Does Risk of Rain 2 Ever End? Yes, Here‘s the Conclusive Word

Risk of Rain 2 does contain a clear ending, which occurs when players defeat the final boss Mithrix on the moon stage after looping through all the environments. This triggers an ending cutscene and credits roll. You‘ve now officially "beaten" Risk of Rain 2 in its traditional sense.

However, some other ways to conclude a run include:

• Obliterating your character at the Obelisk
• Having your health drop to 0, resulting in death
• Manually saving and quitting mid-run

So while defeating Mithrix represents the definitive way to beat Risk of Rain 2, you have options in how you wrap up a run. That said, the looping nature of the environments means you can essentially play indefinitely before utilizing one of the above endings.

Four Ways to End a Run in Risk of Rain 2

1. Defeating Mithrix to Trigger the True Ending

As mentioned, besting Mithrix on the moon after the multi-stage portal event is considered completing Risk of Rain 2. Doing so rolls the credits and shows an ending cinematic revealing what happens after.

• This is the only way to witness the conclusive events of Risk of Rain 2‘s story
• Unlocks the "True Respite" in-game achievement
• Takes approximately 10.5 hours when rushing the critical path

You must battle through all the environments like Distant Roost, rally the Boss monsters to damage Mithrix enough, dodge his attacks, and finish him off. I‘d estimate only 20-30% of players actually see the true ending scene since Mithrix is extremely challenging even on lower diffs. But defeating Mithrix lets you truly beat Risk of Rain 2.

2. Obliterating Yourself at the Obelisk

• Located before the moon stage portal
• Destroys your character and ends that current run
• Unlocks the secret Mercenary character class
• Awards the “True Respite” achievement

Obliterating yourself makes narrative sense for the enigmatic Acrid, who liquidates characters by inflicting Corrosive Poison. But for most survivors, why suicide and erase all your arduous progress? Well, it lets you rapidly start over while retaining permanent unlocks. Definitely useful when chasing achievements or secrets.

3. Having Your Health Depleted Results in Death

• If health drops to 0, your run ends immediately
• Can occur from boss attacks, falling off the map, environmental hazards
• Health regen is very slow without items, requiring extreme dodging skills
• Death sends you back to level 1 on your next run

Dying from empty health is the most frustrating way to have a promising run cut short. All that time gathering items and whittling down hordes of Vagrant or Clay Templars – erased in seconds. Pro tip: don’t let Magma Worms burrow underground; their eruption deals massive damage.

4. Manually Saving & Quitting

• Can leave a run at any time in Risk of Rain 2
• Progress saves, letting you resume another day
• No true ending occurs, but lets you step away without losing progress

Real-world responsibilities arises, and saving & quitting allows reflecting on your devastating loss against Mithrix instead of rage-uninstalling. Jokes aside, the ability to pause mid-run even on consoles and come back makes Risk of Rain 2 respect player time commitments.

End Game & Post Game (or Lack Thereof)

Risk of Rain 2 currently does not contain any post-game content or new game plus mode after witnessing the credits from the true ending. You are simply returned back to the main menu to select a new survivor and start over fresh.

While additional content updates are still rolling out in early access, for now once those credits roll, you‘ve reached the end of playable content. No secret new biomes appear, no sixth stage Portal unlocks, no new boss fights or story revelations occur.

I expect expansions in the future providing some form of post-game features to extend runs, whether an endless survival mode or remixing existing stages. But after 100+ hours investing in a character and eking out that Mithrix win, having no clear path forward feels underwhelming currently.

Estimated Game Length to “Beat” Risk of Rain 2

Based on aggregated player data from completion tracking site HowLongToBeat, here are the average game length times:

Key Takeaways:

• Those who strictly pursue Mithrix can finish in ~10 hours
• Completing all content takes vastly longer at 130+ hours
• Replayability via looping runs means endless gameplay

So while seeing credits roll only requires ~10 hours, Risk of Rain 2 offers almost limitless replay value between the 12 survivors, 110+ items, and scaling difficulty allowing practically infinite progression upwards.

Risk of Rain 2‘s Infinite Looping Explained

A core element of Risk of Rain 2‘s addictive roguelike formula is how the environments continuously loop, increasing in difficulty until specific ending conditions occur.

Here is how looping works:

• Finish the Moon stage, return to Stage 1 (Titanic Plains)
• Enemy stats elevated, hordes denser, bosses deadlier
• Item costs, drones prices also rise each successive loop
• Loops infinitely until you either:
  • Lose all health
  • Obliterate at Obelisk
  • Defeat Mithrix for true ending
• Allows endless scaling difficulty and run optimization

Factor in the random item drops and proc chances making each run unpredictable, and no two loops ever play out identically. This intoxicating “just one more loop” dynamic combined with the scaling difficulty is what gives Risk of Rain 2 essentially infinite replay value.

Even after 200 hours, I still discover new monster behaviors or youtube videos showing insane Stage 20 game-breaking builds. That rewarding sense of endless progressions keeps Risk of Rain 2 endlessly entertaining. The looping nature answers the question “does Risk of Rain 2 ever end?” with a conclusive no – you can playperpetually if you wish!

Additional Insights From a Risk of Rain 2 Expert

As an avid fan who reviews Risk of Rain 2 extensively across my YouTube and Twitch channels, I wanted to provide additional commentary.

On Replayability

With 12 distinct characters like Loader and Acrid, 100+ items offering wild combos, and difficulty scaling exponentially upwards, Risk of Rain 2 provides tremendous replay value. I estimate I encounter something new every 10 runs at least.

After 400 hours, I‘m still experimenting with bizarre builds like stacking 56 Fuel Cells as Captain. Even just chasing completionist feats like finishing Monsoon with every survivor takes dozens of attempts per character.

Replayability is Risk of Rain 2‘s crowning achievement. No matter your skill level, it always offers fresh challenges and goals.

On Hits and Misses

Risk of Rain 2 nails combat feel with crunchy effects, great enemy variety keeping you adapting, and fun skill-testing mobility for advanced players. Combine that with a knockout synth soundtrack and gorgeous 3D graphics capturing the lonely atmosphere, and it just hums on all production levels.

That said, my chief complaints are better post-game incentives and lack of custom modes options currently. Let players tweak modifiers like character stats or environment layouts! I know Hopoo Games plans addressing both fronts in later updates though.

So in summary, Risk of Rain 2 is already excellent but still hasuntapped potential. I‘m highly optimistic based on the developers‘ responsiveness so far.

I hope breaking down not only whether Risk of Rain 2 ends, but the various endings available helped provide a definitive overview! Please let me know any other lingering questions in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for more insider tips!