Action platformer Risk of Rain is entering the third dimension in its sequel, Risk of Rain 2. This will be developer Hopoo’s first official 3D project, but it hopes that making the move will let the team create much more exciting spaces to play in, with even more exciting gameplay.
Even if a lot of Steam gamers love quirky indie games, for a 2D, side-scrolling, roguelike with a pixellated art style, the original Risk of Rain is exceedingly popular. Released in November 2013, it garnered thousands of positive reviews on the platform. But will those gamers still love it when taking the frantic gameplay into 3D?
That remains to be seen, but the short gameplay footage that Hopoo has released so far certainly maintains the high-speed action of the original. However, as the dev blog states, this is still very early days for Risk of Rain 2. We are told that nothing shown in these clips is final, which means everything from the systems, to the art style, to assets, and game design could change by the time it is released.
It seems unlikely that none of it will make it to the finish line though, especially the 3D element, which the blog post says gives the game a much greater feeling of scale and atmosphere. Indeed, the developers say that the Risk of Rain concept plays even better in 3D.
Hopoo claims to have been working away on the game for around six months now but gave no indication for how long it may stay in development. If indeed this is still the very early stages of the game’s creation, we wouldn’t expect it to be fully playable this year, though it’s possible that early testing could take place at the tail end of 2017.
That is pure speculation, though. There is likely still much work to be done, but Hopoo promised that fans who keep an eye on its Tumblr blog will get a lot of insights into the game’s creation and perhaps even some input on the direction certain aspects of its development goes.
