Risk of Rain 2: Hallowed Concepts Review Summary

The Enforcer, DLC, and awesome bosses and enemies shine, but the overpowered hex, bugs, and severe lag leave this unpolished.

Enforcer Highly Praised: The Enforcer is repeatedly called extremely fun and satisfying, with his parry, shield, and grenade mechanics receiving specific praise. Many say he alone justifies the purchase and is one of the most enjoyable characters in any roguelike.

Outstanding DLC Quality Praised: Players overwhelmingly celebrate this DLC as the best the game has received, calling it amazing, fun, and worth every penny. Many describe it as peak content that breathes new life into runs.

Bosses and Enemies Awesome: New bosses and enemies are praised for their cool designs, enjoyable movesets, and challenging fights. The final boss is often called incredibly cool and fun, with some highlighting a specific rework.

Music Is Phenomenal: The soundtrack is widely praised as spectacular, with many calling it top-tier and full of bangers. Some even say the music alone is worth the price of the DLC.

Acolyte Stands Out: The Acolyte is described as epic, creative, and one of the strongest additions to the roster, with a unique melee-focused playstyle that makes players rethink the game. Some consider it the highlight of the DLC.

Hex mechanic overpowered and unbalanced: Hexes can steal items, hinder runs to a run-ending extent, or vary wildly from useless to doubling enemy health at teleporters. They are sometimes easily countered, feel like blue items, and their effect on Mithrix is unclear.

General bugs and unpolished state: A lot of bugs exist, from random journal entries on boot to lost weapon unlocks and co-op spawning issues where friends appear as mobs. The DLC feels very unpolished and needed more time before release.

Trials mode overly punishing and RNG: Trials end runs with unfair mechanics, heavy RNG dependence, and specific trial types like races or indirect damage that can immediately ruin a run. Mechanics like knockback and timers are frustrating, and leaving does not increase the timer.

Out-of-bounds boss spawning bug: Bosses can spawn outside the map or under the floor, making them impossible to hit. This forces players to abandon runs or get softlocked and die, and it has occurred in time-limited arenas and trials.

Severe performance and lag issues: Massive lag, freezes, and FPS drops make some runs unplayable, including mid-run slowdowns and freezes in multiplayer after the update. A Clay Dunestrider death can spawn thousands of particles and drop the game to 1 fps.

New items and mechanics: The DLC introduces many new items, including cursed items, curios, and purple items, which can significantly change run dynamics. Some items are exclusive to their own pools and integrate into the core gameplay loop.

DLC adds new characters: The DLC introduces multiple new survivors, including the Enforcer and the Acolyte. These characters have distinct kits and alternate skills, with the Acolyte offering a unique melee-focused playstyle.

DLC expansion content: The game has DLC that adds various content such as mechanics, items, and characters. It came with a free update and is designed as a blend of previous expansions.

New boss fights and enemies: The DLC introduces new enemies and boss encounters, including a parryable boss and fights in time-limited arenas. Bosses may have new mechanics and can spawn additional enemies.

New final boss added: A new final boss with several mechanics has been introduced, adding a challenging climax to runs. It may be a rework or addition to the existing final boss fight.

Performance degradation after update: An update has worsened performance, with cluster 3 mentioning lag problems in later stages despite previously handling them well. Cluster 5 confirms that performance got even worse.

Multiplayer freezes and crashes: Cluster 4 reports that the game completely freezes and dies after about 3 minutes in multiplayer after the update. This is a critical issue affecting multiplayer sessions.

Particle effects tank framerate: Cluster 6 describes that thousands of spawned particles tank the framerate to 1 fps, severely impacting playability during particle-heavy moments.

General recommendation: A number of reviews simply recommend the expansion or game, often with 100% recommendation or a thumbs up. This shows broad approval among these reviewers.

Boss spawning bug fix: Several reviewers refuse to recommend the expansion until a bug causing bosses to spawn outside the map is fixed. This is a critical blocker for many players.

Trial mechanic dissatisfaction: Two reviewers express that their reviews would change to positive if trial mechanics are improved or changed. This indicates a specific area of complaint that affects recommendation.

Compared to other DLC: Some reviewers recommend the current DLC but note that other DLCs are better, and one mentions the previous DLC was slightly disappointing. This suggests the expansion may not be the best in the series for some.

Not worth full price: A reviewer states it is not worth the price and advises waiting for a sale. This suggests some players find the expansion overpriced relative to its content.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00.

Session length: 2.5h.

Veteran Content Evaluator: Rotates through newly added characters, judging each one's design, feel, and the new environments against previous DLC content. Motivation: Experiencing and appraising the new survivors, stages, and music added by the expansion. Stance: buy.

Mechanics Design Analyst: Evaluates optional mechanics and difficulty modifiers, deciding whether their risk/reward justifies engaging with them during a run. Motivation: Understanding how new expansion mechanics integrate with and reshape the core run loop. Stance: sale.

Bug-Frustrated Co-op Player: Plays multiplayer sessions with friends, progressing unlocks and expecting stable, working game systems. Motivation: Playing co-op with friends and unlocking progression content without technical blockers. Stance: no buy.

DLC nature and availability: The game has multiple DLCs available, including paid character additions. It is also available on Epic Games Store.

New content variety praised: The DLC introduces new enemies, environments, items, bosses, music, and an Acrid skin. It also adds new item pools rather than expanding existing ones.

Gearbox's direction improving: Some reviewers see Gearbox as improving at making DLC, with positive direction for the game and a passionate development team. It's the first Gearbox DLC some reviewers liked from release.

Mixed rating and specific score: One reviewer rates the DLC 6/10. The DLC is an expansion with a mix of positive and critical feedback.

Silent release and immediate purchase: The DLC released without pre-release marketing or announcements. Some players bought it immediately on release or day one.