Risk of Rain Returns: With a Bloody Bang, and You Should Play It

We've already spoken at considerable length about the Risk of Rain franchise and its importance in the grand scheme of things, with one of the biggest, most important elements of it being ROR's transition over from a 2D sidescroller into a full-fledged 3D action platformer. Now, however, the developer Hopoo Games is attempting to do precisely the opposite, through a remake of the legendary original. That's where Risk of Rain Returns comes into the picture.

Featuring beautifully remastered HD pixel art, Risk of Rain Returns aims to revive exactly the iconic roguelike that you remember from back in the day. Except, with entirely new survivors, unique loot combinations, an overhauled multiplayer mode, and heaps more. Combining fan-favorite content with entirely new content, Returns is a dream come true for fans of the original title.

Play Risk of Rain Returns on November 8 with 2Game!

Risk of Rain Returns: What is it, and Why is it?

Risk of Rain Returns is, in most ways, a true-to-form remake of the first Risk of Rain. For Hopoo Games, it's a way to revisit the old ROR in beautifully remastered format, but also to correct some of the game's many faults. Its multiplayer services, for one, were infamously horrid, and even though the iconic roguelike did age well, some of its disparate features and balancing decisions did not. That's where entirely new stage variants, survivors, and - broadly - new ways to play come into the picture.

The goal is to give you the Risk of Rain that you know and love, but better. And, if you weren't keen on the franchise's transition into proper 3D, now you'll have an alternative, to boot. But, let's get down to brass tacks and discuss some specifics!

What's new in Risk of Rain Returns?

As you'd expect, Risk of Rain Returns features a wealth of new content to spice things up and take the old classic to all-new heights. Here's the full (though not necessarily exhaustive) feature list, as revealed by Hopoo Games so far:

On top of all of this, we're also getting revamped and updated HD pixel art bringing the classic Risk of Rain aesthetic in the best way possible. A massive upgrade no matter how you flip it, then, and we can't wait to see how it plays ourselves!

Is gameplay changing in Risk of Rain Returns?

For the purists among us (you know who you are), it's not strange if you're concerned as to whether Gearbox Publishing might've wanted to turn Risk of Rain entirely up on its head. This, however, couldn't be further from the truth, as Hopoo Games has done all it could to keep the game authentic and true to its original form.

At the same time, however, Returns needed an angle all of its own: something to differentiate it from the old title which, if we're being honest, aged reasonably well over the past decade! That's where the optional gameplay loop modifiers come into the picture!

For example, you'll now be able to toggle various Artifact items before each run, mutating them into something wholly different. Indeed, these are the ROR2 Artifacts backported into an older narrative to spice things up. So, it's all entirely sensible lore-wise and fits into the broader universe of the planet Petrichor V, where the games (mostly) take place.

Should You play Risk of Rain Returns if you loved RoR?

We're not going to mince words here: if you played and loved Risk of Rain in 2013, you should play (and will love) Risk of Rain Returns in 2023. This is a true celebration of the old classic, and it's going to be a huge boon for those, in particular, who had trouble getting ROR's infamously borked multiplayer services to work properly.

Better yet, Risk of Rain Returns is a phenomenal bang for your buck. At less than $15 a pop, you're getting a revived legacy experience that's going to give you dozens of hours of fun, and even more so if you play in a group. Heck, for less than the price of a single modern AAA release, you could start playing with three more friends, family, and/or pets on day one, which is November 8. Not something to miss out on - we'll be there on day one!

Setting the Right Expectations

On the flip side, if you did not enjoy Risk of Rain back in the day, the odds of you enjoying Returns are fairly slim. This is still, at its core, exactly the same game as it was, except with a better technical backend and with a slew of bonus content thrown into it. Certainly, you're welcome to give it a shot again, but Hopoo Games isn't shy about what ROR Returns is, and what it definitely is not.

Expansion potential? You know it!

One last bit of discussion worth having before Returns comes out is about the game's sheer DLC potential, which is downright immense. Even though it seems Hopoo Games is basically done with the Risk of Rain franchise as it currently stands, having handed it over to Gearbox proper, we've already seen some exciting new murmurs about new ROR2 content. With ROR Returns in the picture, we'd be very surprised if Gearbox does not end up producing DLC content for it, too. On that, though, more news as we get it. Do stay tuned!

Play Risk of Rain Returns on November 8 with 2Game!

We’ve already spoken at considerable length about the Risk of Rain franchise and its importance in the grand scheme of things, with one of the biggest, most important elements of it being ROR’s transition over from a 2D sidescroller into a full-fledged 3D action platformer. Now, however, the developer Hopoo Games is attempting to do […]