Risk of Rain 2 as you have probably figured out by the name alone is the sequel to the hard as nails rouge-like that was released in 2013 for Windows and which was later ported to other platforms. Hopoo Games did a great job in keeping this game under wraps and I would bet most people only heard about it when they logged into Steam the day it went live for early access.
How to Download Risk of Rain 2
You can download Risk of Rain 2 from Steam. To proceed, click on the Download button below the review. If you like roguelike games be sure also to check out Spelunky, Enter the Gungeon or Sunless Skies.
The Game Review
Once again this is a hard as nails rouge-like style game. The big difference here though is that unlike the first game, Risk of Rain 2 is 3D! It is quite the departure going from a 2D sidescroller to a 3rd person shooter style of game, but it certainly does have that same feel the previous game has.
As I write this the game has only been in early access a short while and as of right now there is not really a story in the game. You are on an alien planet, you want to escape and you need to kill a ton of things and collect gear in order to do it. Pretty basic stuff, but the action is fast and furious so I am not really sure what exactly a story would add to this.
The idea of the game is that you start on a level and you kill a ton of enemies so that you can level up. You summon in a boss, defeat the boss and move on to the next level. You will be doing this over and over again and I must admit so far it has not gotten old at all! It is done very well and the game is super addictive.
stay in a level the harder the enemies get. However, if you want to get all of the chests and the items inside them that they have. You need to stay in each level a while, of course, the chances of you dying if you do this is much higher. This means that sometimes you may want to just haul ass to the exit.
Gameplay is excellent! Risk of Rain 2 is super hard, but I feel that it is a very fair game. As you level up and get your hands on some of the better items you will feel like an unstoppable force of nature. The items you can get range from being very overpowered to making you wonder what is the point? What you get (so far) from a chest is always random so you never know how it is going to work out.
There are multiple characters for you to play as, but you start off playing as The Commando. Each of the characters has their own style and you have to unlock them through different means. What I really like is how different each character is. For example, The Huntress uses a bow and is nimble whereas The Engineer uses turrets and can use a protective shield.
You can go through the game on your own or you can play with up to four friends. I would say that playing with friends is, of course, going to be more fun. However, I will say that you guys have to share the loot and as the items are random it makes the chances of you getting something that is actually useful far less.
As this is a rougelike game, when you die that is that and you have to start over. I found that no two runs were ever the same. While the level layout will be always familiar to you. The enemies that you face, their numbers and where they are will always be different. This keeps you on your toes and makes each run really exciting.
It is pretty amazing to think that Risk of Rain 2 is in early access. The game looks fantastic and some of the creature designs, along with their attacks just fill the screen with color. While the game is very challenging, it is also a real blast to play and it is like a frantic 3rd person shooter with a heavy emphasis on death and trying to collect cool stuff!
