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Game pageRisk of Rain Returns: Mechanics, Player Views and Who It Suits
Fight across platforms, create space from enemies, and weigh the time spent finding items against the need to keep moving through stages.
Your choice of alternate abilities before a run matters alongside the items you find during it.
What makes it fun
Cornered in a side-scrolling fight
When a horde closes in, a side-scrolling stage gives you limited ways out. Moving between platforms can make room to attack again, so the moment you choose to retreat matters.
Put your skills to the test
Providence Trials set movement and combat challenges with a chosen survivor and abilities. They give you a different reason to use each skill, and can unlock alternate abilities.
Game details
As of Oct 29, 2026- Steam Deck
- Verified
- Release date
- Nov 9, 2023
- Developer
- Hopoo Games
- Languages
- Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Korean ／ 11 languages total
A typical run
Choose a Survivor and select from the alternate abilities you have unlocked before starting a run.
Move through stages built around platforms and changes in height, fighting enemies and collecting items.
Enemies grow stronger with time, so decide whether to keep searching for items or push onward.
Find and activate the stage’s Teleporter to open the way onward.
Cross the different environments and survive long enough to reach the ship you were forced to abandon.
Core systems
Difficulty scaling Difficulty Scaling
Difficulty rises as time passes, changing enemy strength and spawning.
A detour for items also costs time. Weigh what your current setup still needs against moving on before enemies grow stronger.
Horizontal mouse aim Horizontal Mouse Aim
Horizontal mouse aiming lets you choose an attack direction by placing the cursor to the left or right of your Survivor.
This is not free-angle aiming, so horizontal direction and platform height remain separate considerations. Keyboard and controller users can also bind inputs that aim left or right while held.
Alternate abilities Alternate Abilities
Survivors have alternate abilities that can replace parts of their starting kit.
Even on the same Survivor, replacing a ranged attack with a melee option can change the distance you fight at. Your setup begins with the abilities you select, not just the items you later find.
Providence Trials
This solo mode sets movement and combat challenges on custom stages with specified Survivors and abilities.
Work within the challenge’s conditions, which differ from a normal run. Trials that unlock alternate abilities also add options for later runs.
Artifacts
Combining Artifacts changes the rules applied to a run.
Options such as equipment that changes after use let you test familiar abilities under different conditions.
Pinging system Pinging System
The game supports online and local co-op, with pings for pointing out items, enemies and locations to teammates.
Combine Survivor roles and communicate about useful finds or dangerous positions. Pings are disabled in Providence Trials.
What sets it apart
Using a mouse does not turn the game into a free-aim shooter: the aiming option selects a horizontal direction.
Alternate abilities replace existing skills, letting the same Survivor change how they use distance or movement.
Providence Trials offers purpose-built challenges and a route to ability unlocks outside normal runs.
Learning curve and difficulty
Drifter’s temporary items expire, so keeping their benefits going means gathering Scrap and replacing them.
Acrid’s Toxic Bubble is more than an attack: you can strike it to move it or bounce on it as a platform.
Providence Trials includes movement-focused and combat-focused challenges, with goals beyond ordinary enemy clearing.
Builds and playstyles
Drifter’s Scrap choices
Drifter spends gathered Scrap on Cleanup attacks or temporary items from Salvage. This setup asks whether to spend it against the enemies in front of you or generate items for yourself and the team.
Acrid’s mobile Toxic Bubble
With Toxic Bubble equipped, Acrid can push the bubble into enemies or use it to help with movement. Decide whether to draw enemies into it or bounce away to a different position.
Guide Huntress’s Laser Cyclone
Laser Cyclone moves slowly, deals damage over time and returns to Huntress. Your movement helps keep it near enemies while you attack with other abilities.
What longtime players say
Players value having room to learn Survivor mechanics and explore different playstyles across runs.
What players like
Players appreciate the Survivor abilities and the chance to try different characters.
Providence Trials is enjoyed as a separate set of challenges alongside normal runs.
Players describe enjoying co-op runs with family or friends.
Players enjoy the challenge of side-view combat with limited room to escape.
Reviewers comparing it with the original appreciate a visual refresh that retains the familiar feel.
Players familiar with the original welcome hearing its music again in the remake.
Common complaints
The difficulty or repetition in Providence Trials can feel burdensome to players.
Players find it unclear how to choose between another loop and the route to the final boss.
Players report being unable to start online co-op because they could not create a lobby or connect to a friend.
Who it’s for
It suits players who want to learn how platform height and horizontal spacing create escape routes.
It also suits players who like changing a Survivor’s abilities and rethinking when to close in or keep their distance.
Choose it if you want normal runs alongside opportunities to test abilities under the set conditions of Providence Trials.
Who might not enjoy it
If you want to stay with normal runs rather than repeat bespoke challenges for unlocks, read the concerns about Providence Trials before choosing.
Players who want to aim freely around the screen with a mouse may not enjoy the horizontal aiming system.
FAQ
- Does the Steam version support Japanese?
- Steam lists Japanese interface support.
- Does it have co-op?
- It supports online and local co-op. An experimental setting expands the player limit, but the official notes warn that this setting may cause issues.
- Can you aim freely with a mouse?
- There is an option to choose left or right with the mouse, but it does not provide free-angle aiming.
- Can you play Providence Trials with friends?
- Providence Trials contains solo challenges and is separate from regular co-op.
These impressions are based on 100 Steam reviews sorted by “Most Helpful.” They do not represent the views of all buyers.
Image: Risk of Rain Returns on Steam