Yes. Yes, it is.
Time played: 1 hour, 14 minutes (got to second level on my 20th try)
Wow, it's been a while, eh? Considering that the last game I reviewed like this was Binary Domain last year, I really have been slacking off on the impressions department. However, I won Risk Of Rain in a Twitch stream's giveaway raffle yesterday, and the game is pretty much brand new, so I felt that I had to play it and give you guys some first impressions of the title. So, well, here goes.
Risk Of Rain is one of a growing number of retro-styled, action-led "Roguealikelikes" in the same vein as Rogue Legacy and Teleglitch (oh boy, do I have some impressions of THAT game for you!), with seemingly randomized levels teeming with randomly-spawning hyper-aggressive enemies and randomized loot. Oh, and permadeath, because what kind of Rogue clone would it be without that? Where RoR differs is that it was definitely built to be played in co-op, and can be played online by up to 4 players at any time, according to the stream I was watching that awarded me the game. Stupid cool. Add to that the 12 or so classes you must unlock to be able to play as, each with different weapons and abilities, and you'll be at this for some time if you want to play to completion.
Now, I said that there were 12 classes, but you only start out with one unlocked - the Commando, armed with a shotgun, SMG and rifle, and a forward roll that both gets you clear of enemies for a second and grants temporary invulnerability. I soon find out that I'm going to need to make use of all of those weapons and abilities, because the enemies, even early on, come at me thick and fast. Well, some of them come at me just thick, while others come fast, small, flying, and electrocuting. Those goddamned jellyfish. AAAaaaaarrgh. Especially the boss one, he's a cunt. It doesn't help that all your abilities have short cooldown periods (your main weapon doesn't, which is the smallest of mercies), and must be used accordingly. It certainly makes for more intense, thoughtful and tactical combat mechanics than you usually see in a Roguelikealike these days, and gives the game a unique flavour.
At the beginning of any given stage, the game tells you what you must do - "Find the Teleporter". it quickly becomes imperative that you do so quickly, for the longer you take, the harder and more ferocious the game's enemies will become, usually resulting in a quick permadeath and premature Game Over. However, it's only once you find the teleporter and activate it that the fun really begins, since that both gives you a 90-second "survive" timer and summons the stage boss, as well as increasing enemy spawns! And even after the 90 seconds runs out, you still have to defeat the boss and all of the remaining enemies to clear the level and be able to teleport the hell outta there. No, nothing about this game is easy. Nothing at all.
It's a good thing that you can buy - not find or loot, buy - extra weapons and items from various randomized dumps with gold you get from either small canisters strewn across the map, or, more lucratively, killing enemies. How strangely capitalistic for a game where the whole premise is that monsters are falling from space, and you're humanity's last hope - you'd think they'd just give them to him as a freebie. The bigger the enemy, the more moolah you get - and that goes for experience points as well, which are collected in much the same way, and serve to level up your character, giving them more HP, endurance, attack power, and so on.The interplay between these elements and the relentless enemy onslaught becomes more important the longer a level takes, since there's a dramatic tension between levelling enough to defeat the largest enemies and getting that teleporter online so that the level eventually stops getting harder and harder, until at some point even your over-levelled self can't keep up and you die. Again. That said, if you beat a level, you take everything you've earned/bought with you, but if you die, you lose everything, so that's a great incentive to play smarter, rather than harder.
I should say at this point that i only played the game solo; I haven't tried the online mode yet. The Twitch stream had a four-player co-op game going on, though, and what I watched seemed to play smoothly and without any disconnects or lag. I might try some online play later, if I can convince some friends to buy the game. The game's not exactly a looker, though, so they might take some convincing, but I'll try.
I hope I've done some convincing here, too. RoR is boss, and comes highly recommended.
Play again?: Yes, undoubtedly.
