History YMMV / RiskOfRain

** Red enemies shoot red rockets that do ''massive'' damage to you. It's easy enough to dodge if you see it coming, but in later levels with large numbers of elite enemies, it becomes missile hell, and that's on top of having to fight off other mooks. They become extra stupid for close-combat classes because they can then hit you with them point-blank, leaving you to wonder why you just lost 50% of your health from what would've been a barrage of rockets. The red Clay Men in particular are utterly nasty, due to already being horribly fast, being accompanied by the tougher variations of themselves to soak up your shots, and slicing you up for even more damage.

* EvenBetterSequel: Risk of Rain 2 takes the originally 2D sidescrolling mob-shooter, and transplants it into a three-dimensional space as a third person ActionRPG with added CoOpMultiplayer. To say that they managed to make it work, despite the massive shift from 2D to 3D, is an understatement. Even while the game is still in Early Access and with it's fair share of bugs, it has received a surge of players and an Overwhelmingly Positive review.

* EvenBetterSequel: Risk of Rain 2 transplanted everything that is good with the first game into a 3D universe as a third person ActionRPG with added CoOpMultiplayer. To call that it works, is an understatement. Even while the game is still Early Access and have fair share of bugs, it has received a surge of players and an Overwhelmingly Positive review.

* ThatOneBoss: The Magma Worm tends to stand out. It can spawn on the first two levels, is one of the few bosses capable of following you across the entire level, and it gets faster (if less accurate) the closer it is to dying. Naturally, it is the bane of many an early run, save for characters who have splashing abilities like Enforcer who can deal damage to each segment. When you revisit levels and have bosses spawning randomly, you can run from almost any other boss and the ones that attack globally generally are still easily to avoid, but Magma Worms stand out in their ability to chase you constantly with attacks that are more difficult to dodge than "avoid this crosshair". A pack of 2 or 3 of them can cause issues for even end game characters, especially when the game throws the [[FromBadToWorse electrified Overloading Magma Worm]] at you.

* EvenBetterSequel: Risk of Rain 2 transplanted everything that is good with the first game into a 3D universe as a third person ActionRPG with added CoOpMultiplayer. To call that it works, is an understatement. Even while the game is still Early Access and have fair share of bugs, it has received a surge of players.

** Certain combinations of the artifacts are this. One of the most notable is a combination of [[GlassCannon Glass]] and [[LuckManipulationMechanic Command]]. Glass causes you to deal 500% damage, but you only have 10% of your maximum health. However, Command allows you to actually pick which items you get from chests and shrines, meaning that, if you're lucky enough, you can get an Infusion as early as the first level, negating the health issue. And since you can pick what items you want, you can focus sole on the power/speed/regeneration boosting items, meaning that by the third or fourth level you'll likely be completely unstoppable. For further ridiculousness, tack on Honor. This locks the enemy spawns to elite versions (if applicable), which might be difficult at first, but it becomes an item fountain if you find a green-rarity chest and choose a 56-Leaf Clover, which gives every killed elite enemy a chance to drop even more chests (an effect which you can stack up to six more copies of the artifact if you feel inclined to maximize the bonus). You will be able to farm for as much equipment as you can dream about in the first stage with minimal luck as long as you don't activate the exit teleporter. What's there to fear about time-increasing difficulty when you can come out decked as a God from the very first stage?

** Red enemies shoot red rockets that do ''massive'' damage to you. It's easy enough to dodge if you see it coming, but in later levels will large numbers of elite enemies, it becomes missile hell, and that's on top of having to fight off other mooks. They become extra stupid for close-combat classes because they can then hit you with them point-blank, leaving you to wonder why you just lost 50% of your health from what would've been a barrage of rockets. The red Clay Men in particular are utterly nasty, due to already being horribly fast, being accompanied by the tougher variations of themselves to soak up your shots, and slicing you up for even more damage.

** One GoodBadBug for the Bandit [[spoiler:using his speedboost ability, the giant amythest which resets cooldown, and using the ability again will apply one of the boosts permanently]] can give you absolutely insane speeds, enough to where even casual players can speedrun the game in under 20 minutes. It almost doesn't even matter what other items you get; the bosses can't kill you if they can't hit you.

* HellIsThatNoise: [[ForDoomTheBellTolls The sound of church bells]], indicating the difficulty just went up.

** Unlocking the tenth artifact requires beating the game with the other nine active. While there are several annoying artifacts, their effects are generally manageable. The real kicker is the Distortion artifact, the effect of which is to lock one of your skills for a full minute but reduce the cooldown of the other three by 25%. This means you will have to fight without your primary attack for a full minute numerous times, which is asking a lot. Better find a place to wait it out if that happens. Not only that, the [[DesperationAttack Spirit]] and [[OneHitKill Glass]] artifacts mean that enemies can run up to your face and smash it in ''very'' easily.

** Unlocking the tenth artifact requires beating the game with the other nine active. While there are several annoying artifacts, their effects are generally manageable. The real kicker is the Distortion artifact, the effect of which is to lock one of your skills for a full minute but reduce the cooldown of the other three by 25%. This means you will have to fight without your primary attack for a full minute numerous times, which is asking a lot. Better find a place to wait it out if that happens.

* ThatOneLevel: Both varieties of the third level have a chance of spawning map variations where a part of them is inaccessible without a jump boosting upgrade, and if a boss or the teleporter spawns up there while you didn't manage to get such an upgrade, you're screwed.The frozen tundra more so than the other, because of it being huge and having really annoying enemies.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: For just about anything in the planet, being that neither you nor the characters ever find out why everything is so hostile even if minutes ago, or in the Children's case just moments, they were peaceful with each other. [[spoiler:Providence in particular, being the one that caused the crash in the first place, stands out. Is he truly the [[GodOfGood Bulwark of the Weak]] as his title says, merely defending the planet's life from what he perceives a hostile force that is carving a swath of destruction in its way? A [[WarGod warrior]] whose plan to find a proper challenge [[GoneHorriblyRight went terribly astray]] at the cost of life that finds itself hostile to humanity? [[JerkassGods A]] [[GodOfEvil murderer]] that brings down a ship and kills almost all the crew, and then commands peaceful planetlife into attacking you against its will to clean up what's left? What goals does he have, [[ForTheEvulz if]] [[MadGod any]]? It's hard to know.]]

*** The actual boss fight gets [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGmp2JP_SD8 Precipitation]], which is simply badass, with a touch of otherworldliness that fits Providence quite well.

** The spider bots are fast, have a ranged attack, and can jump small obstacles. Definitely one of the more dangerous enemies.

* NightmareFuel: If you [[FridgeHorror think about it]], there's a surprising amount for a game with a minimalist style story. You're trapped all alone on an unknown planet full of monsters and aliens that ''should'' be docile, but for some reason go into homicidal fury whenever they see you. The "upgrades" that are essential to your survival are, with few exceptions, essentially mutations, ranging from the mundane (fungus on your head that heals you), to outright BodyHorror (replacing your own eye with the eye of the Magma Worm, cutting yourself with a cultist knife, etc). If you read the monster logs from start to finish, it becomes clear that the survivor is [[SanitySlippage slowly but surely breaking down]] as a result of the hell they go through, [[spoiler:and the ending all but confirms this]].

* ThatOneBoss: The Magma Worm tends to stand out. It can spawn on the first two levels, is one of the few bosses capable of following you across the entire level, and it gets faster (if less accurate) the closer it is to dying. Naturally, it is the bane of many an early run. When you revisit levels and have bosses spawning randomly, you can run from almost any other boss and the ones that attack globally generally are still easily to avoid, but Magma Worms stand out in their ability to chase you constantly with attacks that are more difficult to dodge than "avoid this crosshair". A pack of 2 or 3 of them can cause issues for even end game characters, especially when the game throws the [[FromBadToWorse electrified Overloading Magma Worm]] at you.

** Certain combinations of the artifacts are this. One of the most notable is a combination of [[GlassCannon Glass]] and [[LuckManipulationMechanic Command]]. Glass causes you to deal 500% damage, but you only have 10% of your maximum health. However, Command allows you to actually pick which items you get from chests and shrines, meaning that, if you're lucky enough, you can get an Infusion as early as the first level. Combine that with all of the free useful items that you're going to be getting, and the game becomes a breeze due to the fact that Infusion all but completely negates the fact that you have a very, very small health bar. For further ridiculousness, tack on Kin and Honor. This locks the enemy spawns to a single species per map and makes them all elite, which might be difficult at first, but it becomes an item fountain if you find a green-rarity chest and choose a 56-Leaf Clover, which gives every killed elite enemy a chance to drop even more chests (an effect which you can stack up to six more copies of the artifact if you feel inclined to maximize the bonus). You will be able to farm for as much equipment as you can dream about in the first stage with minimal luck as long as you don't activate the exit teleporter. Added with the fact that with only one species to assault your survivor, minimizing sneak attacks and boosting survivability odds, what's there to fear about time-increasing difficulty when you can come out decked as a God from the very first stage?

** Unlocking the tenth artifact requires beating the game with the other nine active. If your primary attack gets shut off, better find a place to wait it out.
* ThatOneBoss: The Magma Worm tends to stand out. It can spawn on the first two levels, is one of the few bosses capable of following you across the entire level, and it gets faster (if less accurate) the closer it is to dying. Naturally, it is the bane of many an early run. When you revisit levels and have bosses spawning randomly, you can run from almost any other boss and the ones that attack globally generally are still easily to avoid, but Magma Worms stand out in their ability to chase you constantly with attacks that are more difficult to dodge than "avoid this crosshair". A pack of 2 or 3 of them can cause issues for even end game characters.

** The Heavenly Drill causes one in every four normal attacks to pierce through enemies. The practical effect is that, rather than your normal attack, it becomes a hitscan weapon that fires along a straight line and pierces all enemies, doing as much damage as the attack would have done normally (rebound attacks like the CHEF's cleavers only count the first hit). This effect stacks. Get four of these things, and you always fire piercing shots. In a game where crowds are the norm, this is deadly if you can manage it, especially for melee classes.

** The Heavenly Drill causes one in every four normal attacks to pierce through enemies. The practical effect is that, rather than your normal attack, it becomes a hitscan weapon that fires along a straight line, doing as much damage as the attack would have done normally (rebound attacks like the CHEF's cleavers only count the first hit). This effect stacks. Get four of these things, and you always fire piercing shots. In a game where crowds are the norm, this is deadly if you can manage it.

** The Cremator. His only attack is reasonably easy to avoid, as it's telegraphed and you're CrosshairAware of where it's gonna land, but it spawns all the way down in the magma pits in a stage where the teleporter is usually at the very top, can hit you from anywhere in the map, is fought in an arena made of small platforms with lava that hurts quite a bit, and he's got a turtle shell that blocks attacks that aren't from the front, which combined with the stage and its swimming makes it invulnerable half the time. Melee characters will have ''hell'' trying to bring it down in any reasonable amount of time. In any other game, this would be just annoying. Here, it could well mean that YouAreAlreadyDead due to the increasing difficulty.

** The Commando's second unlock requires getting to the teleporter in the third level without being hurt once. By this point in the game, you have probably gone long enough for elites to regularly spawn, so this is asking a lot. Either variation on the level also doesn't have much wiggle room to avoid enemies while looking for the teleporter.

** The Commando's second unlock requires getting to the teleporter without being hurt once. By this point in the game, you have probably gone long enough for elites to regularly spawn, so this is asking a lot.
** The Huntress is unlocked by collecting 15 Monster Logs. This is tedious as hell and has to be done on at least medium difficulty. If you've unlocked Kin, which locks spawns to one enemy type, it's a little more tolerable.

** As far as characters go, the Huntress is up there as being one of the easiest to win the game with. All her abilities work while moving, she has a decent attack speed, and her walking speed is decent. She does have less health, but that's balanced by being able to easily kite enemies. Activate the Glass artifact and she becomes a killing machine, assuming you level up enough not to die in one hit.

** Certain combinations of the artifacts are this. One of the most notable is a combination of [[GlassCannon Glass]] and [[LuckManipulationMechanic Command]]. Glass causes you to deal 500% damage, but you only have 10% of your maximum health. However, Command allows you to actually pick which items you get from chests and shrines, meaning that, if you're lucky enough, you can get an Infusion as early as the first level. Combine that with all of the free useful items that you're going to be getting, and the game becomes a breeze due to the fact that Infusion all but completely negates the fact that you have a very, very small health bar. For further ridiculousness, tack on Kin and Honor. This locks the enemy spawns to a single species per map and makes them all elite, which might be difficult at first, but it becomes an item fountain if you find a green-rarity chest and choose a 56-Leaf Clover, which gives every killed elite enemy a chance to drop even more chests (an effect which you can stack up to six more copies of the artifact if you feel inclined to maximize the bonus). You will be able to farm for as much equipment as you can dream about in the first stage with minimal luck as long as you don't activate the exit teleporter. Added with the fact that with only one species to assault your survivor, minimizing sneak attacks and boosting survivability odds, what's there to fear about time-increasing difficult when you can come out decked as a God from the very first stage?
* GoddamnedBoss: The Cremator. His only attack is reasonably easy to avoid, as it's telegraphed and you're CrosshairAware of where it's gonna land, but it spawns all the way down in the magma pits in a stage where the teleporter is usually at the very top, can hit you from anywhere in the map, is fought in an arena made of small platforms with lava that hurts quite a bit, and he's got a turtle shell that blocks attacks that aren't from the front, which combined with the stage and its swimming makes it invulnerable half the time. Melee characters will have ''hell'' trying to bring it down in any reasonable amount of time. In any other game, this would be just annoying. Here, it could well mean that YouAreAlreadyDead due to the increasing difficulty.

* DemonicSpiders: The enemies that shoot the red rockets that do ''massive'' damage to you. They become extra stupid for close-combat classes because they can then hit you with them point-blank, leaving you to wonder why you just lost 50% of your health from what would've been a barrage of rockets.
** The red Clay Men in particular are utterly nasty, due to already being horribly fast, being accompanied by the tougher variations of themselves to soak up your shots, and slicing you up for even more damage.
* GameBreaker: If you manage to spawn in a variant of the third level that includes the EasterEgg area with endlessly respawning Toxic Beasts, you can essentially keep killing them with no risk even with melee characters if you position yourself correctly, allowing you to both collect a seemingly endless supply of items as well as use the smaller boars they summon to max out your base health at 9999 with the Infusion item, the combined effect of both of them being enough to withstand basically almost any kind of enemy swarm from even the highest combined base and DynamicDifficulty possible. Then again, considering how much of an ass the [[RandomNumberGod RNG]] can be when it comes to getting essential items, you need all the help you can get, especially with the game's spotty multiplayer functionality and because the game expects you to beat it at least 5 times to unlock the last playable character, which is not an easy thing to do even on the easiest base difficulty.
** Certain combinations of the artifacts are this. One of the most notable is a combination of [[GlassCannon Glass]] and [[LuckManipulationMechanic Command]]. Glass causes you to deal 500% damage, but you only have 10% of your maximum health. However, Command allows you to actually pick which items you get from chests and shrines, meaning that, if you're lucky enough, you can get an Infusion as early as the first level. Combine that with all of the free useful items that you're going to be getting, and the game becomes a breeze due to the fact that Infusion all but completely negates the fact that you have a very, very small health bar.
*** Wanna break it even further? Pick, alongside Glass and Command, the Kin and Honor artifacts. At first glance it seems like you'll be only making your experience harder, since it'll lock the enemy spawns to a single species per map, and the RNG can still screw you royally just the same if it picks an species hard to apply crowd-control, and the Honor Artifact will ensue every single spawned enemy is an elite, harder to kill version than their normal counterparts... Until you realize that as soon as you find a green-rarity chest and choose a 56-Leaf Clover, which gives every killed elite enemy a chance to drop even more chests (an effect which you can stack up to six more copies of the artifact if you feel inclined to maximize the bonus), you will be able to farm for as much equipment as you can dream about in the first stage with minimal luck as long as you don't activate the exit teleporter. Added with the fact that with only one species to assault your survivor, minimizing sneak attacks and boosting survivability odds, what's there to fear about time-increasing difficult when you can come out decked as a God from the very first stage?

* ThatOneBoss: Most of them, actually. Though, the Magma Worm tends to stand out. It can spawn on the first two levels, is one of the few bosses capable of following you across the entire level, and it gets faster (if less accurate) the closer it is to dying. Naturally, it is the bane of many an early run.
** Late runs too when you revisit levels and have bosses spawning randomly. You can run from almost any other boss and the ones that attack globally generally are still easily to avoid, but Magma Worms stand out in their ability to chase you constantly with attacks that are more difficult to dodge than "avoid this crosshair". A pack of 2 or 3 of them can cause issues for even end game characters.

*** Wanna break it even further? Pick, alongside Glass and Command, the Kin and Honor artifacts. At first glance it seems like you'll be only making your experience harder, since it'll lock the enemy spawns to a single species per map, and the RNG can still screw you royally just the same if it picks an species hard to apply crowd-control, and the Honor Artifact will ensue every single spawned enemy is an elite, harder to kill version than their normal counterparts... Until you realize that as soon as you find a green-rarity chest and choose a 56-Leaf Clover, which gives every killed elite enemy a chance to drop even more chests (an effect which you can stack up to six more copies of the artifact if you feel inclined to maximize the bonus), you will be able to farm for as much equipment as you can dream about in the first stage with minimal luck as long as you don't activate the exit teleporter. Added with the fact that with only one species to assault your survivor, minimizing sneak attacks and increase survivability odds, what's there to fear about time-increasing difficult when you can come out decked as a God from the very first stage?