More than three decades after Rogue first inspired a legion of unflinchingly difficult, procedurally-generated video games, Risk of Rain proves there's still plenty of room to improve on a genre that could easily claim to be one of the most heavily represented in recent years.
Risk of Rain sees players take controlling one of ten crash survivors, each of whom have four unique skills/abilities, and tasks you with tracking down the teleportation devices that will (eventually) let you make your way off the desolate planet where your spaceship crashed.
You'll only have access to the Commando at first, but nearly a dozen additional Risk of Rain characters can be unlocked via the game's achievement system, fifteen of which correspond to actual Steam achievements. In addition to the new characters, game progression will also reward players by adding new items to the pool of potential upgrades you can find while exploring Risk of Rain's myriad stages.
Of course, getting out of your current predicament isn't as simple as tracking down a piece of rogue teleportation equipment. Soon after landing in each area, a bevy of enemies will begin to spawn around you, gradually increasing in both strength and number as your game clock ticks upward. As if simple knowledge of that mechanic weren't enough, a difficulty meter hangs in the upper-right corner of the screen, letting you know precisely how difficult your next wave of opponents will be.
Risk of Rain doesn't exactly leave you empty handed though. Players cans (and must) collect a variety of power-ups from random boxes, treasure chests, shrines, and the handful of boss encounters that are sprinkled throughout Risk of Rain's semi-procedural campaign. In an interesting twist, Risk of Rain also allows players to stack many of the power-ups they come across, giving you the ability to continue increasing the strength and effectiveness of your weapon as you progress.
Though not fully procedural, Risk of Rain doesn't force players to complete stages in a specific order. Instead the game drops you into a zone at random, and will continue to bounce you from one area to the next - without any discernible pattern - until you finally make your way off the planet. Along the way, you'll encounter a handful of bosses, each of whom continues to spawn new enemies until you've managed to drop their HP counter down to zero. Once you've taken care of a boss, you'll be tasked with mopping up any leftover baddies, and then it's time to move onto the next enemy-filled environment.
Thankfully, Risk of Rain won't force you to tackle these obstacles all by your lonesome. The game boasts support for both local and online co-op, allowing you and two friends to fight your way from one teleportation device to the next. As you can imagine, this is where some of characters' abilities really begin to shine as well. Players will also have to work together to even divide experience, money and power-ups, otherwise you'll regularly find one or more of your party members just aren't able to keep up in the game's later stages.
Of course, as with any rogue-like, long-term enjoyment of Risk of Rain pretty much hinges on your desire to revisit the game's various environments both on your initial trek towards the final boss, and on any subsequent attempts to find all of the game's Monster Logs, useable items, unlockable upgrades and hidden characters. Particularly gifted (or lucky) players might even find themselves completing the Risk of Rain campaign on their first attempt, leaving very little to justify the game's ten dollar price tag if you aren't the sort of person who revisits a game after completing its single-player content.
Risk of Rain Review - Final Verdict
With so many amazing rogue-likes hitting Steam over the last year or so, it's easy to assume that new entries in the genre would have little to offer that truly separates them from previous standouts like FTL: Faster Than Light or Rogue Legacy, but Risk of Rain could very well be my favorite new rogue-like since the 2011 debut The Binding of Isaac.
The game's simple pixel-art aesthetic provides just enough of its own ambience to really give Risk of Rain the sense of emptiness that I can only assume one would experience after crash landing on an alien planet, while the highly-addictive combat and exploration mechanics will leave many gamers diving right back into the action after each death.
Whether you're fortunate enough to spot Risk of Rain on-sale during one of Valve's nine million annual Steam Sales, or are forced to pay the oh-so-high price of $9.99 like some commoner (please note the sarcasm), I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of Risk of Rain. It's not perfect, but Risk of Rain is easily one of the most enjoyable PC gaming experiences of 2013.
Score - 4/5
Have you had a chance to spend any time with Risk of Rain since the game's November debut? Want to offer up thoughts on a game mechanic that wasn't touched on in the article? Have a far different opinion of Hopoo Games' exploration-based shooter?
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