And so, I return to one of my favorite roguelikes for the millionth time: Risk of Rain 2 is getting a free update, and its next DLC continues to look great

Risk of Rain 2
(Image credit: Gearbox Publishing)

Along with a free skin featuring the hero from equally slick roguelike Dead Cells, Risk of Rain 2 is gearing up for a free update called Devotion as it lays the road to its next major DLC, Seekers of the Storm. 

The Devotion update is coming "soon" to all platforms, as Gearbox Publishing, the new owners of the Risk of Rain IP, announced at today's Triple-I indie showcase. Packing a new map to master and two new game-warping Artifacts to unlock, the free update is a small and snacky affair but frankly a good enough excuse to play Risk of Rain 2 again. This game's never really left my "I've got time for a run" rotation, so I'm always down for new content of any kind. 

The titular Artifact of Devotion lets you raise an army of Lemurians in place of the usual robot drones. The Artifact of Devotion, meanwhile, resets all the chests in a level whenever you clear a teleporter, letting you open them again with the caveat that you have to remember which chest spat out which item, or else you'll lose your original reward. A lizard posse sounds fun, and a double-loot memory game is a pretty clever twist on the Risk of Rain gameplay loop. 

The wait for Seekers of the Storm continues in the meantime. Announced in November 2023 after an odd string of teasers, Seekers of the Storm expands the Risk of Rain 2 universe with new areas, subclasses, items, and enemies. Some of those newcomers were highlighted in a fresh post on Steam, which focuses on the new tier one stage Shattered Abodes, as well as accompanying map variants said to "allow players to explore once-familiar maps in an all-new way."

Risk of Rain 2 remains one of the best roguelikes you can play today, and under new ownership at Gearbox now that original developer Hopoo has gone off to pursue other ideas – but not before releasing a fantastic remake of the original Risk of Rain – has continued to churn out great updates. Here's hoping Seekers of the Storm plays as well as the previous DLC, Survivors of the Void, which managed to hook my usual friend group for another few weeks after release. 

Dev on my most-anticipated open-world game talks about the exact things I was hoping for: roguelike build-crafting and cool hoverboards in Hyper Light Breaker.

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.