So we had a little tidbit with the Festival of Gup announcement that today 11/8 on the 10 Anniversary of Risk of Rain, that Hopoo and Gearbox will have some big news for us.
Being a massive Risk of Rain 2 fan and Hopoo fan in general, I eagerly awaited and they blew us all away. Our Risk of Rain journey is not at the end, it is only beginning!!
Lets talk about it (in terms of enthusiasm).
Risk of Rain 2 Survivors of the Void (For Console)- Being a PC player (wow, I never thought I would use that sentence but hear we are) I've been enjoying Survivors of the Void for awhile and as followers of this blog know, my favorite survivor is from the DLC (Rail Gunner baybee) but the console Risk of Rain 2 players have been waiting patiently for this. I am happy for them, honestly. Also it means they can stop spamming Hopoo's social accounts with the same meme over and over again which I am thankful for. They can now really enjoy RoR 2 the way it was always intended.
Risk of Rain: Hostile Worlds- this is the worrying one, whilst its in the RoR universe it is also a mobile game and it is built like a mobile game (aka pay to play and gatcha elements). It is also isometric which neither RoR games are and not produced by Hopoo or Gearbox. However, it does look cool and has the RoR aethetics and an ability it appears to use 3 survivors at once seems like a fun twist on the formula. I am mildly interested about this one and will probably give it a try at least. No release date either.
Risk of Rain Returns- Okay, now we are cooking. The 2D remake of RoR is made with Hopoo and some of the finest modders who understand RoR best. It has an extensive rebalance, 2 new survivors so far (including one I really want to try), new tracks and remastered tracks by Chris Christodolou and it is out today. As a person who never experience the original and when I went to buy it realized the remake was coming and decided to wait, this will be a real treat for me. I must admit it might take a minute to playing RoR in a 2D setting but it seems the bones are still the same and I bet it'll be a blast.
On top of that, each countdown video teased multiple color palates, new shrines, Providence trials to unlock stuff and it got me more and more excited for it so I think I'll will play this one a lot whilst I wait for the final announcement.
Risk of Rain 2: Seekers of the Storm- An official in-universe expansion/ DLC is on its way and we are getting more Risk of Rain 2!! According to the developers, it'll be on par with Survivors of the Void in terms of content and as we know that was a pretty sizable expansion. My jaw was on the floor and the fact that this literally came out of nowhere with the exception of one or two small teases is the best part. This seems in its early stages and its done mostly by Gearbox (not Hopoo) but the Gearbox team also did parts of the Survivors of the Void and that turned out well so any fears it is not a wholly produced Hopoo joint might be unwarranted. They gave a breakdown of the new antagonist and they seem on a similar level as Providence and Mitrix which is exciting as well.
Also with it being done from the ground up by Gearbox, this might be what console gamers have been wanting so it can launch at the same time on all platforms (one can hope). The only bummer is no announcement date but it does have a Wishlist option on Steam which you know we did.
All in all, what a time to be apart of the Hopoo/ Risk of Rain franchise. I will be buying Risk of Rain Returns as soon as I get paid and expect some blogs about that and even more blogs once we hear more about Hostile Worlds and Seekers of the Storm. A festival and a celebration indeed!
As the above soundtrack accompanies my key strokes, I'm trying to find words that describe what an experience 'Deadbolt' is. As I hit the 80% completed mark, I still feel like I am barely scratching the surface on how such a simple game can be also be so complex and nuanced.
First, the premise is pretty straight forward. You are Deadbolt, the living embodiment of death, a reaper whose sole mission is to send the dead back where they belong. You are helped in your mission with a fireplace whom gives you missions and Charon who is the ferryman of the dead and in this case, a merchant and arms man. Along the way you'll face zombies, vampires, skeletons, demons and more. You are armed to the teeth, equipped with the ability to travel as smoke through vents and manholes but there is one big catch. You die after one hit and its back to the start for you. No bonfires save points, no second chances resurrection, either you get it right or you die. Perfect for the guy who likes to die in video games.
The game made by Hopoo Games (of Risk of Rain 2 fame and how I found about it) in itself looks pretty simple and even tho its a bit old by today's standards (it came out in 2016) even when it did come out, it had a very simplistic approach that gave it a retro almost 16 bit feel. However it still feels like a modern game and that is the most important thing. You move as fast (or as slow) as you feel and everything is fine tuned to your reactions. Your trigger finger better be ready too cause a precise aim is always needed cause one miss and you'll likely ended up dead. Speaking of quick reactions, 'Deadbolt' is the first game where I've seriously invest in learning Keyboard & Mouse (K&M) for. Sure, I've played deck roguelikes like Indies' Lies (RAVE coming soon) and Iratus: Lord of the Dead but they were more simplistic and were not action centric games. With 'Deadbolt' you use the keyboard to move and the mouse to aim and shoot and I definitely had growing pains plenty. For awhile I was even going to give up on the game because it did not have controller support but I've stuck with it and now I feel much more comfortable playing it. My hands still get cramps occasionally but most playthroughs are short bite-sized mission and then I take a break.
However one of the reasons why this game gets a RAVE is because I always come back to it. I've been playing on and off for the last month and I just can't get enough of its mixture of stealth with all out guns blazing dual wielding face offs. All the while, the game pushes you to get better with a ranking system that ranks you based on how fast you completed a mission, how many times you died and more. Its a very addictive gameplay loop and once you really get the hang of it, you'll understand why you want to keep going until you beat that one stage that had thwarted you at every turn. That said mission took me a 100+ tries before I beat it and not at one point did I feel I want to quit. Its that addictive.
Another reason why I keep coming back is how each mission is structured to be something different every-time, so far not one mission resembles another to the point where it feels like a re-trend. Be in a mission where you got to kill 2 vampire sisters but they are each other's lifelines so you need to slay them back to back to prevent one from resurrecting the other one. Or the zombie kingpin who has an army of soldiers at his disposal which you need to navigate around. Or the trap master whose whole house is booby trap and your only way to get to them is to figure out what triggers what through painful death after painful death. Every-time the fireplace gives me a mission, I know its going to be something that pushes me to my limits and the elation when I beat it, it is similar to when I takedown a super hard boss in a Souls game.
Also, a lot needs to be said about the sound design. The crisp sounds of the guns, the loud bombs from a well placed explosive and the firm whack of a sledgehammer. Its all so perfect and when you combine the amazing OST provide by Chris Christodolou with bangers like the song above and also transcendent tracks like 'Blood on the Dancefloor' and 'Heynong Man' you actually don't mind hearing the same song because you keep dying. Once again, Chris Chris deserves his own RAVE and it's coming soon.
(peep this amazing artwork by Bluerogue)
Also as a low-key achievement hunter, this game definitely has some challenging achievements that'll keep me trying new strategies and some unique approaches to the game, for example; I recent completed the challenge where all my kills had to be headshots and that was fun and there are similar ones which I wish to attempt. 'Deadbolt' also has custom made levels created by fans that'll be fun to play around with and of course, like all my PC games these days, I definitely want to check out what mods are available.
All in all, for a surprisingly cheap game ($9.99 when its not on sale) if you like this type of game and challenge, you'll get a lot of playtime from it and have a lot of fun along the way. The last part is me shining the spotlight on a fan who wrote this in the comments for 'Blood on the Dancefloor' video and it resonated with me and really sums up how cool 'Deadbolt' is.
"The music is deafening and the strobe lights are blinding. They don't mind however, they died years ago. Their youthful visage is striking with their deathly pale skin. They dance and celebrate endlessly, thinking they cheated death. They haven't cheated death; they are merely in debt. For tonight, I come to collect." - veiga1000
