Risk of Rain review for PS Vita, PS4

Risk of Rain is…fine.

I don’t know what else there is to say about it. I certainly don’t love it as much as some people do. I look at some of those raves, and I compare them to my own experience with the game, and I’m just left wondering what it was that I missed.

I don’t want to give the impression that I hated it, mind you. I definitely didn’t. In fact, as a roguelike platformer with short levels and easy-to-grasp controls, I thought it was ideally suited to the Vita. There’s no question that it’s the kind of game you can drop into and out of without a) feeling like you need to re-acquaint yourself with the story or the controls, or b) having to worry that you’ll forget your place and need to start over. As someone who primarily plays games on my way to work, I appreciated that.

I can’t say my feelings towards Risk of Rain ever went beyond mere appreciation, though. Maybe the 8-bit graphics didn’t do much for me. Maybe it was the way perma-death made it feel like you never really advanced (though to the game’s credit, it still allowed you to carry over some of your discoveries from game to game). Maybe I didn’t get the full experience, on account of the fact I never played the game’s multiplayer mode (though in my defense, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a game more after playing it in multiplayer).

Whatever the reason, I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed Risk of Rain to the same extent that so many other people have. As I said, I still think it’s fine, but if you’re looking for anything more than that, I don’t think it quite delivers.