Overview
Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelite action game developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing, released in 2020 after an early access period. It is the sequel to Risk of Rain, which was a 2D game: this second entry moves to 3D, with a third-person view.
Story and world
You play survivors stranded on a hostile alien planet, which you have to cross stage after stage. The story stays in the background; the heart of it is the runs.
Gameplay
The move to 3D is a success. On each stage, you kill monsters to collect gold, open chests to get items, then activate a teleporter that triggers a boss before moving on. Items stack and combine, while the difficulty rises with the time spent in the run: you have to find the balance between searching around to get stronger and pushing on before you get overwhelmed.
This loop of stacking items against rising difficulty is as addictive as ever. Runs quickly become completely absurd, in the best way, as the item effects pile up.
The game can be played solo or in online co-op, and it is even better with other people.
Verdict
A loop as addictive as ever, runs that get absurd in the best way, and even better with other people.