At first glance, it would be easy to dismiss Risk of Rain as a simple, retro, side-scrolling shooter.  This, however, would be a mistake.

The secret to this action platformer with roguelike elements isn't the randomly generated levels, or the vast number of items you can pick up (although they will help)... it's the pace at which the game moves. The longer you play, the harder it gets.

While that may sound like a pretty obvious feature, and something that other games employ, it's only when it's in action that you really understand.  You'll start by running round with the four basic abilities of your class, the commando being the first, in practically an empty world... but 5 minutes in, you'll be fending off a fair few enemies... 20 minutes in and you're dealing with small hordes and the odd mini-boss and it'll only get worse.  Meanwhile, you'll be attempting to buy/collect a good selection of the 100 available items and leveling up in an attempt to prepare yourself for the boss at the end of the level.  The trick and, indeed, the real addiction of Risk of Rain is trying to find that delicate balancing point between being powerful enough to take on the level boss (with a large number of assisting 'normal' enemies) while making sure that you don't wait too long allowing the normal enemies to become too powerful and overwhelm you.

Combat is chaotic and fun, with each of the 10 different classes having quite unique abilities, stats and tactics.  The commando, for example, has:

With each ability having a cooldown period you'll need to establish a good rhythm to survive when things get hectic.  In the case of the commando, I often found myself relying mostly on Full Metal Jacket, then Suppressive Fire when the enemies get too close and then Tactical Dive to get out of harms way (Double Tab is in constant use).

Your tactics will, however, change quite drastically as you pick up or buy items.  The items, dropped from your cargo hold when you crashed (the story behind the game) are varied and rarely dull.  From direct damage items, such as the AtG Missile launcher (which has a 10% chance to fire a homing missile every time you fire) through various buffs, like the Bitter Root (that increases your health by 8%) to usable items like the Jar of Souls (duplicate every enemy as a ghost ro fight on your side).

Of course, as chaotic and fun as the game is solo, it also has multiplayer (which is just as crazy as you might think).  

Originally funded by Kickstarter, Risk of Rain is now available on Steam for just £6.99

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