"The DLC is so fresh and does so much to reinvigorate the lategame that it feels like the devs read my mind." That's one Steam reviewer's take on Hallowed Concepts, the newest expansion for Risk of Rain 2, and it's far from an isolated opinion.
The expansion launched this week to a Very Positive rating on Steam, sitting at 84% approval from user reviews. For a game that spent a fair chunk of time in the community's bad books after Gearbox took over the IP in 2022, that number carries real weight.
How Gearbox got here
Here's the thing: the road to Hallowed Concepts was bumpy. When Gearbox acquired Risk of Rain 2 from original developers Hopoo Games (who departed to join Valve), the community was cautiously optimistic. That optimism curdled fast with Seekers of the Storm, the first Gearbox-led expansion, which landed to widespread criticism over bugs, balance issues, and a general sense that the team didn't fully understand what made the game special.
The turnaround started with last year's Alloyed Collective, which pulled in an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam and signaled that Gearbox had actually listened. Hallowed Concepts builds on that momentum rather than squandering it.
What players are actually saying
The Steam reviews paint a consistent picture. Players keep coming back to the same points: the new content feels purposeful, the lategame has been meaningfully reinvigorated, and the design shows genuine understanding of Risk of Rain 2's systems.
"Easily the best DLC from the new team," reads one review. "Seekers was fine after it got patched from launch, Alloyed Collective was also fine, but this blows the others out of the water. I'd say it's on-par with Void."
That last comparison matters. The Survivors of the Void expansion, released back when Hopoo was still at the helm, is widely considered the gold standard for Risk of Rain 2 DLC. Getting compared favorably to it is high praise.
The free update bundled alongside Hallowed Concepts is also drawing attention, adding 4 new skills and associated challenges for existing survivors. Players have flagged that at least one of those challenges (looking at you, Acrid) is particularly punishing, but that's almost a compliment in a game built around difficulty.
The bugs that keep it from a clean sweep
Hallowed Concepts isn't without its problems. Negative reviews cluster around one specific issue: bosses occasionally spawning outside the map geometry, making them impossible to damage and killing runs that had no business ending. For a roguelike where a single run can represent 30-plus minutes of investment, that's a legitimate frustration.
The saving grace is that these appear to be edge cases rather than systemic failures, and the broader reception suggests most players are getting through their runs without hitting them. Gearbox's track record with post-launch patching on Alloyed Collective also suggests fixes should follow.
What this means for Risk of Rain 2 going forward
Two consecutive well-received expansions after a rough start is a real redemption arc. The key here is that Gearbox seems to have found the right approach: respect the existing systems, add content that interacts cleverly with the core loop rather than bolting on disconnected features, and actually patch problems when they surface.
The community's relationship with Gearbox and Risk of Rain 2 is still being rebuilt, but Hallowed Concepts is a meaningful step in the right direction. Whether the studio can maintain this standard across future content drops is the question worth watching.
For players ready to jump in or returning veterans looking to get back up to speed, the Risk of Rain 2 strategy guides at GAMES.GG cover everything from survivor builds to item synergies to help you make the most of the new content.
