Few rogue games can turn a perfectly manageable fight into absolute chaos quite like Risk of Rain 2. One minute you’re picking off a handful of enemies and collecting items, and the next you’re surrounded by monsters, dodging attacks from every direction, and desperately hoping the ridiculous collection of abilities you’ve picked up is enough to keep you alive.
It’s that combination of fast-paced combat, increasingly powerful builds, and unpredictable runs that makes Risk of Rain 2 so difficult to stop playing. With different survivors to master, enormous bosses to defeat, and hundreds of possible item combinations, there’s always another build to experiment with or another challenge waiting to ruin what looked like a promising run.
Fortunately, there are plenty of other games offering their own take on that formula. From frantic third-person shooters and cooperative dungeon crawlers to bullet-filled arenas and increasingly absurd weapon combinations, we’ve picked out 10 games like Risk of Rain 2 that are worth checking out if you’re looking for your next obsession.
1. Atomic Picnic
A picnic usually involves sandwiches, a nice patch of grass, and perhaps a few unwelcome insects. In Atomic Picnic, you’ll be dealing with enormous swarms of monsters, explosive attacks, and enough projectiles to make standing still a very bad idea. Armed with powerful weapons and high-tech movement gear, you’ll venture into dangerous arenas known as the Zone, fighting through increasingly chaotic encounters while gathering upgrades to keep yourself alive.
Developed by BitCake Studio, Atomic Picnic combines third-person shooting with bullet heaven mechanics, allowing up to four players to battle through monster-filled environments together. Swinging across arenas with your Impulse Gear, launching yourself into the air, combining weapon upgrades, and discovering powerful evolutions, you’ll gradually turn your character into a walking disaster for anything unfortunate enough to get in your way.
2. Roboquest
The year is 2700, humanity is scattered across a scorching wasteland, and a young scavenger named Max has just discovered a rather useful robot buried in the sand. Bringing it back to life sets the pair on a journey through dangerous environments filled with hostile machines, enormous bosses, and enough flying bullets to keep even the most experienced shooter fans on their toes.
Roboquest, from developer RyseUp Studios, is a fast-paced first-person shooter that combines rogue progression with frantic movement and an enormous arsenal of weapons. Sprinting, sliding, jumping, and blasting through procedurally generated levels, you’ll collect upgrades, experiment with different Guardian classes, and uncover powerful combinations of abilities. Between runs, resources can be spent improving your basecamp and unlocking permanent upgrades, while two-player cooperative play lets you bring a friend along for the mechanical mayhem.
3. Endless Alice
A colourful virtual world filled with strange creatures, spectacular environments, and enormous bosses awaits in Endless Alice. Don’t let the cheerful presentation fool you, though, because the enemies roaming these digital landscapes have no intention of letting you explore in peace. Surviving means mastering your character’s abilities, avoiding incoming attacks, and fighting your way through increasingly demanding encounters.
This anime-inspired third-person action rogue game places a strong emphasis on character variety, with six playable fighters offering their own abilities and combat styles. Travelling between different environments, battling waves of monsters, and taking on powerful bosses, you’ll need to learn how each character handles the dangers ahead. Solo play is supported alongside online cooperative adventures for up to five players, making it another option for anyone who enjoys the frantic multiplayer battles and character-focused combat of Risk of Rain 2.
4. Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate
Saving the galaxy from destruction is a fairly serious responsibility, although entrusting the job to a sword-wielding robot with a gun-toting frog sitting on its shoulders is certainly an unusual decision. In Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate, the forces of Entropy are spreading across the universe, corrupting entire planets and threatening to extinguish life throughout the stars. Restoring these worlds means fighting through hordes of enemies using a rather entertaining combination of melee combat and ranged firepower.
Created by Moving Pieces Interactive, this colourful sci-fi rogue game allows players to control both characters together or split their responsibilities between two friends. Exploring randomized environments, collecting abilities, combining powerful upgrades, and battling enormous enemies, you’ll gradually transform the unlikely duo into a formidable fighting force. Four-player cooperative missions are also available, with grappling hooks, grenades, and other abilities offering plenty of opportunities to experiment with different builds.
5. Vellum
The books of an enchanted library are under attack, and saving them means putting your literary talents to considerably more violent use than usual. In Vellum, mysterious creatures known as the Torn are threatening magical Tomes, leaving you to fight through their pages using an assortment of ink-powered spells. From summoning enormous anvils and sharp swords to throwing playing cards and conjuring ravens, your spellbook contains plenty of unusual ways to deal with unwanted visitors.
Developed by Alvios Games, Vellum is a cooperative action rogue game where different colours of ink define your abilities and playstyle. Mixing spells, collecting more than 300 powers, and combining upgrades to create increasingly destructive builds, you’ll also influence how your enemies develop throughout each run. With over 100 enemy upgrades to choose from, you can make your opponents more dangerous in different ways, adding another layer of strategy to its fast-paced magical combat.
6. Gatekeeper
Chaos has stolen the Heart of Time, and getting it back means travelling across five dangerous planets, defeating powerful guardians, and cutting through armies of creatures determined to stop you. The journey to the Throne Room won’t be easy, with hostile environments, enormous bosses, and increasingly overwhelming enemy forces standing between you and the final confrontation.
Gatekeeper, developed by Gravity Lagoon, is a fast-paced, top-down action rogue game built around powerful character abilities and enormous collections of artifacts. Choosing from nine playable Gatekeepers, each with their own combat skills, you’ll fight through enemy-filled arenas, complete objectives, and summon dangerous Sirens for challenging boss encounters. More than 100 artifacts can be collected and combined into powerful Triads, allowing you to create increasingly destructive builds as you progress. Whether playing alone or alongside three friends, the combination of character variety, escalating combat, and stackable upgrades should feel familiar to Risk of Rain 2 fans.
7. LORT
A cursed fantasy world filled with goblins, monsters, and increasingly ridiculous power-ups is waiting to ruin your day in LORT. Escaping this rather unpleasant place means fighting through hordes of enemies, gathering powerful loot, and gradually turning your unfortunate adventurer into something capable of flattening whatever stands in the way. Fortunately, you can bring seven friends along, although keeping everyone alive might prove harder than defeating the monsters.
From developer Big Distraction, LORT is a third-person cooperative action rogue game that mixes fantasy combat with the sort of outrageous builds that make Risk of Rain 2 so entertaining. Wielding swords, bows, wands, and even guns, players can freely switch weapons while collecting upgrades that stack into increasingly powerful combinations. Reviving fallen teammates, combining attacks, and experimenting with different abilities are all part of surviving its chaotic battles, where even the weakest adventurer can eventually become an unstoppable force.
8. SYNTHETIK 2
Humanity is fighting a losing war against the Machine Legion, and your best hope of turning things around is an experimental android armed with some extremely powerful weapons. Unfortunately, the mechanical armies standing in your way have plenty of firepower of their own, and surviving their relentless attacks means mastering every weapon, ability, and piece of technology you can get your hands on.
SYNTHETIK 2 from Flow Fire Games takes a more tactical approach to rogue shooting, combining top-down combat with detailed weapon mechanics and extensive character customization. Choosing from ten android classes, collecting more than 120 weapons, and experimenting with attachments and powerful upgrades, you’ll battle through machine-controlled environments alone or with up to three friends. Manual reloading, weapon overheating, jamming, and directional armour add extra challenges to firefights, while unlockable loadouts and modding tools offer plenty of ways to expand the experience.
9. Muck
Stranded on a procedurally generated island with nothing but the surrounding wilderness for company, your first priority in free-to-play Muck, is finding enough resources to survive the night. Trees need chopping, rocks need mining, and weapons need crafting before darkness arrives and the island’s considerably less friendly inhabitants come looking for you. Survive until morning, and you’ll have another chance to prepare for whatever the next night brings.
Created by Dani, Muck combines first-person survival, crafting, base building, and rogue progression into a free-to-play adventure that can be tackled alone or with friends. Gathering materials, crafting stronger equipment, building shelters, and collecting powerful upgrades, you’ll gradually become better equipped to face increasingly dangerous enemies. Randomized islands keep each attempt different, while cooperative play adds plenty of opportunities for teamwork, questionable decisions, and watching carefully prepared defences fall apart when the monsters arrive.
10. Crab Champions
Armed with powerful guns and an impressive ability to leap around tropical islands, the crab in Crab Champions is considerably more dangerous than anything you’re likely to find scuttling along the beach. Each island is packed with hostile creatures, valuable loot, and increasingly difficult encounters, with every successful battle bringing new opportunities to turn your crustacean into an unstoppable killing machine.
Developed by Noisestorm, the creator of Crab Rave, Crab Champions is a fast-paced third-person rogue shooter combining fluid movement, intense gunfights, and enormous collections of stackable upgrades. Fighting across colourful islands, collecting weapon modifications, choosing new perks, and combining abilities into devastating builds, you’ll gradually increase your firepower while facing tougher enemies and bosses. Runs typically last around 20-40 minutes, although successful players can continue looping through additional islands, pushing their builds and survival skills further with every encounter.
Plenty More Mayhem Beyond Risk of Rain 2
Finding something that scratches the same itch as Risk of Rain 2 isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve spent hundreds of hours experimenting with survivors, stacking ridiculous amounts of items, and watching perfectly good runs fall apart because you got a little too confident.
However, there’s plenty of variety among these ten games. Whether you’re swinging through monster-filled arenas in Atomic Picnic, blasting robots to pieces in Roboquest, or turning an armed crab into an unstoppable killing machine in Crab Champions, there are plenty of opportunities to experiment with powerful builds and cause an enormous amount of destruction.
Not every game here follows the Risk of Rain 2 formula exactly, but each offers something worth exploring. That could be cooperative chaos, challenging combat, or the satisfaction of watching a handful of upgrades turn into something completely overpowered.
Have you played any of these games, or is there another game like Risk of Rain 2 that deserves a place on this list? Let us know in the comments!