Risk of Rain 2 patch notes: Scorched Acres update adds new character Rex plus a new stage and boss

The latest Risk of Rain 2 patch notes are for the long-awaited Scorched Acres update. As previously reported, this is the game's first major Early Access update, introducing a new character to unlock and play, a new stage to explore, a new boss to fight, and more. Here's everything you need to know about the Risk of Rain 2 patch notes. 

REX has arrived

Risk of Rain 2's seventh playable survivor is the robot-plant hybrid REX, which developer Hopoo Games describes as an "overachieving sun-chasing robot that has evolved into a symbiotic life form with the healthy abundant plant on its head." REX's abilities reflect both his robot and plant side, and they offer a unique healing gambit. Here's how they work:

• Passive: REX's abilities apply a Weaken debuff which reduces enemy armor, movement speed, and damage.
• Primary fire: Fire three shots rapidly. The third shot applies Weaken and heals REX.
• Secondary fire: REX spends his own health to launch a mortar at a distant location which lands after a brief delay for huge damage.
• Mobility: REX launches backwards and knocks all nearby enemies away while applying Weaken to them.
• Ultimate: REX spends his own health to fire a flower that pulls in nearby enemies and roots them in place. 

Hopoo previously teased that REX will be unlocked through a special quest rather than a gameplay milestone like the other survivors. We'll have more details on him soon. In the meantime, check out our Risk of Rain 2 character unlock guide to find out how to get the other survivors. 

The Scorched Acres stage comes with new enemies

Scorched Acres is more than the name of the update; it's also the new stage, and with its orange earth and burnt skyline, it certainly looks the part. Scorched Acres is an alternate third stage, and it's home to a new enemy, the Clay Templar, and a new boss, the Grovetender. 

"The Grovetender is a hook-throwing caretaker of wisps found only in its home of Scorched Acres," Hopoo said. "The Grovetender will fire a giant barrage of seeking wisps that detonate on contact, and occasionally fire a burst of hooks from its masks that pull in any survivor it hits. And yes, there is a new song to welcome in this terrifying new boss." 

New enemies aside, the Scorched Acres update also added a new type of enemy: Malachite. Like Flaming, Ice, or Thunder Elites, Malachite enemies have a chance to spawn in the later stages of Risk of Rain 2 and come with unique abilities. Malachite enemies are super-end game baddies, and they've got abilities to prove it: for one, they can temporarily disable all of your healing, and Hopoo says they have more tricks up their sleeve as well.

New items to unlock and stack

Risk of Rain 2 is all about stacking wild item combinations, so of course Scorched Acres added a few items. Here's the full list, straight from Hopoo:

• Two drones: Equipment Drone and Incinerator Drone
• Category Chests, which seem to be a new lootable in the world
• Six new items including the Old Guillotine and the Little Disciple 
• Three equipment items including the Spinel Tonic 

We'll add more information and unlock details for these items to our Risk of Rain 2 items guide soon.

Community feedback led to some great changes

Finally, the Scorched Acres Risk of Rain 2 patch notes detailed some highly requested quality of life tweaks. The game's HUD now displays your current stage count, which will make it much easier to track your progress toward certain unlocks, and your health bar will now flash when you're at low health. This should make abrupt deaths less, well, abrupt.