Risk of Rain 2 brings back artifacts in next week's update

(Image credit: Hopoo Games)

Risk of Rain 2 is a game all about collecting ridiculously powerful combinations of items while blasting through neverending waves of enemies. Its next update, coming March 31, brings back the Artifact system from the first game, which can be used to make each run even wilder.

Artifacts are modifiers hidden in Risk of Rain's randomly generated levels. Once found and unlocked, they can be toggled on before a run to dramatically change things up. The first game's artifacts ranged from helpful (choosing items instead of getting random ones) to brutal (all enemies are elite) to... helpful and brutal (you deal 500% normal damage but have only 10% health). Risk of Rain 2's system includes a mix of new and returning artifacts.

It's also bringing along some other new features, including another character and level type. Here's the full details:

Artifacts: Artifacts make their Risk of Rain 2 debut. These treasures can be unlocked by completing in-game challenges and then equipped at the start of a run to dramatically modify aspects of the game, adding variety and challenge. Some are new, some are returning, and range from "oh fun" to "who hurt you?"
New Stage, Monsters and Hidden Boss: Sky Meadow returns as a 5th stage, players will encounter new familiar monsters, and a new hidden boss awaits those clever enough to find them.
Skill Variants: Commando, Huntress, Engineer and Acrid receive more unlockable skill variants to shock and awe in new ways.
New Loot: New equipment, items, and a Lunar Item of dubious purpose enter the world for Survivors to discover.
Engineer Skin: Engineer enthusiasts can earn a skin for their Survivor by completing an in-game challenge.

Risk of Rain 2 entered Early Access on March 28, 2019, so the Artifacts update serves as a bit of a birthday celebration. It'll be 20% off for a week on Steam starting March 31.

Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).