Going into Drill Core I was already a tiny bit worried, I am not a huge fan of these types of games and the fact it combines so many genres I don’t normally play had me a bit apprehensive going in. However, after an hour into the current build of the game, I was addicted and could not pull myself away and after 5 hours I still wanted more. While the game isn’t perfect and is in Early Access to iron these issues out with community feedback, it definitely won me over and had me planning my next night and day in the game.
What kind of game is this?
Drill Core is tough to nail down into a specific genre, the core loop of the game finds you balancing mining during the daytime and defending yourself at night. The more runs you complete of each, the more resources you will have to improve everything you use for those two times of day. The game does start off a bit slow, teaching you the ins and outs of the two times of day, you start off with only one platform and a few workers. As you mine during the day, you will get the resources to build turrets and other defensive units to protect you from the insect-like alien swarms that will attack you at night. To start you choose a difficulty, planet, qualifications (side objectives) and platform to hit a specific depth.
The daytime mining is fun to plan out, since you only have indirect control of your units you need to ensure you have everything set properly to ensure you have a good descent into the new mines you dig. While there is no combat during this segment, it does turn into the more relaxed part of the game, where you have more time to plan and extract resources. Things can still go poorly if you don’t have your miners, carriers, and machinery set properly, this means you may not extract as many resources.
At night you need to set up turrets and other units to defend your platform from various enemy alien units. These aliens appear insect-like in appearance and can swarm your platform in seconds. During these times you can have workers retreat to safety, as your guards, turrets and other units protect your platform. So long as your platform still has any health left by morning, you will survive. This is the much more stressful and active part of the game but is just as rewarding and fun as the daytime mining.
Pros and Cons
So far this mix of colony sim, tower defense, and resource management has had me hooked. I love the graphics’ retro interlaced appearance, which gives it a different look than most games with this visual style. The UI is clean, simple and easy to read, making it very easy to get into the game with friction. The music is wonderful, the characters are funny and the dialogue is very similar to Deep Rock Galactic. The upgrades to your units, platform etc all feel meaningful and you will always be after the next upgrade you know will benefit you greatly. There is a neat Qualifications system that acts like side objectives you can choose on your run to achieve, they require you to meet certain requirements to unlock new buildings and upgrades. The day and night cycle helps keep the pace moving as you shift from gameplay types, I also loved how you can still mine at night but has a major risk/reward so choose wisely.
I did have some issues like one crash to desktop and some audio cutting out at one point, but otherwise, it was a bug-free experience. I wasn’t a huge fan that you cannot save during a run, while I understand why from a gameplay perspective, it does make it that you will lose your entire run’s progress if you have to leave the game. Having the ability to save once and that save only be usable once would help with quality of life. The difficulty pacing is also a bit off at the moment, the game can see some difficulty spikes during the defense night gameplay. There are also neat random events like storms and earthquakes, while a neat way to change up the gameplay, it can totally ruin a run if you aren’t prepared or stepped away for a moment. So be on your toes!
What’s next in Early Access?
Drill Core was released in Early Access on September 12th, 2024, the response has been very positive from players and the development team, Hungry Couch Games, has already updated players with an “Immediate Company Plans” post that outlines what to expect in the next update, along with their plans for the next two weeks. It seems the development team is very active, replying to reviews and discussions, which have led to a lot of the updates and changes they are making. It is great to see a development team updating their community so quickly and giving dates for their upcoming progress.
One thing I wanted while playing was a glossary telling you more about the units, resources, blocks, enemies and more, and that is already in the works! There is also a demo available to give the game a try before you buy, honestly, the best description I can give to this game is Deep Rock Galactic Management Simulator.
I really enjoyed my time with Drill Core, while this isn’t a game I would normally pick up on my own, it had me hooked regardless! And not just hooked, but addicted for hours at a time. With the game evolving with player feedback, I hope these impressions can help the developers make this game even better!
If you enjoy these types of games, then do not hesitate to pick this up in Early Access. If you are like me and don’t really play these games often, give it a try and you will likely end up addicted like me!
I look forward to checking the game out again for a full review when it hits 1.0!
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