RoguedexPart 1 (Sep 2023) · #9 of 9 in that tierWatch the moment (2:01:25)
Risk of Rain 2
- Developed by
- Hopoo Games
- Published by
- Gearbox Publishing, 2K
$24.99
Escape a chaotic alien planet by fighting through hordes of frenzied monsters – with your friends, or on your own. Combine loot in surprising ways and master each character until you become the havoc you feared upon your first crash landing.
Consensus
S80.8/100
Steam players93.8% positiveVery Positive353,288 reviews
Metacritic ↗85/100Users: 8.2/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈9.8M copies · ≈$151M gross
What creators say
Ranked Aug 2024 · #3 of 4 in that tierWatch the moment (0:53:42)
Ranked Dec 2024 · #19 of 21 in that tierListen to the episode
Scored 7.6/10 · tier derived from the score
Ranked Jun 2023 · #11 of 11 in that tierWatch the moment (0:47:25)
Ranked Sep 2024 · #3 of 3 in that tierWatch the moment (0:15:01)
Ranked Apr 2023 · #10 of 16 in that tierWatch the moment (2:03:54)
Ranked May 2026 · #6 of 8 in that tierWatch the moment (0:13:45)
Ranked Apr 2025 · #2 of 6 in that tierWatch the moment (1:12:09)
What players say
A 3D third-person co-op action roguelite by Hopoo Games in which you fight through escalating waves on an alien planet, stacking hundreds of items into absurd power builds before the difficulty clock overwhelms you.
Risk of Rain 2 is widely regarded as one of the defining action roguelites: Steam lists it at about 94% positive across roughly 353k reviews, Metacritic critics give it 85, and outlets called it among the best roguelikes, especially in co-op. Praise centers on the item-stacking power fantasy, the character roster and the soundtrack. It left early access (March 2019) for 1.0 in August 2020 and has kept receiving paid expansions (Survivors of the Void 2022, Seekers of the Storm 2024, Alloyed Collective Nov 2025). The main friction today is less the game than its ownership: after Gearbox bought the IP in 2022 and 2K/Take-Two's EULA (mandatory arbitration) was added, many long-time players leave negative reviews while still praising gameplay.
Players love
- Item stacking snowballs builds from a plain pistol into screen-filling chain reactions; the power-fantasy and 'one more run' loop is the core praise
- Huge item pool and synergies reward experimentation and produce very different runs
- Survivor roster plays distinctly, each with unlockable skill variants and alternate loadouts that add mastery depth
- Co-op with friends (up to 4) is cited as the best way to play and the main reason people buy it
- Stylish cel-shaded look and a widely loved soundtrack
- Difficulty scales continuously in real time, so pacing and risk/reward (when to open chests versus finish the stage) stay tense
- Lots of unlockables, artifacts, Eclipse difficulties and mods give hundreds of hours of replay; reviewers report 100-300+ hours
- Post-launch support over several years, with Alloyed Collective seen by some as repairing the goodwill lost by Seekers of the Storm
Common complaints
- One-shot deaths from enemies or bosses (Brass Contraption, Elder Lemurian, Void Reavers) feel unfair when you are otherwise stacked with defence
- Late-game screens fill with particles and effects until they are unreadable, and huge item counts can tank FPS
- Repetitive environments and limited story, which critics flagged in reviews
- Enemy variety feels thin to some players, and runs can feel like searching for the teleporter
- Multiplayer desyncs, lobby failures and mid-run crashes reported since the Gearbox-era updates, with no reconnect option
- Gearbox/2K ownership: a later EULA with mandatory arbitration and the console-port codebase drove waves of negative Steam reviews despite high playtime
- Seekers of the Storm launched buggy and unbalanced (DLC alone sits around 54% positive on Steam)
- No mid-run save, so long runs are all-or-nothing
Can feel tedious
- Hunting for the hidden teleporter on each stage can eat time; many players rely on the indicator settings
- Shrine of Chance and other gambling objects feel punishing with low success rates
- Unlocking all artifacts, skins and challenges can be grindy and repeats risky deaths
- Long late-game loops where screens are unreadable and performance drops
- Some find the game never clicks; a negative reviewer said they never felt like continuing despite good music, visuals and pacing
What's unique
- 3D third-person shooter take on a roguelite, unlike 2D top-down peers like Isaac or Hades
- No fixed run timer, but difficulty scales continuously with time spent: enemies get stronger the longer you stay, so pace is part of strategy
- Items are almost all passive and stack without a cap, creating emergent build chaos rather than fixed builds
- Looping the game (continuing past the final boss) and the Void, Lunar and Eclipse layers give it a long endgame
- Lunar items are deliberate risk/reward trade-offs that can cost you mobility or your whole inventory
- Teleporter boss fights plus an open-ended hunt for chests, shrines and multishops in each stage
Players want
- Reduce or add options to tone down visual clutter and performance drops in late-game item-heavy runs
- Better onboarding: new players report struggling to find the teleporter and learn mechanics, and only discover helper settings by accident
- Fix long-standing multiplayer desync, lobby and reconnect issues
- Add mid-run saving or suspend to support 1-2 hour runs
- Address one-shot mechanics and tune balance so defence builds are not negated by single attacks
- Revert or clarify the EULA changes and give players a way to report bugs in-game
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Third-Person ShooterAction RoguelikeMultiplayerCo-opActionRogue-liteRogue-likeLooter ShooterLootOnline Co-Op
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Risk of Rain 2 is the 3D third-person shooter sequel to the 2D original, widely popular and heavily updated with patches and DLC. He loves it: the core shooting is so fun that it never gets old even though runs start fairly similarly. The constant stream of items keeps the character feeling steadily stronger. He places it in S tier, noting he plays it less these days than Peglin or Ravenous-style favourites, but it still earns the top spot.
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