Look at those numbers pop
I think most Risk of Rain fans would’ve been happy with a more-of-the-same mentality for the sequel, myself included, but Hopoo Games is branching out with a shift to 3D for Risk of Rain 2. The team has justified the change by saying it allows for “much deeper design spaces and more possibilities for cool gameplay,” something I can already see coming to fruition. I’m feeling good about this direction.
This week’s “early development footage” is going to look like a bit of a cluster if you’ve never played Risk of Rain (both because it’s not final and the game can get quite hectic). It’s the same basic idea, though.
Players fight waves of enemies using class-specific attacks and maneuvers, level up, and unlock passive abilities that stack to make them exponentially stronger all while the game’s difficulty rises over time. You want to power up before you summon a level’s boss, kill it, and move on to the next stage, but you also can’t dillydally while looking for items or you’ll be overwhelmed. It’s such a satisfying loop.
This video depicts returning characters like the Engineer and my all-time bestie the Huntress, as well as familiar common foes like lizard men and Rock Golems. That said, the featured bosses — a Beetle Queen and a spider-legged Clay Dunestrider — are new to the sequel and look super cool.
Hopoo says the last year has mostly gone toward “backend systems to better support the full game,” but that work is wrapping up. “We are hoping to focus on content and polish throughout the next year, and prepping the game so it’s presentable to people, not just us internally,” the developers wrote.
“New classes, levels, items, monsters, bosses, and of course original ones from Risk of Rain have been added. With the core systems in place we are able to start designing new content that adds new layers on top of the existing loop for RoR1. We want to make sure that there is a lot of fresh new content that adds to the fun, and we are holding ourselves to a higher standard of game design than in our previous games. We are trying our best to make sure there isn’t a lot of filler items or monsters.”
The studio also says it’s beginning to have conversations about alpha testing. They’re gettin’ there!
DevBlog #10 – Year One [Hopoo Games]
