Risk of Rain 2 is a third-person action roguelike shooter available on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. Players control one of several survivors stranded on the alien planet Petrichor V, where they battle waves of enemies while collecting powerful items and advancing through procedurally arranged stages. The core experience supports solo play or cooperative sessions with up to three friends, emphasizing survival against escalating threats and creative combinations of loot that alter abilities in unexpected ways.
Gameplay
The gameplay loop centers on exploring stages filled with enemies, opening chests for items, and locating the teleporter to progress. Defeating foes grants experience and currency, which players spend on loot before converting any remaining funds into experience upon leaving a stage. Items stack without limit, allowing effects like increased damage, healing, or mobility to compound across multiple copies. Enemy strength grows steadily with time spent on a stage and with each new level reached, forcing players to balance thorough exploration against the rising difficulty. Each survivor brings distinct abilities that shape combat approaches, from ranged attacks to melee-focused builds or support roles. The bundle incorporates expansions that introduce additional survivors, items, stages, and enemies, expanding the variety of runs without altering the fundamental progression system.
Game Modes
Standard runs form the primary mode, where players advance through stages until they either fall or choose an alternate ending. Prismatic Trials offers a solo challenge focused on completing two stages as quickly as possible, with added objectives like destroying time crystals before activating the teleporter. Eclipse mode layers increasing difficulty modifiers onto successive runs for a survivor, building cumulative challenges up to level eight. Simulacrum provides an infinitely scaling wave defense experience set within a protected zone, available through the Survivors of the Void content. These modes integrate with the expansions, which add new stages, enemies, and alternate endings that players can pursue during standard or modified runs.
Expansions and Content Additions
Survivors of the Void brings new survivors, dozens of items, stages, enemies, elite types, and a fresh game mode along with an alternate ending tied to void-related threats. Seekers of the Storm expands further with additional survivors, items including a special boss item, multiple stages and variants, new monsters, elite types, survivor skins, and interactables, plus a path leading to a confrontation with a major threat. Alloyed Collective introduces two more survivors, numerous items, stages with variants, drones, enemies, teleporter bosses, and another alternate ending centered on a mechanical collective. Only one player in a lobby needs to own the DLC content for shared access to monsters, levels, and items, though players without ownership cannot select the new survivors or permanently unlock associated content like logbooks.
Is It Worth Playing?
The game maintains strong player interest through its co-op focus and replayable structure, with critics and users highlighting the satisfying item synergies and tense survival elements. Reception remains positive years after launch, supported by continued expansion releases that refresh the experience. It suits players who enjoy roguelike progression combined with shooter combat and group coordination, particularly those comfortable with scaling difficulty and experimentation across runs. The bundle delivers the complete package of base game and expansions in one purchase, making it a direct entry point for new players on Xbox platforms.