Deep Rock Galactic Is Now Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Today’s update to Deep Rock Galactic includes an update to make the game Optimized for Xbox Series X|S. We love these new consoles because they make the game shine, and the updated hardware makes it much easier for us to handle cave generation and larger numbers of enemies. Overall, DRG now feels like a much smoother experience on current-generation consoles. If you have an Xbox Series X|S, there’s never been a better time to play Deep Rock Galactic. And if you have a Game Pass subscription then you can download it now.
Some of you might not have played Deep Rock Galactic, so let’s start with a quick overview of the game.
What is Deep Rock Galactic?
DRG is a 4-player co-op shooter where you play as space-mining dwarves on the planet Hoxxes. Each mission takes place in a procedurally generated cave with 100% destructible terrain. The game has grown over the years with new missions, biomes, weapons, and more. We keep adding new content to the game in the form of Seasons, with Season 02: Rival Escalation being the most recent one.
You can play the game as a single-player experience where the friendly robot BOSCO joins you on missions, but the game shines when playing co-op. There is a vast and friendly community of players who are very welcoming to novice Greenbeard players. So the best experience is usually found by going to the server list or opening up your game to other players.
Our Experiences Developing for Xbox
Many of the Xbox services have allowed us to add features to the Xbox versions that we otherwise couldn’t. We are a relatively small studio, so Cross Play across all platforms is not something we could do yet. But with Xbox, we managed to have cross-play between Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and the Windows 10/11 version of DRG using the Xbox account system. So you can play with your friends regardless of which platform within the Xbox ecosystem they are on. And with Xbox cloud saves, your progression carries over between Xbox consoles and Windows 10/11. Making it easy to integrate these features into the game has made developing the game for Xbox a much smoother experience. And making an Xbox Series X|S version meant leveraging the Xbox features we had already implemented for the Xbox One and the Windows 10/11 versions.
This new version will look very similar if you have been playing the Xbox One version on an Xbox Series X|S. But we have managed to squeeze in one new feature available on the latest consoles.
120hz mode
If you have a TV that supports 120hz, you can now play Deep Rock Galactic at up to 120 FPS on Xbox Series X|S. Adding the option for higher framerates feels like we can offer some of the benefits of PC gaming to our Xbox players.
Even though 120hz doesn’t run at native 4K, the game leverages dynamic upscaling, rendering at the highest resolution possible depending on the hardware and state of the game before being upscaled to 4K. And if you don’t have a TV that supports 120hz, we have left in both Performance and Fidelity mode, so you can choose between prioritizing framerate or resolution.
What’s to come?
Whether you are a Greenbeard novice or Greybeard longtime player, the following updates coming to Deep Rock Galactic will be for everyone. On September 15, you can join in the Oktoberfest celebrations in-game. And later in Q4, we will release Season 03, which will bring a whole new theme to the game and a lot of unique content. Join our Discord or follow us on Twitter if you want to keep up with DRG. On Discord, we have dedicated channels for Xbox if you want to find others to play with, talk directly to the developers, or report an issue.
If you still play on Xbox One, don’t worry; we aren’t planning on deprecating support for the Xbox One version anytime soon. We still want the game to be playable by as many of you as possible, so we go the extra mile to ensure DRG runs well on last-generation consoles.
Deep Rock Galactic is available with Xbox Game Pass for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and PC Game Pass for Windows 10/11.
See you on Hoxxes, Miners!
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Deep Rock Galactic
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