season 05 for Deep Rock Galactic.
If you want to see the whole segment about the Ghost Ship road map, including CCO and Game Director Mikkel Martin Pedersen’s explanation of how we’re balancing Deep Rock Galactic with Rogue Core, you’ll find that in the recording here.
Now let’s talk Season 05.
Deep Rock Galactic: Season 05 details
During the stream, Mikkel Martin Pedersen (CCO/Game Director) and Mikhail “Mike” Akopyan (Lead Game Designer) lifted the curtain on lots more features coming in Season 05. We’ll run through all the highlights below.
If you want to watch the whole Season 05 presentation, including every screenshot and little detail, you can click here to jump to where that starts in the broadcast.
NOTE: We’re still tweaking and refining all this seasonal content. Everything below is still a work in progress. Final details may be subject to change.
--- SEASON 05 THEME: “DRILLING DEEPER”
Management’s got their sights set on mineral riches deeper down toward Hoxxes’ core. We’re increasing your depth of operations. In other words, we’re drilling deeper.
--- NEW MISSION: DEEP SCAN
The Deep Rock Galactic corporation has identified a potent new source of Morkite: Morkite Seeds. They’re located deeper within Hoxxes, in dazzling Morkite Geodes. You’ll need to locate the Geode, get down to it, extract the Morkite Seeds, and get back alive. Let's take a closer look.
The mission starts with locating Resonance Crystals. Use your Telemetric Rangefinder to determine their location in the cave, and dig them out to expose the crystal. Your Rangefinders will beep more intensely the closer you get to a crystal.
Once you’ve got a crystal exposed, call down a Resonance Scanner and hook it up to the Crystal. You’ll need to do this a few times, locating different crystals throughout the cave system, in order to determine the location of the Morkite Geode.
With the Morkite Geode located, the next trick is drilling all the way down there. That’s where the Drillevator comes in. Mission Control will send it down over the location of the Geode – and you’ll need to survive the trip down.
No, you can't pet the Drillevator.
The Drillevator makes a lot of noise, and sends shuddering vibrations through the depths of Hoxxes as it drills. This will provoke the local Glyphid population, who will seek to destroy the Drillevator and everyone on it. Keep the Drillevator running smoothly, and expect a violent ride.
Welcome to the Morkite Geode. Don’t let the glitz and glitter distract you – you’re here to get the Morkite Seeds, then extract. Since the Drillevator is a one-way ticket, Management has seen fit to give you a quick way back up: some extra-powerful Mark II Jet Boots. Put ‘em on, blast back up, and get home with the Morkite Seeds.
For the full walkthrough of the new Deep Scan mission, head here in the recording.
--- NEW SEASON EVENT: CORE STONE
There’s a peculiar new mineral formation appearing in the caves. We’re still waiting to receive lab analyses from R&D here, so exact details are unclear here. For now, all we know is that these formations contain something called a Core Stone. Let’s hope extracting it is as easy as it seems.
--- NEW ENEMIES
We’ve received word from DRG naturalists of some new organisms discovered down in the caves. You can catch all the details at this spot in the recording, but here’s what you need to know about them for now:
Glyphid Stalker
It’s hard to get a good picture of this thing.
The Glyphid Stalker is a cunning predator that utilizes chromatophores in its chitin exoskeleton to render it practically invisible. It’s an elusive ambusher, capable of burrowing and repositioning itself to disorient enemies, and disabling dwarven shields with a sneak attack. If you hear its telltale call, group up and watch each others’ backs.
Barrage Infector
The Barrage Infector is a mutated variant of the Infector species. Its enlarged venom sac allows the creature to spit out multi-shot salvos of volatile bile, turning its surroundings into an explosive hazard. Treat as a high-priority target in any situation.
Vartok Scalebramble
There’s a new danger coming to a cave ceiling near you. The Scalebramble consists of an impenetrable core that attacks targets with acidic ichor projectiles, and sensory feeler nodules that it spreads across the cave system to detect prey. You’ll need to take out the nodes to make the core vulnerable.
--- NEW OVERCLOCKS
We’re not sending you up against these new threats empty-handed. R&D has cooked up some new Overclocks for all primary weapons – 12 brand new ones, and one rework.
We’ve got a few to tease below. Here's the timestamp in the recording for everything on the new Overclocks.
- Pump Action (“Warthog” Auto 210) - Converts the weapon into a whopping 6-gauge pump action capable of dealing massive damage and punching through multiple enemies. The intrusive old-school pump mechanism requires a smaller magazine and disables full-auto fire, and you can't fit as many of these big ol' shells in your pockets.
- Mortar Rounds (“Thunderhead” Autocannon) - The weapon has been reworked to fire heavy mortar projectiles. These modifications slow down the rate of fire significantly -- but even if you can't carry as many, the high-explosive rounds more than make up for it in damage. Just remember to account for drop.
- Firewall (CRSPR Flamethrower) - A supercharged injection system and duckbill choke allows the weapon to blast a blistering horizontal wave of flame by holding reload. Using this mechanism eats up additional fuel and makes the weapon unstable, reducing movement speed during charging.
- Marked for Death (M1000 Classic) - Focus Shot now fires a dart loaded with an inflammatory catalyst which causes enemies to temporarily take more damage from all sources. While faster to focus, the direct impact of these darts does negligible damage, and requires an increased Focus Shot ammo cost as well as a smaller magazine.
--- NEW PERFORMANCE PASS + COSMETICS
A new season means new loot to earn. You can watch the full segment on cosmetics and the Performance Pass, but here are some highlights:
Introducing the new Season 05 framework: Neo-Tekya. Sleek, modern, lethal. Purchasable using scrip in the Season Terminal.
In space, it’s always fashion week. We’ve got loads of cool new cosmetics to earn: some going in the Performance Pass and Cosmetic Tree, others in the Lost Pack and Cargo Crate loot pools and Cosmetic Cores. Expect slick hats, smoking-hot facial hair, and fresh paint jobs for both weaponry and armor.
--- NEW DIFFICULTY: HAZARD 5+
We’re turning up the heat. We’re bringing the sting. We’re cooking with neurotoxins.
For the most daring miners, we’re introducing a new difficulty level: Haz 5+. “It’s like Haz 5 – But Plus!” is the tagline we’ve come up with for it. Feel free to compliment this good tagline in the comments!
We’ll explain how it works down below – or, you can get the full breakdown in the recording here.
Here are the main details:
- Must be unlocked via an assignment.
- The mode adds four switches to boost Haz 5 difficulty: Aggressive Enemies (affects speed and attack rate), Player Vulnerability (you take more damage), More Enemies (guess what this one does), and Tough Enemies (more bullet sponge-y).
- Each of the four options can be adjusted to your tastes, and each offers two levels of increased intensity.
- All Haz 5+ games will be categorized together in the server list, and you’ll be able to see which specific modifier switches they have.
- This feature will only be available at the Hazard 5 difficulty.
--- REACTIVATING SEASONS
We’re implementing the ability to reactivate any existing season of Deep Rock Galactic, and play through it whenever you like. We’ve covered how this works in detail in this Q&A explainer post – but if you’d rather have all those details explored in video format, jump to this spot in the recording.
--- EXPANDED PROMOTION TRACKER
Did you promote your dwarf to max rank ages ago? Wish you could show off how many hours you’ve truly spent down in the mines? We’ve got good news. We’re adding an expanded promotion tracker, to indicate the amount of times you’ve promoted past the maximum Red III rank. This system will be retroactive, so it’ll count all promotions you’ve had up to this point. Full details at this timestamp in the broadcast.
--- NEW MISSION WARNINGS + MUTATIONS
We’re adding a few new ways to add some extra spice to your missions. A brief description is below – and the full scoop can be watched here.
- BLOOD SUGAR: Bad news: The caves are filled with airborne toxins that constantly drain your health. Good news: These toxins also make Glyphid blood crystallize into healing Red Sugar. You’ll need to kill to survive.
- DUCK AND COVER: Macteras, Infectors and Spitters, oh my! Jump into a cave packed with an extra helping of projectile-shooting enemies. This time, the bugs shoot back.
- SECRET SECONDARY: Management has tacked on another side objective for you. A second secondary, if you will. You’ll find out what it is once you’re down in the dig site.
- EBONITE OUTBREAK: These caves have an unusual concentration of stony-armored Ebonite Glyphids. Their only vulnerability is melee damage. Better keep those pickaxes close at hand.
--- NEW OMMORAN HEARTSTONE PHASE
With Season 05, we’ll also be introducing a new attack pattern to the Ommoran Heartstone in the Escort Duty mission. You can hear about it here in the recording, or we’ve got a description for you below the images.
Right now, the Ommoran sequence has four fixed phases: two swarms, and two “Heartstone special attack” phases. We’re adding a third special attack – where the Ommoran sends up rock spikes from below, trying to encase you in a stony trap. If you’re on top of Doretta, the spikes will deal big damage to her – and if you’re encased in the rock, you’ll have to spend precious time mining yourself free. This attack pattern will have an equal, random chance of being one of the Ommoran’s special attack phases, making each encounter more unpredictable.
...AND MORE!
We’ve got even more coming. Cool stuff. Stuff like:
- 20+ new cave formations for the cave generator, for more depth and variety in every mission
- 3 new levels of unlockable paintjobs for the Weapon Maintenance reward system
- Loads of cosmetic filtering options, to sort and organize your wardrobe
- 3 delightful new dance moves for the dwarves
- 20+ reworked status effect overlays (for things like taking damage, losing your shield, being frozen, etc.)
- Game optimization to make game run more fast
- A sweet new DLC armor set
You can catch all the rest at this point in the recording.
Phew! That’s all of it... at least for now. We’ll have more details on all this in the weeks to come. Hope you like what you see!
Sending you all a big huge ROCK AND STONE and tons of love. Talk to you soon!
With Love,
-The Ghost Ship Crew