Risk of Rain 2 Critic Reviews

As far as I’m concerned, Risk of Rain 2 is as good as gaming gets. Unlocking items, discovering new synergies, planning out builds — it’s all immensely satisfying. Make no mistake: This is a tough game, and the randomized nature inherent to roguelikes just won’t click with some people. But, for players with a taste for escalating action and challenge, this game stands as one of the very best in the genre.

With hardly any flaws or shortcomings, Risk of Rain 2 more than delivers. Its pulse-pounding, off-the-wall, challenging action, combined with countless secrets and unlockables, are sure to entertain and excite you. Play in short bursts or an hour until you scream, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" -- you're bound to enjoy every minute of it.

Risk of Rain 2 is a top-of-the-line roguelike. No matter how familiar you get with the controls, you’re never comfortable, as death is always one or two mistakes away. The vast number of enemies, items, and abilities make for an endlessly replayable experience. The extensive work done in the game’s more than a year in early access has paid off, as Risk of Rain 2 is one of the best roguelikes to hit the market in recent memory.

Risk of Rain 2 is a must have. A love letter to the genre, a fun and engaging experience with tons of content, personality, and secrets. Version 1.0 adds a great final boss on top of the many enemies, items, challenges, maps and features included in the same patch and the previous ones.

Risk of Rain 2 is an exceptional example of how to combine the rogue-like genre with shooter mechanics. Deep, satisfying and just so addictive, it’s taking every cell in my body to prevent me from taking a week off from work just to play more of it.

Risk of Rain 2 is an excellent time that takes you from a scrappy fight with some pesky aliens to a desperate battle for survival in a 3D bullet hell every run.

We have finally lived through the full release of Risk of Rain 2. With the full release comes a new character, who is excellent, and a true final level, final boss, and an ending. On top of that, we get even more excellent music from Chris Christodoulou. It cements Risk of Rain 2 as one of the best roguelikes of all time, and certainly one of the best co-op roguelikes too. There are a couple of things I was hoping to see with the full release, like more skills for the other survivors, but I’m sure they’ll arrive somewhere down the line. As it stands, if you’ve not played Risk of Rain 2, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

A shooter with a roguelike’s soul, Risk of Rain 2 is pretty much devoid of any deeper meaning, but at the same time perfectly executed and brilliant in its simplicity.

Despite my qualms with certain challenges and the last boss, I cannot get enough of Risk of Rain 2. I love the characters and discovering secrets while setting new goals for myself. As someone who mostly bounced off the first game, the sequel sucked me in like a Primordial Cube (an in-joke, hah!). There is so much to love here, whether you are a fan of the first game or roguelikes as a whole.

Risk of Rain 2 has a lot to offer and despite some downsides to the multiplayer side of things, the game is still really well put together. There is a lot to explore and unlock, but most importantly, it’s really fun to play. The core gameloop of Risk of Rain 2 makes it accessible while the additional features and mechanics make it tough to put down. I highly recommend this game to both roguelike veterans and those who are interested in diving into the genre.

Risk of Rain 2 is a real success, so much so that it makes the first episode look like a nice draft.

The quest for outrageous items makes Risk of Rain 2 a strong action roguelike, but its unlockable secrets give it that little something extra.

Risk of Rain 2 does a great job at creating an engaging world full of frantic moments, although sometimes its procedural features get in the way.

Risk of Rain 2 is lo-fi beats to relax to with the bass boosted until the subwoofers catch fire. And explode. And bleed? What begins as a chill loot-shooty time quickly escalates to a frantic fight for your life where everything is burning and there's a big red target on your back. The lack of any strategic layer between the action did leave me feeling burned out. But the additive nature of the game's builds give Risk of Rain 2 the feeling of a pebble skittering along a rocky cliff. When the avalanche begins, enemies would be well advised to get out of your way.

Risk of Rain 2 sits comfortably as one of the best roguelikes in recent memory, and while it may not reach the depth of Dead Cells, it's easily worth the price it's asking from consumers. There are dozens of hours of content available, and the joy of achieving the kind of godlike builds so many genre fans love is unimaginably fun in a 3D arena.

Varied items, engrossing gameplay and a killer soundtrack make Risk of Rain 2 one of the best roguelike shooters in recent years. The lack of a mid-game save feature and some uninspired environments hold this sequel back, but the astonishing translation from 2D to 3D more than makes up for it.

Risk of Rain 2 offers an impressive but difficult adventure. The game can reward smart players for some steady-progressed strategy, while stubborn and radical players will be punished instantly.

Risk of Rain 2 is a third person shooter roguelike full of items to unlock and enemies to kill. However it is a little short of breath.

Risk of Rain 2’s early access hooked me with its fluid 3D action and distinct classes, and held my attention long after I’d seen everything it had to offer with its berserk roguelike progression, and the ability to squad up with friends. It’s networking woes could use some TLC, but that’s the only bad news. What’s here now is polished, fun, and immensely replayable, and what’s on the horizon leads me to believe I’ll be playing Risk of Rain 2 for a very long time to come.

It’s such a shame. Risk Of Rain 2 is delightfully weird, with an enviably eclectic menagerie of beasties. Runs that go well can branch off in wildly different directions, where items twist character abilities into novel new uses. But the sad truth is that I can’t click with any of the early characters, and the path to unlocking the good ones is long and paved with too-quick deaths. Stick your neck out if you want to – I’m headed indoors.