Discover the Exciting Triple A Game – Risk of Rain 2
Risk of Rain 2 burst onto the gaming scene in 2019, bringing a creative twist to the roguelike genre that won over fans and critics alike. As an indie title developed by Hopoo Games, it demonstrated that polish, passion, and rock-solid gameplay mechanics can trump even the biggest AAA budgets. This 3D action shooter takes the formula of its popular 2D predecessor and evolves it into a frantic, chaotic, and supremely addictive experience.
The Core Gameplay Loop
The basic premise of Risk of Rain 2 involves crash landed survivors fighting their way through hordes of aliens to find a way off an inhospitable planet Petrichor V. Levels across multiple distinct biomes are procedurally generated, enemies escalate in strength over time, and death returns you to the start with a new character. It‘s a classic roguelike formula enhanced by polished third person shooting.
Players select from 12 unique survivors with their own skills, stats, and playstyles before being deployed onto Petrichor V via cargo rockets. Progression is made via teleporters that must be charged by defeating major enemies. Activating a teleporter queues up the Boss for that stage – defeating them grants access deeper into the planet.
The key goal each run is gathering items through chests and capsules to grow stronger over time. Since enemies scale exponentially, becoming nearly god-like in power is the only way to keep up with their relentless onslaughts.
Where Risk of Rain 2 innovates is how strength is accrued not just during a run, but across multiple attempts. By completing challenges that encourage mastery of skills, players unlock new survivors and items that fundamentally alter playstyles. This creates a sense of persistent progression even as runs end in death. There are also lore entries scattered across the stages that reveal details about Petrichor V‘s inhabitants and history.
Stacking Items for Crazy Builds
The true star of Risk of Rain 2 is the absolutely staggering item system. Currently there are over 104 functional items players can acquire, with more still being added. These drop randomly from chests, bosses, or can be purchased from multi-shop terminals using coins gathered during runs. When picked up, they provide powerful bonuses such as damage boosts, damage reduction, healing effects, utility skills, or change fundamental behaviors.
Because items stack infinitely, their interactions can create completely game-breaking combinations. For example, stacking multiple Will-o-the-wisps causes lightning strikes with every attack, while pairing it with gasoline turns those strikes into raging infernos. Add in gestures that reduce skill cooldowns and you become an unstoppable force caping to wipe out whole rooms in seconds. That‘s just one small example – the potential is endless given how many items subtly interact with each other. It creates an incredibly addictive drive to discover more.
Survivor Variety
While items may provide the power, it‘s the survivors themselves that facilitate delivering destruction. Currently there are 12 playable survivors in Risk of Rain 2, each with their own intrinsic stats, skills, strengths and weaknesses that change up gameplay styles:
Commando: A well rounded soldier effective at all ranges thanks to his high rate of fire assault rifle. An easy pick for beginners.
Huntress: She excels at keeping distance and rapid attacks via a finicky bow charged with elemental arrows. Positioning is key.
Bandit: A risk vs. reward melee character that grows in strength by scoring critical strikes. Highly technical to master.
Mul-T: This small robot can equip two weapons simultaneously and hover indefinitely – a versatile powerhouse if tricky early on.
Engineer: Area denial is the Engineers specialty thanks to deploy-able turrets, platforms to reach new spots, and mines to herd foes.
Artificer: Fragile but able to annihilate groups from afar with powerful elemental attacks. Kiting is critical to avoid retaliation.
Mercenary: A deadly hybrid melee/ranged character thanks to teleporting slashes, throwing glaives and aerial combos. Risky to play but highly mobile.
REX: Can root himself to the ground for massive damage bonuses. Best utilized by advanced players who can determine optimal turret placements.
Loader: Grapple hooks bring enemies to melee range where this characters massive strength and armor shine. Highly aggressive and in-your-face.
Acrid: Infects groups of enemies to spread toxin clouds for steady attrition damage. Great utility via vision granting spores and ground pounds too.
Captain: A support focused soldier who empowers the team via inspiring presence, mortar fire support and beacon deployments. Shines in coop.
Railgunner: This sniper wields punishing charged plasma shots able to one-shot select enemies. Variable zoom scopes facilitate extreme range kills.
Such sheer variety means all players will find a survivor matching their preferred playstyle. I particularly enjoy the high risk/high reward nature of the Bandit and Mercenary, which perfectly capture Risk of Rain 2‘s central ethos. But even subtle technique changes grant new appreciation of each fighter‘s strengths.
Cooperative Mayhem
While entirely enjoyable single player, Risk of Rain 2 truly shines cooperatively. Up to 4 players can join online games together or host privately with friends to battle through the planet as a team. Friendly fire is always on, so coordination is required, but working together multiplies destruction exponentially.
Early on, grouping up to take down bosses faster is key to getting the snowball rolling. But soon enough skill combos create screen-filling pyrotechnics displays as you decimate whole armies together with ease. Seeing four Engineers litter the battlefield with turrets is a sight to behold. It‘s a frantic cooperative experience producing memes the team will be retelling for weeks. The difficulty ramps up to match, so teamwork is essential.
Some of my fondest gaming memories are the chaotic battles playing Risk of Rain 2 coop with friends until 3am. There‘s no better bonding experience than mutually keeping each other alive through overwhelming odds, then celebrating hard fought victories together.
Brutal But Fair Challenge
While things may seem calm at first, the escalating enemies soon overwhelm the unprepared. Risk of Rain 2 always remains fair however, giving you all the tools needed to defeat even the toughest foes. It just requires learning attack patterns, skillful play to avoid hits, and how best to leverage your character and item bonuses. A few mistakes can spell disaster later on however as the difficulty compounds rapidly.
I‘ve had runs that seemed god-like end in tragedy because I got complacent. But finally toppling the final boss on Monsoon difficulty remains my proudest gaming achievement. Hardwon victories are supremely satisfying, and the scalable challenge ensures veterans have opportunities to test their skills.
Optional artifacts add another avenue for difficulty customization that further enhance longevity. These global modifiers tweak fundamental aspects of Risk of Rain 2‘s formula to increase chaos. Some personal favorites include:
Sacrifice: Slain enemies explode, damaging nearby foes but also putting you at risk.
Metamorphosis: Gain mutations both beneficial and harmful upon level up.
Honor: Enemies gain permanent stat boosts when you heal.
While making the game considerably harder, artifacts force you to approach situations differently while augmenting the controlled chaos Risk of Rain 2 thrives on. They keep even the most experienced players on their toes hundreds of hours in.
Audiovisual Excellence
For an indie title originally developed by just two people, Risk of Rain 2‘s production values put AAA efforts to shame. Every survivor has their own beautifully illustrated 2D ink portraits for menus and HUD elements. But ingame models are also intricately detailed, featuring cloth physics, glowing hard-points and alien materials that fit the sci-fi atmosphere.
The procedurally generated levels avoid feeling repetitive thanks to lush, varied environments; shimmering waterfalls contrast arid canyons while fluorescent fungal blooms populate underground lakes. Destructible terrain, particle effects and screen-filling battles all maintain smooth frame rates, which is vital for reacting to threats. As the run continues stages become enveloped by stormy atmospherics or engulfed in flame adding drama. Haunting echoes permeates mountain excavation sites while electronic hums resounds through the ancient hallways of the Sky Meadow. This art and sound indicates lingering secrets about Petrichors history waiting to be unravelled.
Risk of Rain 2‘s synth-heavy soundtrack somehow captures the perfect tone of lonely, desperate battle. Twanging guitars and throbbing electronics create blood-pumping battle anthems for each biome while also allowing the ambient sounds of this dangerous world immerse you fully. It‘s masterclass sound design that instinctively guides mood whether calmly gathering strength early on or the enemy barrage reaches deafening levels late into a run. I often catch myself humming Risk of Rain 2‘s melodies hours after a session.
Ongoing Content & Developer Passion
Rather than churn out quick sequels, Hopoo Games continually refines and builds upon Risk of Rain 2 years after launch. Since going 1.0 out of early access in 2020, Hopoo has released multiple feature and content packed updates completely free for all owners, fulfilling a kickstarter promise. Most mainstream AAA studios nowadays rely on paid seasons passes and battle passes to fund new content – making Hopoo‘s post-launch dedication feel even more special. Some highlights include:
Hidden Realms Update (Dec 2020): Added the twisted realm of the Void Fields plus mercenary boss on Stage 5 as an alternate path. Also over 15 new items expanding build potential.
Survivors of the Void (March 2022): Enormous update added a new playable survivor (Railgunner) with alternate skills, the wandering Vagrant enemy boss; as well as the ability to equip lore items with powerful drawbacks. Also expanded endings, items, stages, enemies, bosses and hidden realms content.
Anniversary Update (May 2022): The Skelter Course stage housing a ferocious superboss. Also new accessories offer distinct bonuses paired with limitations. Plus loads of balances and QOL improvements.
As of August 2022, Risk of Rain 2 has surpassed an "Overwhelmingly Positive" 97% review score on Steam based on nearly 300,000 reviews. It has sold over 6 million copies, has over 180,000 concurrent players and is Hopoo Game‘s best selling release by a massive margin according to SteamSpy. All metrics point towards a passionately supported game with tremendous staying power thanks to the developer‘s constant innovations.
While the team and scope is far smaller than the likes of AAA production teams, Hopoo‘s focused update releases continually breathe fresh life into Risk of Rain 2 and serve as a masterclass in avoiding player burnout. Rewards are spaced out just enough to incentivize regular return visits when new characters, levels and items arrive. Maintaining that delicate balance comes not from bloated crunch-ridden teams but a labor of love – something clearly reflected in the stellar user reception.
The AAA Contrast: Passion Pays Off
This level of meticulous post-launch support shows a genuine passion for Risk of Rain 2 absent from many AAA efforts. Industry giants routinely release unfinished or broken experiences, only to abandon them soon after launch without fulfilling player expectations.
Recent examples like Cyberpunk 2077, Fallout 76 and Battlefield 2042 demonstrate how problems stem not merely from technical shortcomings but a lack of vision to meaningfully evolve flawed foundations over time. Each were overmarketed as the next big thing, only be revealed as hollow skinner boxes obsessed with monetization schemes rather than delivering solid gameplay foundations they could build upon.
Yet tiny teams like Hopoo Games operating on a fraction of the budget consistently seem to outpace bloated AAA studios who burn hundreds of millions. It clearly demonstrates that polish stems not chiefly from extensive resources but from an overarching creative vision married with sound technical execution built on stable foundations. Streamlined scope facilitates quality in creative mediums, something the indie space understands much more than those chasing diminishing photorealistic returns at the expense of satisfying gameplay innovation.
The Verdict: Wholehearted Recommendation
In an industry increasingly obsessed with flashy visuals and manipulative addiction loops over engaging design, Risk of Rain 2 delivers an unrivalled roguelike experience brimming with depth, challenge and cooperative mayhem. One could even make the argument it deserves the elusive AAA moniker far more than many exorbitantly marketed titles from top publishers.
For those looking for mechanical purity distilled into third person shooting action that respects player agency over cheap manipulation, accept no substitutes. Between the polished presentation, tuned gameplay, diverse characters and astronomical build variety the 200 hours I‘ve spent delving Petrichor V‘s secrets may still just be the beginning. That rare perfect balance of rewarding progression systems layered on top of an engaging core game loop is the golden ratio all developers chase yet so few achieve. Yet one tiny team has captured roguelike lightning in a bottle to output arguably Hopoo Game‘s magnum opus. Let Risk of Rain envelop you like the gathering storm and discover why its reputation is so untouchable. This is the pinnacle of the genre.