To be clear – this does not allow you to have full 360 degree aiming/shooting – it allows you to put the cursor to the left/right of your character to attack in that horizontal direction. This huge quality-of-life change, along with many of the below changes, was developed in response to player feedback and we would love to know what you think on the Risk of Rain Discord

[h4]Patch 1.0.4 Changes
[/h4]

• Added option to enable horizontal mouse aim, enabled by default with the “Risk of Rain 2” control scheme.
• Added first-time pop-up for mouse users about mouse aim.
• Added “Aim Left” and “Aim Right” keybinds for keyboard and controller users. This feature is optional and only adjusts your aiming direction while held.
• Added the ability to disable Huntress’s auto-aim within the accessibility settings.
• Added the ability to disable the aim-direction reticule within the accessibility settings.
• Added the ability to turn while using the Primary Skill if the fire button was briefly released. This change does not apply to Bandit or Artificer due to their skills already interacting uniquely with button mashing.
• Added the ability for Player Drones to fire while backing up.

• Most enemy attacks are now client authoritative.
• Improved feedback on client attacks in online multiplayer.
• Added some client prediction to certain online interactions to reduce networking overhead.
• Increased leniency of client disconnections in online multiplayer.
• Improved behavior of Lynx Archer, Lemurian Lancer, and Bramble projectiles online.
• Brilliant Behemoth interactions have been made more consistent online and offline.
• Decaying Sample now properly deals 100% damage and stacks correctly.
• Fixed behavior that extremely rarely allowed Nematocyst Nozzle to drop from anything.
• Slight tweak to Item/Equipment drop balance.
• Teleporter Bosses may no longer drop Equipment.
• Normalized survivor movement speed. All slower survivors now move faster.
• Fixed Bandit’s “Smokebomb” skill instantly cancelling itself if an attack was performed immediately before the ability was activated.
• Fixed Artificer’s “Frost Barrier” pushing enemies through walls.
• Fixed Sniper’s “Steady Aim” being forced to fire early under certain circumstances.
• Buffering for Sniper’s “Steady Aim” is now disabled to prevent chargeless ‘misfires’.
• Pilot may now cancel his primary skill into other abilities.
• Heaven Cracker now allows Miner to gain heat and Drifter to generate scrap.
• Miner’s Throwing Axe skill now properly interacts with the Heaven Cracker.
• CHEF’s “BUTCHER” (boosted alternate primary skill) now properly has a unique icon.
• Acrid’s “Toxic Bubble” skill damage now properly stacks with damage from Caustic Sludge.
• Acrid’s “Toxic Bubble” skill now damages nearby enemies when bounced on or hit by the player.
• Fixed Huntress bolts not striking enemies when colliding with a wall at the same time.
• Huntress’s “Strafe” ability is now cancellable into other abilities.
• Various utility skills may now be canceled into rope-climbing.
• Fixed some monster attacks bypassing player invincibility.
• Altered rope interactions. Players no longer ‘fall’ off of the top of ropes if climbed to the top. Players may no longer mash to increase speed on ropes.
• Added ledge detection to player movement to prevent near-misses during platforming.
• Rapid Fire accessibility option altered slightly to improve functionality.
• Added UI Scale option for menus.
• Added mouse-lock option.
• Added an exception to allow “Up” and “Jump” to be bound to the same input. This differs slightly from the behavior provided by the dedicated “Up to Jump” accessibility option.
• Various language-related fixes.
• Fixed profile menu name not appearing while being inputted.
• Fixed profile menu inputs being sent while typing in chat.
• Fixed descriptions being shown for achievements that aren’t yet unlockable.
• Fixed a crash relating to audio fading.
• Reduced the size of textures used by the game, this may help the performance on lower-end machines.
• Low graphics quality now also disables the most expensive shader effects, this may help the performance on lower-end machines.
• Offset ropes away from walls in Ancient Valley.
• Fixed collision errors on Ancient Valley variant 6.
• Adjusted spawnable tiles within tight tunnels in Hive Cluster.
• Raised roof slightly in Damp Caverns variants to support taller monsters.
• Adjusted some spawnable locations in Risk of Rain stages.
• Fixed gap in Ifrit’s walkable paths on Ancient Valley variant 2.
• Adjusted render order of Gilded Wurm segments.
• Reduced damage of Swifts.
• Reduced health of Archer Bugs.
• Removed dive-bombing Swifts’ ability to strike the player while time is stopped.

• Fixed ability for score to change after a trial has already ended.
• Fixed Umbras ignoring time stop effects in “Judgment.” (It was funny, RIP)
• Chef’s “The Right Ingredients” trial now properly only counts “Cook” kills for score.
• Han-D’s “Main Systems Offline” trial altered slightly to account for Decaying Sample change.
• Han-D’s “Routine Maintenance” trial significantly re-adjusted.
• Huntress’s “Blades in the Wind” trial significantly re-adjusted to allow for more diverse gameplay scaling as you progress.
• Cleaned up collision errors in Pilot’s “Emergency Ejection” trial. Removed an awkwardly placed scoring item.
• Increased visibility of some platforms in Pilot’s “Race to the Finish” trial.
• Engineer’s “Get Off My Lawn” trial now ends when you hit 5,000 points.
• Loader’s “Crash Landing” trial rebalanced slightly.
• Loader’s “Ruins of the Future” trial has had Hopoo Feathers relocated slightly.
• Miner’s “Scorching Heart” trial difficulty increased. Bosses now respawn appropriately.

Thanks again everyone!

Hopoo Games

This update Patch Notes 1.0.4 first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

It’s been crazy seeing all the new players jumping into Risk of Rain: Returns for the first time or coming in after playing the first Risk of Rain from 10 years ago! We wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you. The team has been watching the streams, videos, posts, and messages and has been blown away by the response.

We hope you’re enjoying playing together and discovering everything new and old with your friends. Today, we’re hoping you’ll nominate Risk of Rain: Returns for the Better with Friends category!

Thank you everyone for your nominations, we look forward to seeing you in-game!

This update Nominate us for the Steam Awards! first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

A quick reminder that the new aiming feature mentioned in the previous patch notes (1.0.2) is still in development, we will update you on this feature as soon as possible.

• Increased Teleporter particle visibility range.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when the game started while set to a display that is no longer connected.
• Fixed a high-pitched sound that would play for some users in certain circumstances when restarting a run.
• Added an additional safeguard that should allow the game to start if cutscene videos take too long to load.
• Fixed crashes related to unlocking a certain secret.
• Fixed a softlock relating to a certain secret.
• Fixed challenges relating to completing stage 3 (such as Bandit) not unlocking for multiplayer clients.
• Reduced the range of overloading enemies.
• Fixed a crash that can occur if Direseeker is instantly killed by the player.
• Fixed the Sniper’s default Secondary Skill consuming all stocks at once.
• Increased the range of the Engineer’s Utility Skill.
• Artificer’s Primary Skill now deals damage more consistently.
• Fixed the Artificer’s Primary Skill interacting poorly with Shattered Mirror.
• Artificer’s alternate Utility Skill now requires a second input to execute multiple times.
• Fixed temporary Dio’s Friend making the player unkillable when consumed.
• Fixed a softlock when using the Loader’s alternate Secondary Skill into a pit.
• Fixed info for locked trials being openable by clicking.
• Corrected the Lynx Totem’s killscreen icon.
• Fixed a crash when collecting Classified Access Codes in “Judgement”.
• Removed player hitstun from the “Castle of Memories” Providence Trial.
• Fixed a possible softlock in the “Castle of Memories” Providence Trial.
• Decreased invincibility frames on Miner’s default Secondary Skill.
• Fixed duplicate player join messages appearing during online play.

Thanks again everyone!

-Hopoo Games

This update Patch Notes 1.0.3 first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Firstly, a huge thank you for everyone that has been enjoying Risk of Rain Returns! All of us at Hopoo Games have been watching the streams, videos, tweets (X’s??) and messages and have been blown away by the response to our latest game.

Today we have an update on an upcoming control feature, and patch 1.0.2 – mainly focussed on bug/crash fixes. Here’s a full list of changes:

• Fixed Cremator being allowed to spawn in certain locations which it was intended to be blacklisted from.
• Made HAN-D trial description correctly say 200 pts instead of 125 required.
• Changes the following stage variants to fix abnormalities: Ancientvalley 2, Desolate Forest 3 & 5, Hivecluster 1 & 3, Riskofrain 2, Temple of the Elders 1
• Fixed a crash when an unusual gamepad type device is connected.
• Fixed an obscure crash that can occur when viewing the command menu.
• Updated some files related to input extension which should better blacklist certain devices that behave poorly when detected as controllers.
• Fixed a crash that could occur at certain points if the game was closed.
• The game now appropriately responds to cutscene videos failing to load entirely. the intro will be skipped and ending will just be a black screen with text.
• Fixed a scenario in which the large healing chest could drop no item.
• Adjusted Highway Robbery trial to refer to Flashbang correctly.
• Fixed a frame-perfect crash when an Evolved Lemurian took flight and died at the same time.
• Introduced a save backup system independent of Steam Cloud.
• Fixed a possible crash with Miner’s alt primary.
• Fixed skill descriptions being displayed incorrectly depending on your aspect ratio.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when making a server.

Known Issues (to be fixed in a future patch)

• Bandit, a Sniper challenge, and a HAN-D challenge currently do not unlock if you’re a client in an online game.
• Permanent invincibility bug when losing a temporary Dios Friend.
• Certain users are experiencing a very loud sound when restarting the game in some scenarios / Providence Trials.
• If the game was set to fullscreen on a display that was disconnected, it may be unable to launch.
• Sniper’s secondary skill not interacting properly with Backup Magazine.
• Overloading enemies’ electricity has more range than intended.

Another massive thank you to everyone who has reported bugs; it’s hugely valuable information and is massively appreciated! We’ve also heard your feedback on balance issues and will be addressing these in future patches. If you want to share feedback or have any other bug reports you can report them easily on our Discord.

We would like to also give you an update on one of the most popular pieces of feedback we have received over the last couple of days:

We will be implementing independent horizontal (not full 360) aim options in a future patch.

We will be writing this feature and implementing a version of horizontal-exclusive mouse aim that will function as follows:

Mouse Users
The game will have a setting to utilize your cursor position permanently as your horizontal aim direction. This can be disabled.

Controller/Keyboard Exclusive Users
The game will have two more mappable features so that controllers and keyboard users can also determine aiming direction independent of movement. This feature is also going to be optional.

We are developing this feature in direct response to community feedback – our hope is that it will provide a much smoother experience to players who prefer mouse input, without giving that option an advantage over keyboard/controller players.

As this is a brand new feature and is being developed alongside future bugfix/crash patches we cannot give a time estimate for this update, but we’ll keep you informed as best we can!

Thanks again everyone!

– Hopoo Games

p.s. We’ve also launched an Official Wiki! The community is hard at work filling the pages – https://riskofrainreturns.wiki.gg/wiki/Risk_of_Rain_Returns_Wiki

This update Patch Notes Version 1.0.2 first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

A remake of our original game Risk of Rain – released 10 years ago today – Risk of Rain Returns keeps everything that made the roguelike classic great and adds a ton of new content and improvements, including…

• Revamped Multiplayer
• Completely reimagined pixel art
• 3 New Survivors and alternate abilities for all the original crew!
• Dozens of new stage variants
• Many new items and equipment
• New challenge mode “Providence Trials”
• Loads of new enemies
• Countless quality of life changes
• Tons of new lore, logs and secrets to find!

…And much more!

There is loads of new content for new players and Risk of Rain veterans alike – so don’t miss out on that -15% launch discount!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

If you want to find friends for multiplayer, or if you want to let us know what you think of Risk of Rain Returns please join us on the Risk of Rain Discord where the whole Hopoo Games team will be eagerly awaiting your feedback:

https://discord.gg/riskofrain2

Thanks very much!

– Hopoo Games

This update Risk of Rain Returns – OUT NOW! first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Hi everyone! No lengthy intros today – I know what you’re here for…

Risk of Rain Returns will release on Steam and Nintendo Switch on November 8th 2023 – the exact 10 year anniversary of the release of the original Risk of Rain!

The suggested retail price of Risk of Rain Returns will be $14.99 however for a short period at launch there will be a -15% discount down to just $12.75

All of us at Hopoo Games want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you for both following along during the development of Risk of Rain Returns and all the support you’ve given us over the last ten years. It’s been a wild ride and we have plenty of plans for the future…

…but that’s a story for another day. For today, let’s take a look at the final new Survivor joining the roster for Risk of Rain Returns.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

Revealed in the intro cinematic, the Pilot of the Contact Light is joining the survivor roster for Risk of Rain Returns – bringing with him a highly mobile and context-sensitive playstyle unlike any other survivor in the game.

The workhorse of Pilot’s kit is his standard attack Clusterfire – a triple burst shot where the third shot pierces enemies.

Great for damaging groups of enemies to set them up for your other abilities or to finish them off once you’ve already rained damage upon them from the skies..

…speaking of which the key to success when playing as Pilot is mastery of his utility ability – Rapid Deployment.

Launch into the air and deploy your parachute to glide while unleashing your full arsenal of weapons on the enemies below.

Your secondary attack Target Acquired is a diagonal blast dependent on your current airborne status. If you’re in the air it will auto target on the enemies diagonally below you. If you’re on the ground it will auto target airborne enemies.

Don’t worry about there not being as many flying enemies in the game – your special ability Airstrike can solve that particular problem.

Dropped below you if airborne – or placed at your feet with a backwards dash if you’re grounded – the Airstrike hits multiple times both damaging enemies and launching them into the air.

This gives you the perfect chance to juggle them with Target Acquired and finish them off with Clusterfire.

As with all the other survivors Pilot has three alternate abilities to unlock and discover when the game is released on November 8th.

Check out the video Dev Thoughts above for an extended gameplay clip of Pilot in action.

The release of Risk of Rain Returns will not be the only way we’re celebrating 10 years of the franchise – we will be taking a walk down memory lane and looking back at what got us here – and our friends at Gearbox will also be talking about what’s ahead!

This 10th anniversary Showcase will be a celebration of the Risk of Rain community, and the big lovable orange blob – If you are a fan of Risk of Rain, or blobs, this is not to be missed so make sure you’re following Gearbox on Twitch!

http://www.twitch.tv/GearboxOfficial

Risk of Rain 2 fans do not want to miss this showcase…

As you’re hopefully aware by now not only has Chris Christodoulou returned with some special guests to produce some new music for Risk of Rain Returns, he has also remastered the original tracks to perfection.

Chris will be releasing a 4-Vinyl set including some great bonus content (contained on a Ukulele-shaped USB stick!) early next year but those pre-orders usually sell out quick so make sure if you want one, you grab one ASAP – the pre-order is available right now!

https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/risk-of-rain-returns

One last bit of news – for all you *very patient* console fans out there I am also very happy to announce that the Risk of Rain 2 Expansion: Survivors of the Void will be arriving on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch on… you guessed it…. The 8th of November!

We’re all very excited for you to finally get your hands on Risk of Rain Returns and we really want to know what you think! The best way to give us feedback is by joining the Risk of Rain Discord where we will be opening a Returns-specific feedback channel – and we’ll also have channels for you to find groups for multiplayer along with dozens of voice channels to use.

https://discord.gg/riskofrain2

The whole Hopoo Games team will be there and we’ll be eagerly reading all your feedback, so please join us for the release of Risk of Rain Returns on November 8th!

Cya then!

Jonathan
Hopoo Games
Community Manager

This update Dev Thoughts 32 – Risk of Rain Returns first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Get ready for more exciting news about the release of Risk of Rain: Returns!

Set your notifications to join us on the Hopoo Twitch channel on October 25th, at 12:00 pm CT. We will FINALLY be revealing the highly anticipated RELEASE DATE, along with the NEW SURVIVOR joining the lineup.

You’ll want to stay tuned for a bit longer as we’ll have another announcement after the survivor reveal, along with survivor gameplay. 10 year anniversary is coming up, so something is bound to be cooking.

As always, thanks for the amazing support – and we can’t wait to share what we have planned with everyone on October 25th over on the Hopoo Games Twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/hopoo_games. Hit “Remind Me” on the event to be notified when we’re going live. See you then!

Back in July, we got to see the brand new survivor debuting in Risk of Rain: Returns! Drifter is a resourceful brawler, who got a bit more than she bargained for when she stowed away on the ill-fated Contact Light. However, Drifter has some unique skills that help her handle the dangerous inhabitants of Petrichor V. Along with these skills, she also has some tools to empower herself and her fellow Survivors (unless she takes all the items for herself, but who would do that…right).

Who will be the final survivor joining Drifter in Risk of Rain: Returns? You’ll have to tune in on October 25th at 10:00 am PST time to find out!

To learn more about Drifter, and to check out an interview with Chris Christodoulou, you can see a recap of Dev Thoughts 31 here.

This update Twitch Stream Announcement – Risk of Rain Returns – Release Info & New Survivor! first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Hey!

Thanks again for joining us for the Dev Thoughts, today we’re going to take a look at a brand new survivor for Risk of Rain Returns and talking to Hopoo Games composer Chris Christodoulou about the soundtrack.

The majority of this content, along with the great new survivor trailer, are contained in the video version of the Dev Thoughts linked above, so make sure you watch it so you don’t miss out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

For the words-n-gifs fans among us, let’s get acquainted with Risk of Rain’s newest survivor…

The first brand new survivor debuting in Risk of Rain Returns is Drifter. This resourceful brawler got more than she bargained for when she stowed away on the ill-fated Contact Light – luckily she has some unique skills to not only handle the dangerous inhabitants of Petrichor V but she also has some powerful tools to empower herself and her fellow Survivors.

Key to Drifter’s power is her ability to utilise Scrap generated by her primary ability Blunt Force. This may appear as useless rubbish to the other survivors – but to Drifter it’s a valuable resource.

Blunt Force is a 3 hit combo melee attack that hits enemies in a wide area – each successful hit generates lumps of Scrap which litter the floor near Drifter – gather these quickly to fuel your more powerful abilities.

Blunt Force isn’t the only way to generate Scrap – Drifter’s Utility ability Suffocate also fills your meter without having to collect Scrap from the environment – This large melee strike stuns and does 200% damage – any enemy below 20% health when attacked with Suffocate is immediately consumed and converted to Scrap.

Once you have gathered Scrap you have everything you need to fuel Drifter’s other two abilities – including her secondary attack Cleanup. This ability tosses out some of your Scrap as piercing projectiles in a short-range burst – imagine a trash powered shotgun that makes mincemeat of even the toughest enemies.

Finally her special ability makes her a true powerhouse on the battlefield – not only to herself but her allies – when your Scrap meter is 75% full you gain access to Salvage.

Salvage allows Drifter to generate 4 temporary items – these can then be collected by any player making her the survivor with the strongest support abilities in Risk of Rain. Have your teammates not been as fortunate as you when rolling the dice at chance shrines? Create some temporary items to share among your team before facing the tough challenges that await you.

Of course there is nothing stopping you from just taking all the items for yourself and becoming the most powerful Survivor on the planet – key to success as Drifter is to keep churning out temporary items as quickly as you can – they only last a short time in your inventory so continuing to replace them as they expire will maintain your strength.

Like all the other survivors, Drifter has a trio of alternate abilities to unlock, but I won’t spoil those for you today, you can discover them yourself when Risk of Rain Returns is released later this year!

I interviewed Hopoo Games composer Chris Christodoulou about his approach to the Risk of Rain Returns soundtrack – what changes he has made to the original OST, the approach he has taken to the new tracks coming in the game and much much more! …. You still here? Expecting some more words-n-gifs of a video interview?? Go watch the video Dev Thoughts linked at the top of the page! The interview is there!!

Thanks again everyone for your continued support, all of us at Hopoo Games are very excited for you to play Risk of Rain Returns soon! In the meantime don’t forget to join our Discord and follow us on Twitter, Twitch, Youtube or TikTok to keep up to date with the latest on the game – next time we’ll be taking a look at the final new character dropping into Risk of Rain Returns…

Cya then!

Jonathan
Hopoo Games
Community Manager

This update Dev Thoughts 31 – Risk of Rain Returns first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Thanks for joining us once again for the Hopoo Games Dev Thoughts! Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the new game mode coming in Risk of Rain Returns: Providence Trials.

I’d recommend watching the video version of the Dev Thoughts as you’ll be able to fully appreciate the footage of the trials as well as seeing an exclusive gameplay sample at the end, but if the written version is your cup of tea let’s dive in and take a quick look at the big guy himself…

A couple of weeks ago we reached out to the community asking for some fan art of Providence to celebrate the reveal of the Providence Trials, and as always you didn’t disappoint! Here are some of my faves…

First up is the artwork by DragonRoIlZ that was so good I’ve used it as the header image for the Dev Thoughts, this fantastic piece of Providence and his Gilded Wurms:

Here’s a fantastic piece by NF89 titled “Bulwark’s Mourning” – I wonder what Providence is upset about here, I hope he didn’t do something completely diabolical with that teleporter…

And lastly this comic book inspired piece by w0ahdood really grabbed my attention:

Thank you to everyone who submitted fan-art, you’ve all been given a unique role on Discord to flex with!

If you want to see all the submissions make sure you join the Risk of Rain Discord and follow this link!

https://discord.com/channels/417739215355510784/559901517985873921/1088441451442086038

…and you can browse all the submissions! – and now on to the main event…

New to Risk of Rain Returns are the brand new Providence Trials – dozens of fun single player mini-game challenges each using a different Survivor with a different set of abilities, each on a custom stage.

Some trials test your mobility skills, others your combat effectiveness and others your survivability, all skills that serve you well in Risk of Rain Returns. Many of the trials even unlock alternate abilities for the Survivors for use in the main game, along with some other secret unlockables…

There are over 40 different trials planned for release – today I’m going to showcase three of my personal favorites with you, starting with a mobility-focused trial for Loader.

Racing against the clock the goal of this Trial is to gain points by collecting as many coins as you possibly can scattered throughout the custom stage while avoiding attacks from Swifts and Mushrooms.

Along with points you can also collect items to speed up your progress, a combination of Hardlight Afterburners, Hopoo Feathers and Backup Magazines can be found to aid you, along with some custom Bonus Stock pickups for your skills.

Utilise your grapple hook and your new ability Short Circuit to navigate the stage as fast as possible – A passing grade for this trial currently sits at 40 points – but the truly skilled can aim for the golden crown score of 70 points.

Next up, test your combat effectiveness against 4 rows of slowly encroaching enemies with this trial featuring Sniper.

Confined to a small section in the centre of the stage you must use your abilities carefully to inflict damage to as many enemies as you can while carefully prioritising which row you think poses the greatest threat – if any enemy reaches the centre its game over.

When you reach certain point thresholds, items (with a small degree of randomness) spawn in your cage to help you reach the higher scores.

As time marches on the enemies that spawn get stronger and faster making some real panic moments where a perfectly executed active reload can make the difference between success and failure.

Finally let’s take a look at a strategy-focussed trial featuring Engineer. Set on a small custom stage the start of the trial is triggered by collecting either ATG Missiles or Prison Shackles from the center platform.

Once started, groups of enemies spawn on the stage in waves and you have full use of your abilities to defeat them. Between waves 2 new items spawn and you have to pick between them before increasingly difficult enemies start to spawn. If either you or one of your turrets dies before you achieve the target score, you fail the trial.

Will you increase your survivability by picking healing and utility items? Or will you focus on increasing your damage to kill the enemies as efficiently as possible? Pick carefully and plan your strategy to ensure success in this trial!

Don’t forget these are just three of the 40+ of Providence Trials coming in Risk of Rain Returns. We can’t wait for you to try them all later this year!

Hungry for more information about Risk of Rain Returns? Starting tomorrow on the Hopoo Games YouTube and Tiktok every few days I’ll be posting a new mini video giving exclusive info on different aspects and content in Risk of Rain Returns.

There will be 50 videos in total each showcasing different parts of the game, new items, new monsters, new features and much much more – make sure you’re following us on the platform of your choice to not miss out!

YouTube
TikTok

A couple of reminders before we draw todays Dev Thoughts to a close:

Don’t forget to give the game a Wishlist on Steam –

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

Make sure you’re following us on our YouTube and TikTok linked above as well as our Twitch and Twitter for the latest on Risk of Rain Returns

Make sure you check out the video Dev Thoughts at the top of the page for an exclusive gameplay clip featuring Artificer who is making her 2d debut after first appearing in Risk of Rain 2…

…and speaking of new Survivors, join us next time when you’ll get an exclusive reveal of the first all new Survivor joining the roster in Risk of Rain Returns…

Cya then!

Jonathan
Hopoo Games
Community Manager

This update Dev Thoughts 30 – Risk of Rain Returns – Providence Trials first appeared on Survivors-likes List.

Hello! Welcome to Hopoo Games Dev Thoughts 29

Before we get into the main topic of today’s Dev Thoughts, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone for the amazing reception and reaction to the announcement of Risk of Rain Returns – the entire development team has loved reading all your comments and sharing in the excitement of the reveal of our latest game.

To keep discussing Risk of Rain Returns you can join me and the rest of Hopoo Games right on our Discord, and don’t forget the rest of our Hopoo social media like Twitch, Twitter, and Tiktok, and the official Risk of Rain twitter account right here!

While you’re busy clickin’ links please visit the store page and give the game a wishlist – it really helps us get the game in front of as many new eyes as possible – with your support we’ve already made the top 75 most wishlisted games on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337520/Risk_of_Rain_Returns/

And without further ado, the subject of today’s Dev Thoughts…

One of our biggest new features in Risk of Rain Returns that breathes new life and replayability into the game are the new Alternate Abilities for each survivor.

Each survivor has three extra abilities to use as alternates – today I’m going to showcase one from each of the returning survivors leaving plenty for you to discover yourself when we release the game!

Let’s start off with the face of Risk of Rain – the Commando.

The alternate to his secondary attack Phase Round is the Combat Knife. The Combat Knife is a close range melee attack that deals 150% damage and also wounds the enemy – Wounded enemies take an additional 50% damage from all attacks.

Great when used in concert with the rest of his moves, slash your enemies with the Combat Knife, create some distance then blast away with your long range abilities for devastating effect.

Next up is Huntress (who, by the way, is now unlocked by default like in Risk of Rain 2) – the alternative to her Laser Glaive is the new Laser Cyclone. This large slow-moving attack deals damage over time before returning back to the Huntress. The trick with this ability is to carefully kite the Laser Cyclone in and around enemies that are attacking you while continuing to pelt them with your other abilities.

While on paper this ability is lower damage than the Laser Glaive – with skillful movement you can achieve near 100% uptime on this ability doing huge damage over the course of a full run.

Enforcer comes racing into Risk of Rain Returns with his new secondary ability Shield Tackle.

Starting to get overwhelmed by a group of enemies overrunning your defences? Put them back in their place and under your control by charging into them, knocking them back, stunning them & dealing 5 x 100% damage on the way.

One alternate ability we gave a short glimpse of in last month’s dev thoughts is Bandit’s new primary alternate – the Whip. This ability switches Bandit into a melee/ranged hybrid – the Whip deals 200% damage while pushing enemies back.

A more powerful alternative to Blast – use your evasive abilities to avoid damage while cracking the Whip then finish them off with Lights out.

Everyone’s favorite robot survivor, HAN-D, returns with an alternate to its special ability FORCED_REASSEMBLY called… DISASSEMBLE. Instead of a massive hammer HAN-D whips out a giant buzz saw which tears combatants apart and hits more times the more attack speed you have – perfect when used in conjunction with Overclock.

Another advantage of DISASSEMBLE is the ability to slowly move while casting which allows you maximum damage especially against conga-lines of chasing enemies.

Engineer returns with one of the strongest single abilities in the game – you can now replace his standard Auto Turrets with the experimental V.0.2 Prototype Laser Turret. You can drop one of these huge hulking sentries down, inheriting all of your items just like your regular turrets, which charges up over 8 seconds before letting loose with a huge 1200% damage laser blast.

Being able to 1-shot most enemies in the game does come with a drawback – firing this turret rapidly damages itself and will be completely destroyed after a single shot needing to be replaced to fire again – Unless you can find a Dios Best Friend!

The Survivor with the biggest amount of changes between Risk 1 and Risk of Rain Returns is Miner with his new heat meter that allows him to dish out more and more damage the hotter he becomes – On top of this new mechanic he has a new set of moves including a replacement for his primary where he throws his pickaxe towards his enemies.

When your heat meter is full and you start Scorching these Throwing Axes pierce enemies and are thrown more rapidly making Miner deal a huge amount of damage at mid range.

One of the trickier aspects of playing as Sniper in Risk 1 was hitting specific targets with your strongest abilities when the level fills up with enemies quite quickly on later stages. With the alternative to Steady Aim you can overcome this: introducing the Quick Scope.

While it does a lower but still impressive 600% damage compared to Steady Aim the biggest benefit of this shot is the ability to pick exactly where it lands by releasing the fire button when the aiming reticle is over your desired target.

Acrid returns once again to spread poison to the inhabitants of Petrichor V with the alternative to his secondary ability – the Toxic Bubble.

One of the most diverse abilities in the game, the Toxic Bubble does 60% damage over time to any enemy it touches and also does 600% damage to any enemies in range when it explodes after 5 seconds. Need to infect more enemies than you can kite into the bubble? Simply give it a whack with your melee primary and it’ll float through the crowd. Finally use the Toxic Bubble to help bridge large gaps or leap over enemies as you and your teammates can use it as a bouncy jump-pad!

Master of melee the Mercenary has a new way to slip around his enemy’s attacks with his alternate secondary Focused Strike.

Holding down this attack sheathes your weapon and places you into an immobile stance – release the moment an enemy strikes and you will completely deflect the attack doing a huge burst of 1000% retaliatory damage.

We’ve improved Loader as standard by now allowing you to grapple diagonally upwards regardless of the other abilities you pick. One ability that perfectly complements this newfound mobility is the new secondary attack – Short Circuit.

Crash down and stun enemies in a large radius for 350% damage. This move can be performed mid air for a diagonal downwards dash or on the ground for an immediate devastating slam.

Aaaaaand last – but by no means least – it’s Chef. Y’know what – for a robot whose only reason to exist is to cook stuff for people it seems to spend zero time in the preparation of delicious treats for us all. Selfish. Dumb.

This isn’t a problem in Risk of Rain Returns! Chef now has an alternative to his special ability: Cook.

After tenderising your enemies by getting them to low health, gather your ingredients by slicing and dicing any nearby monsters – any killed are turned into a buffet of delectable meals that you can save for yourself or share with your fellow survivors.

Each meal is its own special item that gives its own unique effect – but surviving the challenges of Petrichor V is hungry work – each of these items only lasts a short amount of time, so you’ll need to keep cooking to reap the benefits!

Thanks for tuning in to the Dev Thoughts again everyone! We’ll be back in touch soon to let you know exactly who you need to impress to unlock some of these alternate abilities…

Bye for now!

Jonathan
Community Manager
Hopoo Games

This update Dev Thoughts #29 – Risk of Rain Returns – New Survivor Abilities first appeared on Survivors-likes List.