Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is an entirely new take on the Deep Rock Galactic formula, offering players more challenging missions while still retaining much of the original’s sense of personality and world building. Ghost Ship Games’ marketing manager Aaron Hathaway was kind enough to answer many of our questions about Rogue Core, which range from future content plans, to lessons learned that can then be applied to Deep Rock Galactic itself.
Now that Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is out in Early Access, what has surprised you most about how players are approaching its roguelite structure?
One of the biggest surprises after launch has been how many people came in wanting and expecting Rogue Core to play exactly like Deep Rock Galactic. This wasn’t a sentiment we saw so much during the Closed Alpha, so it really did come as a jolt when we launched. Since then, it’s been a big challenge for us to see how we can meet those players where they’re at, while not compromising on our own vision and wish for the game. Update 1 was part of that process, but we’ll get more into that down below.
We were also surprised to see how many people didn’t want to play with the timer, or found the presence of a timer too oppressive. When we ran the Closed Alpha, we saw enough discussions that we knew it would be a divisive game mechanic, same as the shared upgrade negotiations. But we decided to go with it anyway, because we saw that most of the problems felt like theorized problems, rather than actual frustrations people experienced for themselves during gameplay. We knew these features wouldn’t be for everyone, but that’s part of making a new game. We’ve just got to try our best to find the right balance.
"One of the biggest surprises after launch has been how many people came in wanting and expecting Rogue Core to play exactly like Deep Rock Galactic. "
Rogue Core is a very different kind of game from Deep Rock Galactic. How has that changed the way you think about future content, updates, and balancing?
In terms of content and updates, we’ve never been long-term planners. We develop this on a rolling basis, based off what we think is most exciting, important and interesting, and of course what we’re hearing from our players. We probably won’t do a ‘seasons’ model like with Deep Rock Galactic, as I think it’s more realistic for us to deliver smaller updates on reasonable intervals.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Rogue Core is in Early Access, while DRG is a fully released game that’s been getting more content updates for over half a decade. With DRG, our choice to do seasons only came after our 1.0 launch, once we saw how people played and responded to it. Back when DRG was in Early Access, its update pacing was pretty similar to where Rogue Core is now.
As far as balancing goes, our intent is to always have Rogue Core be a more challenging, intense experience compared to Deep Rock Galactic. So any future balances (as well as future content and updates) will be committed to that, to help support this faster-paced game experience. We think that’s a key part of maintaining Rogue Core’s own identity as a standalone title.
How does Rogue Core fit into the broader narrative and setting of the Deep Rock Galactic universe?
Rogue Core takes place at the same time as the events of Deep Rock Galactic. The DRG Corporation has dug deeper into Hoxxes in pursuit of the newly-discovered wunder-mineral Expenite — and these new excavations seem to have triggered some planetary calamity. There’s been a massive energy wave, akin to an enormous EMP blast, that has shut down all these Expenite facilities and cut them off from the outside world. In other words, the core of the planet has… gone rogue. And the Company can’t meet quotas if these mines are offline, so we need to take them back.
In Rogue Core, you play as the Reclaimers, who are a sort of in-house paramilitary security force employed by Deep Rock Galactic. They’ve got their own traditions and culture, separate from the mining crews of DRG, and of course they’ve got access to a fancier range of tech and gadgetry. But they’re still dwarves, so at the end of the day you’re still Rocking and Stoning, honoring Karl, and returning home for three dozen beers after a mission.
The Reclaimers already offer a range of different playstyles. Based on early feedback, what kinds of future additions to the roster are you most interested in exploring?
I don’t think we’re ready to share anything on this right now! We’ve got ideas, but nothing that’s taken shape to the point where we’d want to tease it. Sorry.
"In Rogue Core, you play as the Reclaimers, who are a sort of in-house paramilitary security force employed by Deep Rock Galactic."
Has working on Rogue Core given you any new ideas for mechanics, systems, or content that could eventually influence Deep Rock Galactic itself?
We get asked this a lot. A big reason we chose to develop Rogue Core as a standalone title is because it gave us the creative freedom to explore new game mechanics and systems that weren’t constrained by the frameworks we’d set up with DRG. Porting all sorts of stuff from Rogue Core into DRG is a fun idea in theory, but in practice, we feel that it’d just end up diluting both games’ identities. We don’t wanna end up in a place where we’ve got a standalone game that doesn’t feel different from the title it came from.
We’d rather see Deep Rock Galactic get more original content that’s exclusive to that game, its world, and its mechanics and systems. Realistically, any influence from Rogue Core on DRG would likely be more on the level of QoL features or easter eggs.
What has early player feedback focused on the most so far, and has any of it already changed your priorities for future updates?
Early in June we released our big Update 1, which was in large part a response to the early player feedback we got right after launch. We changed up our whole Early Access roadmap so we could prioritize fixes and additions that addressed what players were asking for.
We focused on fixing frustrations, which were centered on the “big three” of the shared upgrades process, the mission timer, and ammo shortages. We locked in these past couple of weeks to come up with some ways to address these issues, and then get it all implemented. These features are pretty central to our vision of the game, so we didn’t want to scrap them entirely — but I think we found ways to adjust them that keep the benefits of these mechanics, while also tightening them up and accommodating different preferences for how to play the game.
It’s been really awesome to see the feedback on Update 1 so far, especially regarding these issues. People seem very happy, and our impression is that we’ve pretty successfully fixed the major sources of negative feedback, while still staying true to what we want Rogue Core to be. I think we’ve struck a happy medium here.
On top of those feedback points, Update 1 also introduced a ton of new stuff, which I’ll get into right down below. I think the game’s already much stronger than it was just a few weeks ago, which is a great feeling. Player feedback helped us figure out what needed fixing the most, and what new stuff we could add that would be most fun and most engaging. I think we’re on the right track here, and I’m already excited for the next big update.
"It’s been really awesome to see the feedback on Update 1 so far, especially regarding [timer] issues."
With Early Access potentially lasting a long time, how much larger do you expect Rogue Core to become by the time it reaches 1.0?
We’ve got a really big to-do list on the road to 1.0. More enemies, more side objectives during missions, new bosses, more weapons and weapon upgrades, more player upgrades, more variety in cave biomes and the cave generation system, more cosmetics, more options for timing and difficulty, stuff like that. We’ll also be working to polish and develop the Gauntlet challenge mode, which is Rogue Core’s answer to Deep Dives. It’s currently in the game as a very rough draft, but we intend to sharpen that experience up a lot too.
It’s probably easiest to direct you to our Early Access Road Map for more details. This isn’t the exclusive or exhaustive list of stuff we’ll do before 1.0, but it’s a good place to start.
The run timer has been one of Rogue Core’s more distinctive systems. What are some ways you are exploring to let players influence, extend, or push back against that timer?
With Update 1 we introduced a new mechanic called ‘Assault Pace,’ which essentially allows you to choose the tempo of your mission. You select your pace on the same screen you choose a mission. It’s got three paces: Cautious (which is a slower, more forgiving tempo), Standard (which is the current, unaltered pace) and Reckless (which is even faster and more high-pressure). Mission rewards are adjusted accordingly to your selected tempo too.
Later down the line, there’s a possibility that we explore other mechanics related to the timer, like a “time extension” side objective or something. Who knows. We’re not looking at it right now, though. We’ll wait to see what players think of this new Assault Pace mechanic, and work on other stuff in the meantime.
Are you looking at adding more layers of meta progression over time, and how careful do you have to be to keep progression meaningful without weakening the roguelite tension?
Yes. The systems in place now are what we think is the bare minimum needed, and we’ll add more as the game evolves. Part of Update 1 was polishing up the existing metaprogression system, like making it easier to stack and swap out the Enhancement Chips you can use to boost your starting stats. We’ll see what future additions to this system look like — as you say, we don’t want the meta progression to make the roguelike aspect redundant.
"I don’t expect there would be any major changes between a console and PC version."
Since Rogue Core is currently focused on Steam Early Access, what are your current priorities for PC optimization, performance, and Steam Deck compatibility?
Optimization is an ongoing process for us. We’re always open for new ways to make what we’ve got run better — and often, new content means new challenges for optimization. Steam Deck compatibility is also on the to-do list, but it’s hard to say exactly when or how that’ll take shape.
Deep Rock Galactic has a strong console audience. How are you thinking about a potential console version of Rogue Core down the line, and what would need to happen before that becomes a focus?
We’d like it to happen at some point, but we can’t commit to it right this minute. Our full focus is on getting the game to a great place for the 1.0 version, and taking on a console port project would divert a ton of resources away from that goal. Having done it before, we’re more aware of just how much technical nitpicking and certification processes are involved — it can be a demanding and tedious process. So it’s something that we’ll first have the bandwidth for once Rogue Core hits 1.0.
If Rogue Core eventually comes to consoles, would you want the experience to be fully in line with the PC version, or are there platform-specific changes you would consider?
I don’t expect there would be any major changes between a console and PC version. With Deep Rock Galactic we try to keep the game experience the same across platforms, so nobody feels like they’re missing out. Early Access and modding are the two big exceptions here, as these are a lot trickier to do on consoles. But if Rogue Core ever came to console we’d likely follow the same playbook as with DRG, which is to say same updates, same features and mechanics, same events, all that.
