Watch 10 mins of Risk Of Rain 2, oddly set in a desert
A risk worth taking
When I look at how long all of my friends have spent playing co-op platform shooter Risk Of Rain, a roguelike about biffing alien bads, I see a list divided. Maybe half have put in a few hours. Maybe they, like me, enjoyed the bullet-hell combat and setting down a seemingly endless path of item and character unlocks - but found that path guarded by enemies that felt too punishingly difficult.
The other half have anywhere from 20-40 hours in the game, and I'm jealous of their perseverance. From hearing some of them talk about it, I've missed out. So hopefully I'll be less intimidated by the time Risk Of Rain 2 comes out, which attempts to transplant the same formula into 3D. Based on the 10 minutes of pre-alpha footage the devs just released, it looks like they're succeeding.
Note that the character being played here is the Huntress, who automatically targets enemies so she can focus on running while she's gunning.
I'm into it. There are some satisfying moments where an ability ping pongs between multiple enemies, and I'm always a fan of teleporty-dodges. That there Clay Dunestrider is a cutie, too, with its robo-googly eyes and spidery shadow tentacles. I look forward to blowing it up, though I would say those abilities along the top of the screen (which I can't help but think of as relics thanks to Slay the Spire) seem a bit dull. All of the ones that get picked up seem to revolve around giving you health when X happens, which is fine but hardly playstyle changing.
Perhaps that'll change as the game gets closer to release. In a recent blog post, devs Hopoo Games say they're done with the core of the game and now plan on filling it with new stuff:
"With the core systems in place we are able to start designing new content that adds new layers on top of the existing loop for RoR1. We want to make sure that there is a lot of fresh new content that adds to the fun, and we are holding ourselves to a higher standard of game design than in our previous games. We are trying our best to make sure there isn’t a lot of filler items or monsters."
There's no word on a release date, but the devs do mention that they're starting to think about a small alpha, which you'll be able to sign up for via a website that doesn't exist yet. Soz.