The need for certain remakes may be questionable, but if it brings a good game that may have flown under the radar to a new and eager crowd, it’s surely a risk worth taking. Incidentally, Risk of Rain Returns perfectly fits the bill, a decade after the original release and already with an acclaimed sequel out there, bringing old-school frills to those who skipped it the first time. With more survivors, enhanced graphics, and all the addictive gameplay that made it stand out, this is a remake worth crashlanding into.

When It Rains, It Pours

Risk of Rain Returns remains the same exciting roguelike action platformer as before, but with a new lick of paint, more content, and some technical upgrades. Deceivingly simple, each run quickly goes from the initial moments of quiet into no-holds-barred shootouts, with several enemy types and power-ups contributing to a chaotic performance where skill still plays the bigger role. It’s a game that gets more exciting the more you play, and the more you learn about the best build for your character as you explore the delicious randomness of the drops you unlock in each world which become available to get in subsequent runs.

One of the biggest innovations in the remake is the introduction of the Providence Trials. This is a succession of extremely diverse challenges, where the selection is gradually expanded as you complete trial after trial. Some of these focus on mobility, others on accuracy, and even some placing you in control of a drone with the goal of shooting a required amount of targets. There are strict circumstances for each trial, including a specific survivor and a timer to keep you on the edge. These single-player challenges are a welcome diversion from the standard gameplay loop, allowing you to experiment with other items and characters, ultimately honing your skills for the main dish.

Three new survivors are added into the mix, including the Drifter and the Pilot. Boosting the numbers of the original 12 to 15 playable characters with very specific requirements to unlock, you have quite the task ahead of you until you get a decent selection to choose from. Best thing is that they are extremely varied both in their base mechanics and skills, and choosing a favorite is one of the hardest tasks you’re going to face.

Time Is of the Essence

Played solo or in local or online cooperative modes, Risk of Rain Returns is an old-school treat that ends up being an acquired taste. The roguelike nature of the game may not bring any surprises to the genre, but the way that it’s designed makes it perfect for a smooth entry to the genre, easing you into these 2D platforming worlds where difficulty goes from very easy to impossible in a few minutes. The simple mechanics are almost immediately grasped, with the goal of finding the teleporter and defeating a boss being one of the most straightforward ever.

The loop is engaging, and the “just one more run” effect is undisputable as the simple gameplay grows on you and doesn’t let go. The feeling of being able to escape the masses of enemies attacking you from all sides is incredible, the utter chaos of enemies turning into an endless stream of coins you can use to unlock new abilities and the always helpful drones. You may not become stronger at each new run – although you can unlock some permanent alternate skills for survivors – but it’s undeniable that inside, you feel more capable than before of taking on the hordes. And this is the best proof of a good, well-rounded concept that feels rewarding even after hundreds of deaths.

Time management is of utmost importance here, as the longer you stay on a stage, the more difficult it becomes. This brings some considerations into the equation – will you go for fast gameplay and teleport as promptly as possible, or are you taking some time to loot the stages and become a lean, lean, killing machine? The duality on offer is a head-scratching one that is imported from the original, and both approaches are valid while posing their own sets of obstacles.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t some noticeable limitations by design, such as the inability to shoot from ropes or ladders, and the unnecessary difficulty to execute some simple actions that should come naturally, like shooting and walking backwards with the Commando.

Playing in local cooperative mode is a double-edged sword. Players have to stick together or eventually forfeit the game, as an inadvertent fall will result in having two (or more) characters out of the screen area, with no way to see the ropes and reunite, pretty much condemning the whole run. Consequently, online gameplay is the ideal option, and Risk of Rain Returns improves on the rudimentary system of the original by adding a full-fledged online system, with lobbies and all the options that one would expect nowadays. Not a revolutionary step, but a major leap from the first game’s manual port forwarding requirements and the systematic failures to successfully play with someone.

Making New With the Old

This remake also received a noticeable visual overhaul. The pixel art style remains prominent, but the little touches paint a very different picture. Survivors look more detailed and are animated in a smoother fashion, while the larger creatures, especially bosses, are where the changes jump right at you.

The stages’ graphics were also redesigned, and the changes are extremely appealing. The option to use a more zoomed-out perspective may be more practical in the long run, but the zoomed-in camera allows you to better appreciate the work done on the background and foreground graphics. Some maps are more detailed than others, but the overall revamp is a good one, retaining the spirit of the original while making it more catchy to the eye.

More than an attempt to cash in on the growing popularity of a series that started out in a somewhat niche way, Risk of Rain Returns is a welcomed remake that offers enough quality-of-life improvements and new content to be relevant and appealing to both fans and newcomers to the action roguelike genre. It plays great, has enough content and diversity to keep you entranced for weeks, and the new additions might just be what the game needed to appeal to a crowd that wasn’t attracted by the original. While not perfect, it’s a blasted good time where every frustrating death is nothing but an invitation to another run with renewed confidence.

Rating: 9/10

Pros:

• An unadulterated display of addictive roguelike gameplay
• 15 survivors in total, with three new faces
• Providence Trials mode drastically changes the gameplay for every challenge
• Visual overhaul is catchy while keeping the essence of the original untouched
• Online play finally caught up with the times

Cons:

• Lacks some mechanics that would make the action flow better
• Local coop is fun until someone drops from a platform

Risk of Rain Returns review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.