I’ve been staying clear of the controversy surrounding Risk of Rain 2 and its new DLC, Seekers of the Storm. I put in a request for press access which was met by silence, and so I’ve not had a chance to play the new expansion and experience it for myself.
My mantra here at Rogueliker has and always will be to focus on games that I’m enjoying, and I’m certainly not looking to pick a fight or point my finger with no good reason. However, sometimes it’s just a matter of time before something can’t be ignored.
The above being so, I think it’s time for me to wade into the Seekers of the Storm debacle, if only to share more details about what the original creators of Risk of Rain are now working on – and more importantly, who they’re working with.
Who is in charge of Risk of Rain now?
As many of you will be aware, Hopoo Games created the original Risk of Rain, which released all the way back in 2013. The same studio then expanded the side-scrolling 2D original and took the franchise into the realm of 3D.
Risk of Rain 2 and follow-up DLC Survivors of the Void were developed by Hopoo Games, too. During the years, the studio built up a strong relationship with the community – this despite the time it took for console owners to get their grubby mitts on the Survivors expansion.
Back in 2019, Hopoo entered into an agreement with Borderlands creators Gearbox for the latter to publish Risk of Rain 2 on consoles. In 2022, the studio went one further and sold the rights to the Risk of Rain IP to the same company.
Seekers of the Storm gets scathing reviews on Steam
Fast forward to 2024 and Gearbox Software is now the developer responsible for Risk of Rain 2. As such, the studio is behind the new expansion that is causing so much consternation among fans.
Unfortunately, the studio hasn’t been able to maintain the standards set by Hopoo and the new dev team’s first DLC effort, Seekers of the Storm, launched with a bunch of problematic technical flaws.
User reviews reflect this quite unanimously, and at the time of writing a staggering 79% of Steam user reviews for the DLC are negative. In fact, this negativity is seeping into the reviews of the base game; the user score for RoR2 is now also dropping like a proverbial stone.
I’ve not played the new content myself, so I’m not going to dig into what these reviews say (you can find them here if you want them) but I think it goes without saying that the sheer volume of negativity around the game doesn’t bode well for its immediate future.
On the positive side, the studio has confirmed that updates and fixes are on the way, coming first to PC and then to console. Here’s hoping the studio can turn things around and restore the game’s reputation, but it looks like an uphill struggle from here.
What about Hopoo Games?
With Gearbox Software on dev duties now, what are the game’s original creators up to? Good stuff, it turns out.
I say that because the developer has just confirmed that it is shutting its doors, with key members of the team joining Valve to work on their in-house game projects.
In fact, the team’s move into the company that runs Steam and makes Half-Life has meant that their current project, Snail, is being left by the wayside.
As confirmed over on TwitterX, the team is very much looking forward to working with the folks over at Valve. Here’s the full statement, which says things better than I would:
Today, we have an exciting update: Duncan and Paul, alongside many other talented members at Hopoo Games, will now be working on game development directly at @valvesoftware!
We’re incredibly grateful to Valve for their partnerships in the last decade, and are excited to continue working on their awesome titles. However, this does mean that we are stopping production on our unannounced game, “Snail”.
It’s been an exciting and transformative 12 years. We feel lucky for the opportunities we’ve had, and deeply appreciate both our team and fans that have supported us and our games.
We love making games – and will continue to do so, for years to come. We’re excited to be working side-by-side with the talented people at Valve. But for now – sleep tight, Hopoo Games.
