Deep Rock Galactic: Season 2 Overview

Image: Ghost Ship Games, Coffee Stain Publishing via HGG

Human Made

Penned by Gibson Vasela

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Deep Rock Galactic has proven itself to be one of the best and most enjoyable shooters on the market. With satisfying combat, a huge variety of enemies, and hundreds of different weapon upgrades, it’s no surprise that the game is now in Season 2 and doing better than ever.

With the release of the second season — known as Rival Escalation — we now have access to new, never-before-seen content! New enemy types, a new performance pass, and even four brand new secondary weapons! So to fill you in on all this new content, we’ve created a guide going over all the major new additions to the game.

Popular Destinations..

Deep Rock Galactic Waystone | Navigation Page

Deep Rock Galactic: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide (2024)

Season 2 Overview

So what are we waiting for? Let’s get right into this article for Deep Rock Galactic: Season 2 overview.

New Enemy & New Warning

Continuing the introduction of a rival faction in Season 1, Season 2 adds in a brand new enemy to encounter while out in the caves of Hoxxes IV. In addition to this, there is a new mission modifier known as “Rival Presence” to amp up the difficulty of your mining missions.

The new enemy is known as a Nemesis, and it’s a massive, lumbering robot with orange lights and razor-sharp claws! It is a new type of mini-boss, and it packs a lot of health. Its most deadly weapon is a pair of claw-like grabbers that it uses to reach out and snatch unsuspecting dwarves, similar to how Cave Leeches work.

You will find this enemy in the new “Rival Presence” modifier. This adds boatloads of enemy robots into the caves you explore. Caves are now filled with stationary turrets, such as a sniper turret that can hit you from great distances and a repulsor turret that shoots out waves of energy all around it. There is also a swarm type of robot that uses razer edges to deal melee damage to you.

New Event: Rival Signal

In addition to the awesome new enemy introduced into the game, there is also a brand new event! Events can occur randomly across missions and see you do a variety of different tasks to get rewards. This brand new event is known as Rival Signal and will spawn randomly across Hoxxes IV.

As for the event itself, it requires you to find an enemy Communications Router and shut it down so it can stop broadcasting. You need to hack into the contraption while fending off enemies before the timer runs out or the event will fail.

Upon finishing the job, you’ll be given a Data Cell. This is a unique item that can be deposited into the MULE like any other mineral. After the mission is over, you will be rewarded with some credits, XP, as well as 1,250 points contributing to this season’s performance pass!

Four New Weapons

One of my personal favorite new additions with the launch of Season 2: Rival Escalation, is the brand new firearms! There are four brand new weapons in total, one for each of the four classes. They are all secondary weapons. Combined with the preexisting guns in the game, this brings the total number of weapons in Deep Rock Galactic up to twenty-four!

For a full overview of all the new guns added to the game, as well as some of their best modifications, you can read our walkthrough on Season 2 Weapons Here.

If you just want a brief overview, they are all listed below:

• Nishanka Boltshark X-80: A modern crossbow with the ability to use different ammo types. Includes electric bolts, chemical explosion bolts, and pheromone bolts that turn enemies against each other. Belongs to the Scout class.
• Colette Wave Cooker: Described as a “Submachine Gun,” this weapon can cook bugs from the inside out. Features great range and accuracy. Can be modified to deal more damage to targets suffering from flame, ice, and corrosive damage. Belongs to the Driller class.
• Shard Diffractor: A heavy weapon that uses a small chunk of an Ommoran Heartstone to shoot a laser beam at enemies. Belongs to the Engineer class.
• Armskore Coil Gun: A heavy-duty railgun pistol that can be charged up to deal massive damage to enemies. Can price through some surfaces. Belongs to the Gunner class.

Performance Pass

And last (but certainly not least) in our overview for Deep Rock Galactic Season 2, let’s take a look at this season’s performance pass! Just like last season, we now have access to a brand new collection of cosmetic items. These cosmetics range from weapon models to new bears, to end-game emotions, and everything in-between!

In addition to the cosmetic items available, there are also several in-game currencies you can collect from leveling up your performance pass.

This includes credits and minerals for upgrading your guns. As you level up your pass, you’ll also earn Scrip, a company-sponsored currency that you can use on the cosmetic tree. This is where you can purchase some really special cosmetic items.

In order to get started on leveling up your performance pass and collecting some scrip, you’ll need to complete challenges. There are several different types of challenges available for you to do. Some challenges require you to finish a certain number of missions in a specific biome. Others have you complete missions with the Rival Presence modifier active.

Join the High Ground

We hope you found this article giving you an overview of Deep Rock Galactic Season 2 informative! What are your thoughts on this new season? Let us know, and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more regular content! We feature regular articles on all the latest games, including more Deep Rock Galactic.

Rock and sto- I mean, happy gaming!

Related Reading

New Weapons in Season 2 Explained

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide