Risk of Rain was originally released in November 2013, and for several years after that, it held the coveted position of being one of the few roguelikes that I always kept installed on Steam – my personal best roguelikes shortlist. Even after rolling credits dozens of times, I'd still semi-regularly jump back in for a quick run, either solo or with a few friends, despite the god-awful co-op hangups. Then we got Risk of Rain 2 in 2019, which masterfully transformed the gameplay loop of the original into a 3D shooter and completely took over the co-op space for a little bit. Now the recent release of Risk of Rain Returns has brought us back to the origins of this tiny roguelike juggernaut, and it really is Risk of Rain 1.5 – more stuff, better art, and no god-awful co-op hangups.
