RoR Returns is cheaper.
I've always had a bit of a deep dislike for this game bubbling in the cauldron of my soul. The Roguelike lovers around me all adore it, sing its praises and chant in a circle to beg for more DLC, but I've always bounced off of it for reasons that were hard to articulate.
I think I know why, now.
To me, the best runs in the Roguelike/Roguelite genre are those middle runs. Where you're strong enough to win if you're good at the game, but weak enough that you have to actually pay attention and engage with the mechanics. Wins are bought from a boss' jaws with a toll of sweat, exclaiming "fuck that almost hit me fuckfuckfuck" and leaning forward in your chair. Runs like these are why I hold Roboquest, Dead Cells and FTL as the holy trinity.
Risk of Rain 2 has two types of runs: Either RNG screws you over and you die due to a functional inability to do meaningful damage which, coupled with ever-increasing enemy spawns, result in you dying. This is a checkmate run; it's over past a certain point, but that point isn't when the run actually ends.
The other type of run results from RNG favouring you, at which point the game becomes the same type of mindless adult stim toy that Vampire Survivors and its ilk are. RoR1 and its remake are far more granular, demanding you as a player engage with a balancing act between grabbing items and managing the difficulty meter steadily ticking upwards. In a ways, you could argue RoR1 was one of the first extraction shooters because of this - though I wouldn't.
RoR Returns is cheaper.
RoR2's real issue is that, having transitioned to a 3D space (which looks awful, by the way, this is not good minimalism), there's more space. More space, means more items and cash chests and recycling stations and shops and printers and everything. Combing the map will almost assuredly guarantee a good roll, resulting in a mechanical checkmate in your favour. Yes, the difficulty meter is still there, but it's vestigial in ways not even puppygirls could take delight in. What use are harder enemies when this game doesn't so much snowball as it does avalanche?
I do not inherently believe games are bad for being easy, but I do think the worst roguelikes are easy, and RoR2 is child's play most of the time. When it's not child's play, it reveals a very undercooked foundation that even 4 years after release still feels like it wasn't left in the oven for the duration specified on the back of the box.
Looping back to the actual space this game occupies, I've always found the map design to be a little obnoxious. The maps are, for the most part, simultaneously far too large and yet far too small for the kind of game RoR 2 is. They're not very pretty either, but I could forgive that if they didn't feel awful to navigate which is in part due to how bad movement in general feels. It's tolerable without speed boosts, though agonizingly slow, but speeding up even a little leaves the game feeling floaty and loose, like Ultrakill if V1's feet were made of rubber and everything was a gym floor.
There are things to admire about RoR2, namely the music and character designs, but they're all upstaged by the gameplay (as this is a videogame) and the main attraction is lacking.
RoR Returns is cheaper.
I've always had a bit of a deep dislike for this game bubbling in the cauldron of my soul. The Roguelike lovers around me all adore it, sing its praises and chant in a circle to beg for more DLC, but I've always bounced off of it for reasons that were hard to articulate.
I think I know why, now.
To me, the best runs in the Roguelike/Roguelite genre are those middle runs. Where you're strong enough to win if you're good at the game, but weak enough that you have to actually pay attention and engage with the mechanics. Wins are bought from a boss' jaws with a toll of sweat, exclaiming "fuck that almost hit me fuckfuckfuck" and leaning forward in your chair. Runs like these are why I hold Roboquest, Dead Cells and FTL as the holy trinity.
Risk of Rain 2 has two types of runs: Either RNG screws you over and you die due to a functional inability to do meaningful damage which, coupled with ever-increasing enemy spawns, result in you dying. This is a checkmate run; it's over past a certain point, but that point isn't when the run actually ends.
The other type of run results from RNG favouring you, at which point the game becomes the same type of mindless adult stim toy that Vampire Survivors and its ilk are. RoR1 and its remake are far more granular, demanding you as a player engage with a balancing act between grabbing items and managing the difficulty meter steadily ticking upwards. In a ways, you could argue RoR1 was one of the first extraction shooters because of this - though I wouldn't.
RoR Returns is cheaper.
RoR2's real issue is that, having transitioned to a 3D space (which looks awful, by the way, this is not good minimalism), there's more space. More space, means more items and cash chests and recycling stations and shops and printers and everything. Combing the map will almost assuredly guarantee a good roll, resulting in a mechanical checkmate in your favour. Yes, the difficulty meter is still there, but it's vestigial in ways not even puppygirls could take delight in. What use are harder enemies when this game doesn't so much snowball as it does avalanche?
I do not inherently believe games are bad for being easy, but I do think the worst roguelikes are easy, and RoR2 is child's play most of the time. When it's not child's play, it reveals a very undercooked foundation that even 4 years after release still feels like it wasn't left in the oven for the duration specified on the back of the box.
Looping back to the actual space this game occupies, I've always found the map design to be a little obnoxious. The maps are, for the most part, simultaneously far too large and yet far too small for the kind of game RoR 2 is. They're not very pretty either, but I could forgive that if they didn't feel awful to navigate which is in part due to how bad movement in general feels. It's tolerable without speed boosts, though agonizingly slow, but speeding up even a little leaves the game feeling floaty and loose, like Ultrakill if V1's feet were made of rubber and everything was a gym floor.
There are things to admire about RoR2, namely the music and character designs, but they're all upstaged by the gameplay (as this is a videogame) and the main attraction is lacking.
RoR Returns is cheaper.
4 Comments
Haven’t played either of these games but enjoyable read regardless. I love your descriptions of Vampire Survivors. Tbh think of “cocomelon for adults with untreated adhd” whenever I see that game.
Deleted comment was mine btw. Had too many typos and can’t edit comments afaik
I think these are fair criticisms that ultimately are more applicable to RoRR and 1 than 2. RoRR has more spread out chests and interactables, the stages feel larger especially given the fact that character's don't tend to move fast (or their movement abilities in the remake are just bad, looking at you, Arti). I'll give you that the game is easy... for someone who already knows what they're doing in Roguelikes, or looter-shooters, or just those that know that the main power source in this game comes from items rather than going fast (most new players actually do struggle a lot getting good at the game). Eclipse solves some, but not all of those issues; your power level is much lower compared to the enemy's. I do enjoy a lot of the modded difficulties.
Some of your issues with the game would be solved by a mod like WRB -- even if I don't personally like that mod, I commend it for trying to make Monsoon an actual challenge. I'd suggest trying it at least once, it nerfs scrappers, printers, hard synergies, and "autowin", especially while looping, since looping has never actually been a challenge for anyone. Try it if you want, since you think the base game just is too easy, because I tried it after a long, long, time, getting used to vanilla and got my ass handed to me (even with the litany of buffs to crap items)
Anyway, great review! Made me want to sink more hours into RoRR, and kind of trudge my way through the fact that I think the stages feel way, way, bigger in that than in RoR2
Some of your issues with the game would be solved by a mod like WRB -- even if I don't personally like that mod, I commend it for trying to make Monsoon an actual challenge. I'd suggest trying it at least once, it nerfs scrappers, printers, hard synergies, and "autowin", especially while looping, since looping has never actually been a challenge for anyone. Try it if you want, since you think the base game just is too easy, because I tried it after a long, long, time, getting used to vanilla and got my ass handed to me (even with the litany of buffs to crap items)
Anyway, great review! Made me want to sink more hours into RoRR, and kind of trudge my way through the fact that I think the stages feel way, way, bigger in that than in RoR2
I'd also like to add that I don't particularly find RoRR to be a new take on RoR (though I do get that its purpose was never to be a new take on RoR) and its clunky passion-project "retro-isms" (rope climbing and whatnot) still shine through. The equipment drops at the start of the game were also horrendous, and I don't entirely enjoy having my character feel so... stiff. I'd rather have a system like Calamity Mod or something, where my character feels tight and responsive, while also being pretty hyper--mobile. I'd prefer a more "fair" bullet hell system.
Parallax_M
4 months ago