It just works, in the same way that the best parts of Ridley Scott’s Alien franchise do. They come at you in waves with just the right amount of breathing room after each one, striking a great tempo between moments of tense, spooky solitude and adrenaline-pumping action. Mowing down these creepy crawly hordes is a riot, with special bug types like armored praetorians and sneaky grabbers forcing you to change up your tactics and make use of the environment to your advantage. And darkness isn’t the only hazard: Hoxxas is brimming with freaky insectoid foes both large and small that don’t appreciate all the racket you’re kicking up. Your headlamp doesn’t do you a lot of good unless something is right in front of your face, so you have to manage a limited supply of flares to even be able to see what you’re doing.

In these deep, dark holes, lighting is an obstacle that creates both a deliciously oppressive mood and interesting resource management.

It’s not all laughs once you exit the drop pod deep below the surface of Hoxxas, though.

Deep rock galactic xbox download