Deep Rock Galactic has a new season with a robot nemesis

Deep Rock Galactic takes the frantic action of a four-player co-op shooter like Left 4 Dead, and then adds a ton of sci-fi gadgets to the mix. The players are a gang of dwarves in a late capitalist space mining crew, and it takes the whole team working together to survive the jobs they go on. The game’s next season, called Rival Escalation, adds a terrifying new murder robot, new secondary weapons for each class, and an update to the game’s cosmetic system.

The action of Deep Rock Galactic takes place on Hoxxes IV, a planet loaded with valuable minerals and other loot. Unfortunately for the players, it’s also full of hordes of hostile bugs and deadly robots. Rival Escalation adds a new, lethal nemesis robot that will show up to hunt down the dwarves — and if you get too close, you’re liable to get snatched up by its claws.

The dwarven miners, who can pick one of four classes with their own abilities and duties, have some additional firepower on their side to diversify their play styles. Every class gets a new tool; for instance, Gunners have a new coil gun that can blast through solid rock, while Drillers have a wave cooker that literally microwaves the enemies in its path. These weapons come with upgrade trees and cosmetics, so players can mix, match, and tweak the finer details to create their preferred combat kit.

Developer Ghost Ship Games has carefully designed the game’s DLC and cosmetics to be relatively rewarding and avoid FOMO. Players can purchase the Robot Rebellion DLC pack to wear a bunch of armor scavenged from the enemies of season 1, and the shop is being updated to accept a new currency called Phazyonite that can be found in the mines or via advancing in Cosmetic Mastery levels.

There’s also a season pass; players can take part in any mission to level up the season pass and unlock special cosmetics or bonus items. Players who missed out on season 1 can obtain those items through cargo crates and packs hidden in the mines, as well as the shop at a later date. Season 2: Rival Escalation will launch April 28 on Steam, and May 5 for Xbox and PlayStation players.