Every time I sit down to write, the first thing I do isn’t open up a blank document, it’s find some nice video game music to listen to. And loads of it can be found free on YouTube. Ambient music from Skyrim, relaxing compilations from Animal Crossing, lo-fi Legend of Zelda remixes Sometimes, work or study just can’t get done without my 10-hour loop of Chrono Trigger’s Corridors Of Time.

Looking at the millions of comments, uploads, and views these uploads get, it’s clear that I’m not alone. If you’re reading this on a PC right now, there’s a statistically decent chance that YouTube is currently open and playing some video game tunes in another tab. And it’s only possible because YouTube doesn’t treat video game music as it does other popular music.

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The original Risk Of Rain was a game about big numbers – a platform roguelike with a thing for screen-filling, damage-number-generating projectile spam. Three-dimensional sequel Risk Of Rain 2 has just launched into early access, and is already doubling down on the multipliers, as players who pick it up by midnight PST on March 30th will get a second copy to share with a friend. While it expands into larger polygonal spaces, the sequel looks to be just as messy, but developers Hopoo reckon online co-op for up to four is easier to set up now, connecting directly through Steam.

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When I look at how long all of my friends have spent playing co-op platform shooter Risk Of Rain, a roguelike about biffing alien bads, I see a list divided. Maybe half have put in a few hours. Maybe they, like me, enjoyed the bullet-hell combat and setting down a seemingly endless path of item and character unlocks – but found that path guarded by enemies that felt too punishingly difficult.

The other half have anywhere from 20-40 hours in the game, and I’m jealous of their perseverance. From hearing some of them talk about it, I’ve missed out. So hopefully I’ll be less intimidated by the time Risk Of Rain 2 comes out, which attempts to transplant the same formula into 3D. Based on the 10 minutes of pre-alpha footage the devs just released, it looks like they’re succeeding.

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Hopoo Games have announced they are indeed making a Risk of Rain 2 [official site], and this time they’re taking the action-roguelikelike into 3D. Adam, Brendan, and The Mechanic have all gushed about Risk of Rain so it’s good too hear Hopoo are back for more after swerving to make Deadbolt. Almost everything about Risk of Rain 2 is unsettled for now but Hopoo do share some work-in-progress peeks and say they’ll be gabbing away as development continues. … [visit site to read more]

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

Your first few wasted lives in Risk of Rain [official site] might give you the impression of a very limited action game. A tiny sprite armed with a handful of basic abilities (shoot, roll, shoot harder), you have to take on waves of bad things, from flying jellyfish to giant lava snakes, as you seek out teleporters and travel from level to level. What s worse, you move everywhere at a slow pace, you can t jump very high and you can only fire on a single plane in two directions. Oh, and the difficulty is increasing all the time. My first hour was spent shaking my head and getting annoyed, death after death. Then I learned to repair robots. … [visit site to read more]