Risk of Rain Returns reimagines the classic roguelike from Hopoo Games and Gearbox

Fans of the classic Risk of Rain game have a chance to relive the rouge-like adventure, as Hopoo Games is remaking the original 2013 game with a project called Risk of Rain Returns. It features enhanced visuals, an updated code base, and a pile of original content for old and new players to dive into the series, especially for those who have only played Risk of Rain 2.

We don’t see much from the announcement trailer beyond an animated cinematic of one of the Survivors crash landing on the planet and having to deal with the waves of monsters as they attempt to survive against the oncoming onslaught. However, a thorough news announcement on Steam’s Risk of Rain 2 events page dives deeper into what Hopoo Games is working on for Risk of Rain Returns and the franchise’s future.

Related: How to unlock the Artificer in Risk of Rain 2

The development team confirms that Risk of Rain Returns will be a remake, where players assume the role of one of the iconic Survivors and attempt to fight against randomly spawning alien monsters. The longer players go through their run, the more difficult the enemies become, eventually overwhelming them and forcing them to start from the beginning.

Much of the original Risk of Rain content will return, but with updated pixel art styles, enhanced audio, and several rebalancing tweaks to ensure older players have a new experience, along with a handful of new Survivors, items, enemies, interactibles, and much more will make its way to the final product. Although the development team is using the original Risk of Rain 2013 as a framework, the team is working from the ground up on this project.

The developers do not have a final release date but are lining up for the game to launch on Steam and the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2023.

Hopoo Games also confirmed that Gearbox has officially purchased the Risk of Rain IP from the company; though the studio will remain as the developer of Risk of Rain Returns, Gearbox will be publishing and developing future Risk of Rain products in the franchise’s future.