Risk of Rain Returns Review Summary

Graphical upgrades, fun gameplay, and a stellar soundtrack make this a great remake, though clunky controls and being overshadowed by Risk of Rain 2 hold it back.

Major Graphical Improvements: The remaster features significantly enhanced graphics, with better visuals, UI, and character visibility compared to the original. Many highlight the improved art style and pixel art.

Excellent Gameplay and Fun: The gameplay is frequently described as excellent, enjoyable, and addictive, with many players praising its engaging mechanics. It captures the fun of the original while adding modern improvements.

Outstanding Soundtrack and Music: The soundtrack is consistently praised as excellent, with many noting it maintains the high quality of the series. The music enhances the overall experience, especially in key moments.

Great Remake and Remaster: Players view this as a well-executed remake that improves on the original while preserving its core appeal. It is considered a model for how remakes should be done.

Overshadowed by Risk of Rain 2: Many reviewers constantly compare this game unfavorably to Risk of Rain 2, stating it lacks the addictive gameplay, freedom, and intuitiveness of the sequel. It is often seen as barely similar and less enjoyable overall. This comparison dominates the feedback.

Awkward and clunky controls: Players frequently report that controls are very bad, clunky, and frustrating on both controller and keyboard. The awkwardness annoys many and makes the game uncomfortable to play.

Providence Trials are bad: The Providence Trials are widely criticized as poorly designed and unfairly difficult, with some trials being ridiculously hard. This mode is considered a negative addition to the game.

Lack of content and items: Reviewers note that the game has very little content, fewer hidden elements and items compared to Risk of Rain 2, and almost no items on the map. It does not bring enough new content to the table.

Excessive difficulty and overpowered enemies: The game is much harder than Risk of Rain 2, with enemies that are insanely overpowered and overwhelm players easily. Some find it frustratingly difficult at first.

Extensive co-op multiplayer support: Players value the wide range of multiplayer options, including online and local co-op, split-screen, and friend-friendly sessions. Many highlight that multiplayer is easy to set up and does not require hosting expertise.

Remaster of original Risk of Rain: Feedback repeatedly identifies the game as a remaster or remake of the first Risk of Rain. Some note it includes new content and a rewrite of the original experience.

Providence Trials unlock skills and items: The Providence Trials challenge mode is a key progression system that unlocks new skills, attacks, movement options, and items. Players describe it as tied to character mastery and ability loadouts.

Character unlocks and progression system: A large roster of unlockable characters is a core feature, with the first few being harder to access. The game also expands with new characters and items added over time.

Roguelike genre with platforming action: The game is widely recognized as a roguelike with many characters and items. Some describe it as a roguelite action game blending platforming and roguelike mechanics.

Excellent Performance on Low-End PCs: The game runs smoothly on weak hardware, including outdated systems, laptops, and configurations that could only handle the original game. It is well-optimized and lightweight, requiring no upgrades for older setups.

Freezes and Crashes: The game may freeze when too many objects appear on screen, leading to unresponsiveness and requiring force-ending the process. Abnormal crashes have also been reported during multiplayer.

Stable 60 FPS Lock: The game is locked at 60 FPS, which is described as flawless and provides a smooth experience even on older hardware.

Launch Issues After Update: Some players report the game fails to launch or gets stuck in an infinite startup loop after an update, making it unplayable.

Steam Deck Compatibility: The game runs great on the Steam Deck, and adjusting graphics and resolution settings further improves playability on both Steam Deck and PC.

Ideal for Risk of Rain fans: Many reviewers recommend this game specifically for fans of Risk of Rain 2 or the original. It is frequently described as a must-play for anyone familiar with the franchise.

Favorable comparison to Risk of Rain 2: Some players recommend this game over Risk of Rain 2, while others suggest sticking with the sequel if you prefer 3D. The comparison is a common point of discussion.

Universally recommended: A large number of reviewers give it a strong recommendation to everyone, regardless of gaming preferences. Phrases like 'would recommend' are very common.

Standout roguelike recommendation: Players consistently praise it as one of the best roguelikes and recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre. The roguelike mechanics are a major draw.

Great value for money: Many consider the game worth its price, whether at full price or a discount. It is often described as a worthwhile purchase.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Game completion: 2.0h.

Session length: 0.8h.

Risk of Rain Returns is predominantly described as fun and addictive from the first run, with immediate action and rewarding unlocks. A minority experiences slow, repetitive early play without a clear later turning point.

Friction: Early game feels slow and cutthroat; Slow unlock progression, especially in local co-op; Tedious challenge and Providence trial unlocks; Unresponsive controls and inability to hit flying enemies; Multiplayer connection errors and dead lobbies; Repetitive runs with samey items.

Unlock drivers: Fixed multiplayer setup by removing port forwarding; Functional online multiplayer via Steam servers; Streamlined ability to play with others; Quality-of-life tweaks and content additions.

Original Risk of Rain Veteran: Plays extensively solo or with friends, embraces classic 2D roguelike mechanics, item stacking, and escalating difficulty. Motivation: Relive and support a faithful remaster of the original Risk of Rain with new content and improvements. Stance: buy.

Risk of Rain 2 Convert: Action-focused runs, often in co-op, comparing mechanics and difficulty against the 3D sequel. Motivation: Explore the 2D origin of the Risk of Rain series after playing Risk of Rain 2. Stance: buy.

Co-op Social Player: Organizes group sessions, coordinates team movement, and enjoys shared progression and modded co-op. Motivation: Play Risk of Rain Returns with friends in local or online co-op. Stance: buy.

The Windows <8GB VRAM cohort mostly reports the game running well, with users noting stable 60 FPS performance despite some unmet expectations for higher frame rates.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Players report the game working well, including flawless locked 60 FPS, though at least one user noted it never exceeded 60 FPS.

Steam Deck: The audit of Steam Deck feedback for this game reveals a sharply divided experience. A dominant theme is severe, persistent crashing across single-player, multiplayer, and post-patch builds, with reports of the game refusing to launch after an update and a language-dependent (Chinese UTF8) crash trigger requiring the user to switch to English. Additional friction includes needing to run the launcher as administrator to avoid crashes, weaker UI scaling than its predecessor, and the absence of a save-anywhere feature that users say undermines Steam Deck playability. Against this, multiple reviewers confirm the game also runs perfectly on the Steam Deck with zero tweaking, indicating the platform is capable when the crashes are absent. Overall, the frequency and severity of crashes and launch failures place the experience in the Broken band.

Linux and Proton: The filtered review set contains only positive Steam Deck compatibility evidence. Users report that the game launches and runs perfectly on Steam Deck without tweaking, and no Linux, Proton, Wine, anti-cheat, DRM, launcher, performance, or graphical compatibility issues are mentioned.

Constant Risk of Rain 2 Comparison: The overwhelming majority of comparisons pit this game against Risk of Rain 2, covering differences in 3D versus 2D gameplay, difficulty, content volume, and overall preference. Opinions are split between those who prefer this game's 2D style and those who find the sequel superior.

Clear Upgrade Over Original: Reviewers consistently describe this game as a major improvement over the 2013 original, citing better graphics, faster pacing, more characters, new mechanics, and overall refinement. Many call it the definitive way to experience the first Risk of Rain.

Remake With Substantial New Content: The game is widely characterized as a full remake rather than a simple remaster, adding significant new content, characters, and mechanics while staying faithful to the original. Several reviewers note it incorporates elements from Risk of Rain 2 as well.

Active Modding Support: Mods are available and considered a notable part of the experience, though some reviewers note the modding scene is less active than Risk of Rain 2's. The presence of mod support is seen as a positive feature.

Faithful to Original's Core Appeal: Many fans appreciate that the game retains what was loved about the original, including its simplicity and compact scope, while incorporating select improvements from the sequel. This balance is often described as successful.