Risk of Rain is not a risky purchase
Risk of Rain is a fantastic game with a lot of delightful features hidden under the surface. Initially, there is very little story to speak of, but as you delve deeper, you begin to find more information about what is going on around you. Simply exploring the menus can lead you to the treasure trove of informative backstory found in the item or monster logs. Despite the great, though somewhat hidden, story bits, this game really shows what it's made of in the challenges it poses to the players.
Players start off with some basic items unlocked and one of the ten playable characters. Starting off is tough. However, as you play more, you start to unlock new items and characters. Sometimes it's just a lucky drop that gives you a powerful item, but sometimes you have to complete a certain challenge with a certain character to unlock new items. The experience changes slightly with each playthrough as you unlock more and more items. Another way this game changes each time is the layout of the levels you play.
Risk of Rain has a somewhat dynamic environment for each level and has multiple levels to randomly select at most stages of the game. The overall structure of the level remains the same on each playthrough, but minor changes are made to how you can navigate around the map as well as where interactive elements of the game are located. For instance, sometimes you will spawn in the top left corner of the map, with the teleporter in the bottom left corner, but other times, you will spawn in the top right and have to wander aimlessly until running into the teleporter in the middle of the map all the way at the top only accessible by a bridge running from the top left corner. Then, the next time you play, you aren't even on that map again. While this game is not the first to feature dynamic maps, it is certainly one of the best so far.
One of the most attractive features of this game, to me, though, is the scaling difficulty. While you can select your difficulty before the game begins, it will always become more difficult over time. Sometimes, a level can start out kind of slow, but if you take your time, it will end with more enemies than you know how to deal with chasing you around until one of you dies.
All in all, this game is absolutely wonderful no matter how much exposure you've had to it before. If you're starting out, it's a whole bunch of new worlds to explore and enemies to learn about while trying to stay alive. If you've played it for hours on end, it teases at you with its challenges until you've beaten the very last one of them. It's great in single- or multiplayer, too, so if you're not a fan of playing alone, fear not. At only $10, this game is an absolute steal and I simply cannot praise it enough.
