In 2019, Risk of Rain 2 released in early access on Steam. Almost immediately it was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews and garnered many fans. The easy to pick up and hard to master roguelike gameplay kept players coming back for hours on end, and it was even able to sell one million copies in the first month of early access - four million since its full release.
One year later, Risk of Rain 2 officially left early access after consistent updates that vastly improved the game, which added a lot of new features, playable survivors, and traversable stages. Now in 2022, Risk of Rain 2 is ready to pull roguelike fans back in with a brand-new expansion pack, a complete overhaul of the console ports, and constant communication from the developers.
Risk of Rain 2’s First DLC Expansion Pack Survivors of the Void
Previously slated for a late 2021 release, the first expansion pack for Risk of Rain 2 is ready to launch on March 1. Survivors of the Void is set to add a whole host of brand-new content to the roguelike. This includes an alternate final boss, alternate final stage, two brand-new playable survivors, 40 new items, nine new monsters, two new bosses, four new stages, and a completely different game mode. All of this content may be just the thing to pull fans of Risk of Rain 2 back to the game.
While Hopoo Games has not revealed all the new things coming to Risk of Rain 2, it has shared small tidbits about one of the Railgunner, one of the brand-new Risk of Rain 2 survivors. She is a long-range sniping specialist who will surely shake up the meta. Along with the Railgunner comes a brand-new wave-based game mode known as the simulacrum, void items that will provide players with new power, void based monsters like the Void Jailer, and brand-new stages like the Snowy Forest. If that is not enough to pull players back in, then Survivors of the Void's new music for players to jam out to while they kill monsters may do the trick.
Risk of Rain 2’s Console Port has been Rebuilt
Originally, the console port of Risk of Rain 2 was handled by PlayEveryWare but in 2021 an internal team was built at Gearbox to handle the console version going forward. Now the new team is rebuilding the entire console port from the ground up to make it more in line with the PC version. This means new content at the same time as the PC version and faster bug fixing updates.
The console port will not have any content the PC version does not have, and it will look pretty much the same as it does now. It will, however, allow for a much smoother development time for Hopoo Games and a much better experience for console players, as they will get to play the new content at the same time as their PC brethren.
Consistent Communication from Hopoo Games
Whenever someone buys into an early access game, there is always the worry that the developers will abandon it or that the developers will not communicate with the players. That fear does not exist with Hopoo Games, as it is consistently sharing what is going on behind closed doors. It stays connected with its players through a series of videos and text titled Dev Thoughts. Almost every month Hopoo Games tells players what is being worked on currently and shares art made by fans. This gives players affirmation that the developers are still hard at work improving Risk of Rain 2, and that Hopoo Games has as much passion for the game as the players do.
Currently, not much is known about Risk of Rain 2 beyond the release of Survivors of the Void. If Survivors of the Void proves to be a success, then there will most likely be another expansion pack down the line. With consistent communication from Hopoo Games and frequent updates, Risk of Rain 2 will only grow stronger as 2022 continues.
Risk of Rain 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.
