Seasonal content in video games has become increasingly popular on the back of successful titles like Epic Games' Fortnite. Though there is a long history of experiences like World of Warcraft releasing expansions to keep players engaged, modern games continue to experiment with new kinds of ongoing content and monetization. One game now entering the ring with a seasonal system and battle pass is Ghost Ship Games' Deep Rock Galactic.
For those not in the know, Deep Rock Galactic is a co-operative FPS akin to games like Left 4 Dead or the more recent Back 4 Blood. It centers a dwarven mining company that works in a deadly, alien bug-infested planet called Hoxxes 4, asking players to pick one of four classes and team up with three others to complete a variety of tasks. Thus far its updates have been relatively disconnected, and fans were expecting the same of Update 35. However, after delaying Update 35, Ghost Ship announced a more complete overhaul of its systems today, one that seems to take the best from a lot of other games.
Deep Rock Galactic's Seasons and Performance Pass Explained
According to a narrated trailer released by Ghost Ship Games detailing Deep Rock Galactic's Season 1: Rival Incursion, a major reason it's shifting to this model is to focus on creating cohesive themes and in-universe stories. For example, this season deals with another company coming to Hoxxes 4, playing out mechanically in the form of a new mission type Deep Rock has teased for some time.
These "Industrial Sabotage" missions center players finding rival mining outposts and taking its data for themselves. While this is a morally grey objective it does fit well into the games' underlying themes of capitalism's endless growth and treatment of workers who literally shout company propaganda at the press of a button. It also offers the developer story reasons to slot in new weapons it has been working on, as the Deep Rock Galactic company is pulling out all the stops to stifle its competition.
This comes alongside Deep Rock Galactic's new battle pass called the Performance Pass, which includes 100 levels of rewards such as cosmetics, credits, upgrade materials, and a new in-game currency called Scrips. There's nothing that gives any one player a gameplay advantage they could not already obtain, even for the new paid DLC with cosmetics for all weapons based on the rival company.
Deep Rock Galactic is Synthesizing Great Ideas From Other Games
There is still room for Deep Rock Galactic to veer toward Bungie's approach with Destiny 2 down the line, keeping its seasonal updates with bits of new gameplay and story content but supplementing them using yearly paid expansions. However, the cracks in that system have begun to show. Bungie needs to vault older paid content to make room for new paid content, sometimes with controversial pricing strategies as seen with The Witch Queen.
Sticking with free themed seasons that include incremental additions ala Fortnite is probably a better move for a smaller game like Deep Rock Galactic, but what makes this new system stand out is how it's all free, easily accessible, and somewhat customizable. Fortnite and similar free-to-play games with battle passes such as Pokemon Unite ask people to pay more for premium content to be unlocked alongside a basic track of rewards.
For Deep Rock Galactic, everything in the current Performance Pass track is available to all, and Ghost Ship even seems intent on helping fans reach the end with multiple ways to increase their point gain during missions. Like in Super Animal Royale, each battle pass will also be accessible after a given season to help "completionists." The new premium currency, Scrips, also isn't going to be spent on random loot boxes or a rotating shop of items. Instead, there's a branching tree of potential cosmetic options to pick from.
Considering this co-op game has a base $30 USD investment, it makes sense to take a free season approach. If work on new seasons becomes too big a task with too little return on the backend, Ghost Ship and publisher Coffee Stain could emulate Destiny 2 by making the base game free and having paid expansions. Given Deep Rock already does paid DLC for cosmetics it's certainly not unthinkable, but even if the game goes in that direction it should retain what makes its proposed seasonal content stand out: Ease of access, a focus on cosmetics over pay-to-win content, and player-driven customization.
Deep Rock Galactic is available now on PC and Xbox One. Season 1: Rival Incursion begins on November 4.