Risk of Rain 2 Review Summary

Great game design and presentation with engaging gameplay, but unclear teleporter objectives, lack of tutorial, and broken multiplayer detract from the experience.

Game is highly praised: Many reviews describe the base game as great, awesome, wonderful, and overall good. These sentiments are repeated across multiple clusters, indicating strong positive reception.

Excellent audio-visual design: Clusters highlight great soundtrack, visual and audio design, masterclass audio-visuals, good cel style graphics, and decent graphics. This indicates broad appreciation for the game's artistic quality.

Engaging gameplay loop: Reviews mention satisfying gameplay, well-executed gameplay, fun gameplay loop, and interesting content. The core loop is clearly praised for its enjoyment and challenge.

Fun with friends and solo: Both solo experience and co-op play are appreciated. Clusters mention fun solo play, suitability for solo, good for two-player co-op, and fun with friends, indicating versatility.

Provides flow state and relaxation: Clusters mention the ability to enter flow state, turn off brain, and enjoy mindless fun. This is a key appeal for players seeking a relaxing or immersive experience.

Teleporter is impossible to find: The teleporter objective is poorly communicated and hard to locate. Players spend excessive time searching empty maps without markers, guidance, or pathfinding hints. The lack of a map and auto-reveal system forces tedious exploration of large areas.

No tutorial or objective guidance: The game offers no tutorial, map markers, or objectives. Players are left confused about goals and progression, with only terrible guidance and no clear direction.

Gameplay is repetitive and boring: Gameplay becomes repetitive quickly, with little variety and no pause for exploration. The pacing is poor for a roguelike, and the game feels incomplete or hollow after a short time.

Multiplayer is completely broken: Multiplayer is broken, with black screens and unplayable connections. It has no playability and is considered terrible.

Unfair DLC pricing and incomplete game: The base game feels unfinished, with multiple expensive DLCs. Pricing is unfair: new players get bundles at half price while old players pay full price per DLC.

Teleporter objective core: Players must locate and activate teleporters to spawn bosses and advance to next stages, which is a central gameplay loop.

Roguelike random item system: The game heavily relies on randomness for item drops, with items being randomly given to players, which is a core roguelike feature.

Run-based progression: Each run lasts about one hour, featuring run-specific upgrades and no save system, requiring repeated runs with increasing difficulty.

Comparison to similar games: The game is compared to Megabonk and Gunfire Reborn, noting similarities in unlocking content and roguelike elements.

Time pressure mechanics: Difficulty increases over time, with a timer mechanic adding pressure, making gameplay faster and more challenging as runs progress.

Steam Deck controls broken: Players report that controller support is missing or broken on Steam Deck, requiring third-party configuration. Several reviews call the Steam Deck verification fake, with controls failing on first launch.

Frequent crashes lose progress: Game crashes frequently without warning, often causing loss of 1-2 hours of progress. No crash report or resume feature is available.

Multiplayer connectivity issues: Multiplayer is non-functional or has severe connectivity issues. Multiple users report being unable to play online due to persistent connection problems.

Poor game optimization: Poor overall optimization is cited as a major complaint, contributing to crashes, lag, and other issues.

Extreme lag slideshow: Extreme lag turns gameplay into a slideshow, making the game practically unplayable for some users.

Multiplayer experience is frustrating: Many players report disconnections and high frustration in multiplayer. The game is widely not recommended for multiplayer-focused players, especially due to connectivity issues.

Negative general recommendation: A large number of reviews simply state the game is not recommended, citing regret, poor value, or poor content. This sentiment is widespread across many individual clusters.

Poor value for money: Players frequently complain the game is not worth the price, especially with predatory DLC pricing. Many suggest cheaper alternatives like Brotato, Megabonk, or Gunfire Reborn.

Not a good roguelike: The game lacks depth and skill expression for roguelike fans. It is not recommended for those seeking a challenging or layered experience, as it is often described as casual.

Poor sequel compared to alternatives: This game is seen as a weak sequel, with players recommending Risk of Rain Returns, Megabonk, or Gunfire Reborn instead. Some suggest buying only one of these titles.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00.

Game completion: 112.5h.

Story completion: 50.0h.

Session length: 0.8h.

Risk of Rain 2 has a steep initial learning curve with no tutorial and unclear item descriptions, making early play confusing and slow; however, once players learn the items and mechanics (often after a few hours or with friends), the game becomes highly addictive and rewarding.

Friction: Steep learning curve; No tutorial or explanation of items; Unclear item descriptions; Slow and boring start; Large maps with unclear objectives.

Unlock drivers: Learning item effects through play; Gaining experience and knowledge; Playing with friends in co-op; Adjusting difficulty to Drizzle.

Party Chaos Cooperator: Plays exclusively in co-op groups, often voice chat, enjoys friendly competition over items and collective chaos. Motivation: Social fun and chaotic multiplayer action with friends. Stance: buy.

Build-Crafter Veteran: Solo or solo-focused, optimizes item builds, grinds for unlocks and high-difficulty clears, studies game mechanics deeply. Motivation: Mastery, achievement hunting, and build optimization. Stance: buy.

Aesthetic Immersion Seeker: Plays solo on lower difficulties, explores environments, enjoys the soundtrack and visual effects, plays at a relaxed pace. Motivation: Immersive atmosphere, art, and music. Stance: sale.

Performance is generally positive across most Windows configurations, with late-game lag and crashes reported as common caveats, while the low-VRAM Windows 16-31GB RAM cohort reports frequent crashes and poor stability.

Windows <8GB VRAM / <16GB RAM: positive. Most players report playable performance with occasional lag spikes, especially in late game or multiplayer.

Windows <8GB VRAM / 16-31GB RAM: negative. Players frequently report crashes and poor stability, with many reviews citing random crashes and lag.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Game runs well for most, though some players experience late-game lag and occasional crashes from excessive effects.

Steam Deck: Risk of Rain 2 presents a significantly broken experience on Steam Deck despite its 'Verified' label. Major issues include broken controller support that often requires switching Proton versions, frequent crashes during gameplay (especially in multiplayer), and severe performance drops in later stages. While some users can get it running after tinkering, the out-of-box experience is unreliable and frustrating, with progress lost to crashes and controller inputs failing. The need for manual Proton switching and occasional factory resets indicates a high friction level.

Linux and Proton: Risk of Rain 2 on Linux via Proton is playable but requires specific version (e.g., 9.0-4) to fix controller detection and stability. Performance is often lower than Windows, and some users report crashes or audio issues. Mod support works well. Overall, playable with moderate effort.

Monetization: Risk of Rain 2 has no microtransactions, gacha, loot boxes, or in-game currency purchases. The only paid content is optional DLC expansions that add characters, stages, and items. While some reviews express concern that DLC characters are stronger than base ones and that the combined DLC cost exceeds the base game, these are traditional expansion pricing issues rather than predatory monetization. The gameplay gacha is purely in-game and not monetized. Overall, the monetization model is fair and transparent.

External guides: The dominant user complaint is severe lack of in-game guidance, forcing players to rely heavily on wikis and external guides to understand basic mechanics, item functions, and progression. While the game is praised for its depth, the absence of tutorials and clear descriptions creates a high barrier for new players, leading to frustration and a dependency on third-party resources.