Risk of Rain 2

Hopoo's 2020 sequel takes a 2D roguelike about stacking absurd numbers of items and moves it into third person, which sounds risky and works. The core is unchanged: a difficulty meter climbs in real time whether you engage or not, so every second spent farming makes the next fight worse, and the entire game is a decision about when to leave. Items stack without limit and interact combinatorially, so a run can end with you firing homing missiles from every attack, healing on kill, and moving fast enough to be difficult to see. Eleven survivors play distinctly and unlock through specific challenges. The move to 3D made the enemy design read better and the movement more expressive, particularly the Loader's grapple. Late runs collapse into glorious nonsense, which is the point. It spent a year in early access, shipped with a Survivors of the Void expansion later, and remains the clearest example of a roguelike built around escalating pressure rather than discrete rooms.