Hi hi!
By now you’ve probably seen the announcement for Alloyed Collective, our third expansion for Risk of Rain 2! Today, we’re going on a safari deep into the Solus-controlled regions of Petrichor V along with some very exciting news for fans of the series in this dev update. But before we crack on please head on over to the Alloyed Collective page and give it a wishlist!
I recommend watching the video Dev Diary above for all those juicy details you just can't capture in a written version!
We want to make Alloyed Collective the single best addition to Risk of Rain ever - and that is one hell of a high bar. But how are we even going to approach this lofty goal? There was only ever one answer: assemble the ULTIMATE RISK OF RAIN CONTENT TEAM.
Step 1: Hire some of the best content creators for Risk of Rain 2 to supplement the already very talented team at Gearbox Software. A key factor in Risk of Rain 2’s success has been its massive modding scene. It’s existed from the very start and has grown into a huge community of creators pumping out some amazing content. So we reached out to the creators behind some of our favorite mods like Starstorm 2, Fogbound Lagoon & SillyItems and brought on a squad of elite mod creators to join the DLC3 team (to be clear, their modded content is not contained in the DLC - they are working on NEW content!)
Step 2: Next we needed the perfect soundtrack. After his work on the Seekers of the Storm Shattered Abodes track “I Should Build the Man a Statue” we have brought the highly talented musician Stavros Markonis onto the Alloyed Collective team to compose the whole soundtrack. Stavros worked closely with Chris Christodoulou on DLC2 & DLC3 to nail that special Risk of Rain sound while adding his own unique flair - and to quote Chris directly when talking about the DLC3 soundtrack...
Real.
Step 3: On top of the modders and Stavros we’ve also brought on two people who have previously worked on Risk of Rain 2 to rejoin us on the DLC - firstly, prolific ROR1/ROR2 modder Sivelos who wrote the majority of the log entries for Risk of Rain 2. And lastly, one of the co-creators of Risk of Rain 2: Jeffrey “Ghor” Hunt has also rejoined the team for Alloyed Collective!
Tome Writer Extraordinaire. This talented new bunch, alongside the tenured team of developers we have here at Gearbox Software, has formed a team that we think will make Alloyed Collective best ever addition to Risk of Rain.
You may have seen the scope of Alloyed Collective in the previous Devlog, for those who missed it, here's what will be included in the upcoming DLC*
2 New Survivors
6 All-New Stages
6 New Enemies
15 New Items
New Bosses, including a new Final Boss encounter.
New Elite Type
New Survivor Skins
and..
7 New Drones
But why not drones!? One thing that might stand out compared to previous DLCs is the inclusion of 7 new Drones. With the technological theme of this DLC we thought it was high time this often-overlooked aspect of ROR2 was given a bit of love. Drones are a part of the game ripe for expansion - with the exception of Spare Drone Parts in SotV there have been zero changes to drones since the game launched!
Having a source of player-power that isn't item based allows us to design fun and powerful content for your runs without having to worry about excessively diluting the item pool. Some of these Drones bring mechanics we’ve been thinking about for a while. We wanted the gameplay they could bring to your kit but they never quite made sense as an item or player ability. Adding extra drones is a perfect opportunity to get some of these ideas into the game and into your hands.
We didn't stop with just adding new Drones, we’ve also improved the AI for all Drones to make them much more useful battle companions. Drones are now faster, copy their owner's target, and are generally just smarter/better at using their skills. They also move less erratically and stay closer to their target.
Finally, we wanted to put a real focus on Drones in Alloyed Collective by giving one of the new Survivors some special interactions with them - we’ll be revealing more about this drone-centric Survivor in an upcoming devlog…
I asked on the Risk of Rain Discord what aspect of the DLC people would like to see most in this dev update (other than the new Survivors.) Some said stages, some said enemies, others asked for Items and many asked for new Drones. Being a man of the people, I decided to give you a sneak-peak at all four.
First up we’re taking a visit to the Pretender’s Precipice where we’ll come face to face with the Solus Invalidator
This broken weirdo rolls around like a lost puppy looking to impress its bigger, nastier kin. But don’t be fooled, this unit has a unique attack which will be the downfall of the unprepared.
The Solus Invalidator overloads and fires a burst of energy so huge the unit is thrown across the stage with the recoil. Cute? Yes, but don’t get hit by this attack - doing so completely removes all item effects for a significant duration.
You’ll need some help defeating this new foe - or at least to avoid its attacks - The new Faraday Spurs will let you do both.
Once collected the Faraday Spurs will generate an electrical charge the longer that you sprint, increasing your speed and jump height up to +60% speed and +200% jump height when fully charged.
Once you are at least 25% charged you can jump, consume the charge, and unleash a huge explosive discharge for 400% damage making this uncommon item a great find for both mobility and offensive power.
Next up we’ll be heading to the Empyrean Adaments, where not all of the mining equipment is completely inactive…
This mean little ball of fury is not happy about the intruders to its resource-rich territory. Once you’re detected the Solus Cultivator locks in on your location before dashing at you with its drill-arm extended. Is it trying to kill you or simply extract your precious minerals? Who knows, either way it's not good news for the unwary survivor.
Luckily you have some new allies to aid you against the Alloyed Collective, and sometimes they synergize even better than items. Introducing the Freeze Drone and the Bombardment Drone.
We’re not always subtle when naming things for Risk of Rain 2; these two new Drones do exactly what their names suggest. The Freeze Drone fires a projectile that bounces between enemies up to 6 times applying the very powerful Freeze debuff to them. This sets up for the Bombardment Drone perfectly - hovering in place above its target and absolutely devastating any enemies below with a huge AOE damage.
We can't wait for you to play Alloyed collective later this year* and get your hands on what this new team has created! For now please don't forget to wishlist Alloyed Collective and we’ll see you again soon for the reveal of the first of two new Survivors.
Bye for now!
- The Risk of Rain Team.
ROR2 Discord - JOIN IT!
*Why are you looking at what this star says? You should already know a “subject to change” statement when you see one.