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Risk of Rain 2 developer Hopoo Games previously outlined the content it plans to add to its third-person roguelike shooter while it's still in Early Access, but it only recently explained when those features will arrive. A content roadmap posted today shows five major updates, with the first update arriving this June and the last one - the game's 1.0 launch update - scheduled for spring 2020.
These updates will add new playable survivors, additional items to collect and use, new stages to explore, more bosses to fight, as well as various other odds and ends that Hopoo previously promised. The June update will kick things off with the seventh survivor, who many players believe will be either the Bandit or the HAN-D robot from the original Risk of Rain, as both of these characters appear in Risk of Rain 2's files. Of course, while we could get either of these characters in June, we could also get somebody else. DLL files aren't perfect predictors, after all.
There are also some bigger updates leading the expected flood of new stuff. The summer "Skills 2.0" update, for example, sounds like it will rebalance survivor abilities based on player feedback and user data - or maybe just make them look cooler. The fall update will apparently add "hidden realms," which sound to me like more bonus levels accessed through portals and other secrets.
Finally, ahead of the official launch update which will add a proper final boss, Risk of Rain 2's winter update will add collectible Artifacts which can be used to customize the game's rules. For reference, some Artifacts in the previous game let you make enemies explode and/or drop items on death. They can do some wild stuff, and they add a lot of replay value, so they're one of Risk of Rain 2's most anticipated features.
"It is really important for us to have transparency with our amazing early access community," said studio co-founder Paul Morse. "We are sharing this forecast so players know what to look forward to and what the team is working towards in making Risk of Rain 2 the best game of its kind. That’s only possible with the input and feedback we get from our players."
In a separate blog post, Hopoo shared what other changes it's actively working on. Apart from bug fixes - like the way monsters stop spawning after several hours of play - the studio said it's preparing official language support for French, German, Italian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. The studio is also working to quash some stubborn performance issues like save corruption and odd frame dips. The underwhelming Gilded Coast is also on the radar.
Risk of Rain 2 was already a great game when it first launched, so rather than filling in blanks, these updates should simply add more fun stuff to the pile. I'm especially excited for Artifacts to return, and I also can't wait to see the final boss coming next spring.
Here's every Risk of Rain 2 character unlock to help you expand your roster.
