Risk of Rain (2013)

Negative review for Eula update. Just a reminder that there's nothing wrong with playing a game you purchased via other methods. You have no duty to agree to the Eula.

Really fun game. There is a remake though, I didn't realise that when I bought it, so the remake might be more worth your money, not sure.

A timeless classic. Artifacts make this game extra fun, do think things are a bit tanky otherwise. Gameplay loop is solid, and the item synergies let you go crazy, to the point of crashing your game by existing.

I do have some issues with the game, like the movement across a sprawling stage. It definitely gets tedious, but picks up with a movement item or two. Big hater of having to hunt every mob to open the portal. I do mean *every* mob, looking at you stray wisp in a corner on the other side of the map. Also WHY DOES [final boss] HAVE A RANDOM MONSTER LOG DROP CHANCE AHHH I'M GOING INSANE OH GOD THE MISERY-

Anyways, outside of that, great game, great music, great pixel art, great gameplay loop.

EDIT AS OF 2/28/2025: You are forced to agree to a new EULA and forced into arbitration in order to play the game while connected to the internet. Review changed to Negative. This review harvesting is getting excessive, and they're planning on banning people who discuss glitches and cheats in a PvE, campaign-driven video game.

Cant play game that you bought a decade prior

Recommended only because this is the sequel to RoR2. Otherwise, with the baffling amount of bugs still in the game I wouldn't recommend it.

Don't pay to get your rights taken away. Recently implemented EULA has insane terms that lock out people who bought the game over a decade ago.

RNG: The Game
Most roguelikes give you SOME choice on how to build your character.
This game gives you almost none. You take anything you can get.
You lose when the game gives you bad items, and you win when it gives you good ones.
If you get the command artifact then you have 100% choice and it's barely a rogue-like at that point.

I don't recommend this game, but I am still glad I played it. (Awesome soundtrack by the way.)
I feel like I learned a lot about what I like and dislike from roguelikes. I'm excited to try the next one.

after the EULA changes this is basically spyware

Predatory EULA Terms.

Glad i got this game from Humble Bundle and donated all the money, they got no money from me!

take-two oppressive eula on games well after their release date. its scummy and its not worth even opening any of these games i once loved anymore

Absolutely mediocre. There's just no depth or complexity to this game. Type of game you play just to pass the time.

Difficult, but good and rewarding.

Linux build crashes the moment enemies touch the spike strip item.

Clunky, slow, dissatisfying. I had hoped for much greater things but just didn't find it fun or engaging. There are much better roguelikes and action platformers out there. I'd rather be playing Enter The Gungeon or Spelunky.

7/10

Years ago I bought this game to play with friends, and knew relatively little about it, so we quickly dropped it after discovering how brutally difficult it is. However, I decided to pick it up again recently to see if I could manage to get to the end of the game, and after getting past the fairly steep learning curve, I started to have more fun and did manage to finish a few runs. The game definitely isn't perfect, but I think it's still worth picking up, as long as you're prepared for the initial challenge.

The basic gameplay loop has you trying to survive a given area while collecting upgrades until you find a teleporter which sends you to the next area (after surviving a wave of enemies). The longer you stay alive however, the harder the enemies you encounter get, so it's a race against the clock to get stronger faster than your enemies. Unfortunately, you start the game with only a single character unlocked, no artifacts, and none of them can be unlocked on the easiest difficulty. The character you start with isn't the strongest one either, and as mentioned, this game is pretty unforgiving, so it makes it really difficult to learn. However, once you play it for a number of hours and start getting the hang of it, you'll eventually reach the point where you unlock more characters and artifacts (which are pretty fun to hunt for), and many of these make the game significantly easier. Once you get a run going, the game is pretty exciting as well. It's pretty fun to start collecting a huge horde of items and go from struggling to survive to melting everything in sight.

The game looks alright, although the visuals can definitely be a bit small and hard to see at times, especially when there's a lot of things going on on screen at one time. The game isn't bug free either, and I ran into a number of issues, including a fairly clunky menu system that sometimes requires you to use keyboard and mouse (which was a bit frustrating when playing on my Steam Deck), UI that sometimes didn't show up where expected in multiplayer, and an online multiplayer system that seems to be completely broken.

TL;DR This is a fun, but brutally difficult roguelike that is very difficult to learn, but is quite enjoyable if you're willing to put the initial effort in. Despite some issues with the clunky menu system making it a bit hard to play on my Steam Deck, some issues with the UI, and an online multiplayer system that doesn't seem to work, I'd still recommend the game if you enjoy roguelikes and you're looking for a challenge.

O único problema desse jogo era quando ce tava no multiplayer depois de 2h na mesma run e a conexão cai, ai tem que começar do zero, fora isso, um dos melhores do gênero que tem

Barely played for an hour, hated every second of it. Painfully slow early game, no desire to see the late game. I played the sequel much more, and that wasn't fun to me either. A boring and scaled down version of a bad game. Worst kind of roguelike. All success is based entirely on chance, bosses are obnoxious skill checks, items actively give downgrades, the main character isn't fun to play (And I don't want to unlock anything else). Now the game has expanded its privacy policy to the point where it's getting uncomfortable. The art is weak. I have no reason to play this.

GOATED GAME!

That was a long jurney. Finally I completed every achievements and now I can say that this is a wonderful game, from the beginning to the end. Maybe sometimes can be hard and frustrating, but is definitively a game that made me entertained, challenged and even joyful. I'm proud to have it in my library.

I love the Risk of Rain games! I have bought both games 4 times. On Switch and on Steam including all RoR2 Dlcs because i love the game. I have spent hundreds of hours on RoR... What i cant seem to phatom and literally my only issue is how the Risk of Rain on steam DOES NOT support PS4 controllers or any other PC controller... Im in need of an update to fully enjoy Risk of Rain as a steam purchase.

Overall made with love!
-A Loving Fan

I'm making a review of this now realising i never had when i played this back in 2016 when i first played it, but this game was the start of one of my favourite game series of all time, and even now the original game still holds up just as good as RoR2 and Returns, and probably even better than a lot of triple A titles that come out nowadays as well, I highly reccomend trying any of the RoR games if you get the chance!

I pirated that game 12 years ago and went on to kill the boars with Acrid on that one glitched spot. I remember leaving a pin on my keyboard so Acrid could keep shooting with the range 1 in 4 chance thing stacked 4 times over thus killing thousands of boars. In the morning my pc would lag for like 20 minutes while I'd pick up that loot. Good times. Then I was introduced to steam and bought it. Same stuff, only on steam.

This game is good. Although old, it still holds up, take it from a boomer.

I love this game, it has beautiful pixel art and engaging gameplay.

But I can't recommend it for the lack of long term support.
The game is 32 bits, long overdue an architecture upgrade, still features plenty of game breaking bugs and CTDs, especially on Linux where launching the game without Steam doing the heavy lifting is absurdly hard, check the GOG forums on this one.

But hey, if you're not on Linux, check out "Rainfusion", it still gets some new mods.

HOW DARE YOU LOCK ME OUT OF A 12 YEAR OLD GAME BY UPDATED THE EULA TO ADD PREDATORY SPYWARE TERMS!
Take-Two needs to keep their slimey hands off these games, ruining it by forcing eula so now i cant even play it. first you ruin borderlands and now this? worst company i will actively avoid any game by gearbox or take-two, thanks hopoo for selling out your players for some quick easy cash, i will never support yall either. i want a REFUND for all these games that have been basically locked out cause im not and shouldnt be forced to agree to these predatory TOS that where suggested AFTER i already owned the game! this should NOT be legal

this game is fun and has a great soundtrack 10/10 my review doesn't do the game justice

I bought this game because it was on sale for like $2 and as of writing this review I have all of the steam achievements and am currently working my way through every unlockable thing in the game. I don't know why this has become so important to me. Maybe it's because I've been pushing away reality for the last month or maybe it's because of the news I got from the doctor. Either way. If you want to ignore the world around you and instead spend it staring at a pixelated 2D world where you embody small shape that vaguely resembles someone who just fell out of orbit. Then this is the game for you.

At first you will die, over and over and over and over...and then suddenly you won't. Suddenly you will be running around with a stack of 100x crowbars and 20x Drones, instaggibing any god dam pixel that moves around you and everything will be ok. Never mind paying bills or showering. Forget about making love to your partner (real, innanimate or handy), forget about anything other than dreams of red chests and white t shirts. Nothing matters any more, only survival.

I LOVE THE SUPER POWERS this game allows you to get! THE MONSTERS ARE COOL! SOUND TRACK IS ONE OF THE BEST! AND I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS, THE COMMANDO IS THE BEST PLAYER (thats why you start with him first I believe)! - However !!!!!!! - There should have been A LOT MORE maps corresponding to the overly powered powers the player can achieve. This way the more maps, the more level of difficulty corresponding to the overly powered powers the player has and it should level out and balance the overly powered powers in making it more intense and as well as more fun! THERE Were a lot of glitches where I got stuck on the map and wasnt able to move - I have no idea how that was possible which killed my 3 days in a row of playing to get all artifacts and items and players etc... BUT OVERALL GAME WAS GREAT and it is even better playing it multiplayer with friends! I am hoping to get the RISK OF RAIN RETURNS when there is a sale on it!

came here from ror2
cool game
I suck pretty hard
will buy returns when Im done with this

Very easy to jump right into a game and play.

The initial gameplay hurdle is difficult, but then you realize that you can just jump through most ground attacks :)

If Acrid has 1 million fans, I am one of them.
If Acrid has 100 fans, I am one of them.
If Acrid has 1 fan, I am the one.
If Acrid has no fans, then I do not exist.
If the world is against Acrid, then I am against the world.
Until my last breath I will play Acrid.

nice game, rorr and ror2 are better tho

I don't agree with the new EULA and can't get a refund.

Can see your legs.

dated and it shows

☔ Time only moves in one direction. In Risk of Rain, it moves against you. And I love every second of it.

This is not just a game. It's a lesson in survival. A symphony of chaos. A 2D sidescrolling masterpiece with:

Pixel art that slaps.

A soundtrack that haunts you (in a good way).

And gameplay that’s like hugging a cactus—you’ll bleed, but you’ll keep coming back.

What starts as:

"Hmm, I’ll just try out Commando and see what this game is about..."

Quickly becomes:

"Why is the sky red? Why are there 12 bosses? Why am I on fire? What IS THAT THING?!"

You’re dropped on an alien planet. You run. You gun. You pray to the gods of RNG. And then you learn the golden rule:

🕒 The longer you survive, the harder it gets. Forever.

Every second, the game whispers:

“Shouldn’t you have left already?”
“One more item won’t hurt…”
“You’re not scared, are you?”

And suddenly it’s 60 minutes in and you’re fighting for your life against a small army of Lemurians while juggling 48 passive items and three drones you named Steve, Steve 2, and Not Steve.

💀 It’s brutal.
🎮 It’s tight.
🎼 It’s beautiful.
☠️ It doesn’t care about your feelings.

But when you finally master it—when you blink through missiles, dodge into a boss, and stack enough damage to vaporize time itself—it feels so earned.

This game laid the foundation for Risk of Rain 2, but make no mistake: Risk of Rain (2013) still holds up today.
And not just as a classic.
As a genre-defining, soul-crushing, dopamine-flooding masterwork.

So go on. Crash land.
Die a lot.
Come back stronger.
And when Providence stares you down at the end... smile.
Because you earned that pain. And you loved it.

Surprisingly it's not the 2013th game in the series

Classic good many hours inc

fun but hard

at this point the only reason you should buy this game over rorr is to play with mods on rainfusion. still a goated game tho

skip work for this.

You're likely better off getting RoR Returns, but this is still an amazing game.
Lots of optimization issues, and plenty of crashes in multiplayer, but it's the literal definition of '2013 indie game' so I really don't mind.
Besides its dirt cheap during steam sales. Aint got nothing to lose I tell u

This game completely surprised me with how much fun it really gets. When I launched it the first couple times I was confused about what it exactly wants from me, or what the appeal is, but then soon I had my first build that "clicked"... and damn is it fun haha!! Things can escalate real hard in this game and I love that.

its a rougelike metroidvania what else do i have to say

my first time writing review, anyway
There is something unique about Risk of Rain as rogue-like. Unlike other rogue-like where you are pity against whatever the game throws at you, here you actually can decide how you want to play. you can just rush to the portal and win the game or looping back to enjoy killing everything over and over again. Artifacts as run modifiers is also interesting.
but it also has its flaw such as game feels unfair with overwhelming numbers of enemies or too overpowered enemies and bosses as well as underwhelming survivors. some achievement that feels annoying and sisyphean to complete.
Other than that I consider it a very decent rogue-like with very fun and interesting gameplay and the fact that this is from 2013. it really pave the way for its successors.
Overall 7/10.
Do I recommend playing it ? yeah, but go play this game's remake instead: Risk of Rain Return as it is better in every way. it's up to you to decide.

Amazing game, very addicting, great soundtrack, great pixel art, you can cook enemies, 11/10

prefer the part 2 a lot more
didn't had fun in this game to be honest

Just try it. It's so good for a 2013 game that the price is just right