Returning to the original Risk of Rain, my go-to class procrastination game since I was 12, really highlights how one of a kind the project is even compared to its sequel.
I don't like roguelikes/lites/whatever! I don't want to play games which are designed around less authorship and more grinding. This game will always be an exception.Risk of Rain has vibes out the goddamn wazoo, from its still flawless soundtrack to its weird little items to its newly souped up spectacular pixel art. Risk of Rain has a sense of place and atmosphere that almost every other game of its kind - including its sequel - wish they had. The sense of a deeply hostile, complicated ecosystem with an underlying sense of lost, bloody history. There is a sinister tension to every moment, ratcheting up as the difficulty level scales in time from easy, to hard, to I SEE YOU. That creepypasta ass moment still hits.
I also still appreciate how Risk of Rain's pacing, both for a single playthrough and its meta-progression of unlocks, does not waste your goddamn time. It's not going to ask 100 hours of you to get all the toys, it might not even ask 10 if you're a returning player like myself.
On that last note - if you already own the original, why play this one? Well, because your friends are checking it out and you want to play with them. That's probably why. However, just between you and me, I think it's all worth it for the final boss, which has become so spectacular that Mithrix looks like a puppy.
I don't like roguelikes/lites/whatever! I don't want to play games which are designed around less authorship and more grinding. This game will always be an exception.Risk of Rain has vibes out the goddamn wazoo, from its still flawless soundtrack to its weird little items to its newly souped up spectacular pixel art. Risk of Rain has a sense of place and atmosphere that almost every other game of its kind - including its sequel - wish they had. The sense of a deeply hostile, complicated ecosystem with an underlying sense of lost, bloody history. There is a sinister tension to every moment, ratcheting up as the difficulty level scales in time from easy, to hard, to I SEE YOU. That creepypasta ass moment still hits.
I also still appreciate how Risk of Rain's pacing, both for a single playthrough and its meta-progression of unlocks, does not waste your goddamn time. It's not going to ask 100 hours of you to get all the toys, it might not even ask 10 if you're a returning player like myself.
On that last note - if you already own the original, why play this one? Well, because your friends are checking it out and you want to play with them. That's probably why. However, just between you and me, I think it's all worth it for the final boss, which has become so spectacular that Mithrix looks like a puppy.