Risk of Rain 2's Scorched Acres update is coming next week

Hopoo Games laid out a development roadmap for Risk of Rain 2 earlier this year that promised four updates ahead of the full release in spring 2020, beginning in June with a new survivor, stage, boss, items, and equipment. Today the studio revealed that the June update is called Scorched Acres, and will arrive on June 25. 

See more

Hopoo actually showed off what is almost certainly the Scorched Acres update earlier this month at E3. A "new survivor gameplay reveal" on IGN featured a half-plant, half-robot survivor named Rex, who is brand-new to the Risk of Rain universe (some Risk of Rain 2 characters are carryovers from the first game) and "completely different" from survivors who have appeared in the game previously.   

Rex will be unlockable through a specific quest: Hopoo was a little evasive on the point but said that it will enable players to go after Rex "explicitly," rather than having to play the game for hours first. More importantly right now, Rex also appears in the image Hopoo tweeted to announce the Scorched Acres date, which is a pretty clear indicator that what they were showing was pre-release gameplay from that update.

There are no further details at this point: The studio said a "full breakdown" would be provided once the update is live. The IGN Risk of Rain 2 "Rex" reveal is below.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.