If you search “Is Risk of Rain 2 cross-platform?”, you will find mixed answers. Some say yes. Others say no. Both are partly right. Risk of Rain 2 is a fast-paced roguelike shooter built around co-op chaos, and multiplayer matters a lot. Friends want to play together, even if they bought the game on different systems. In this guide, you will learn exactly where Risk of Rain 2 crossplay works, where it does not, and why. We will also cover consoles, PC storefronts, cross-save, offline play, and what the developers have said about the game’s cross-platform future.
Risk of Rain 2 Introduction
Risk of Rain 2 is a third-person roguelike shooter developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. It was launched in early access on March 28, 2019, then received a full PC release on August 11, 2020, and arrived on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch consoles later on October 20, 2020.
Each run drops players onto hostile alien worlds filled with enemies, bosses, and loot. Difficulty scales over time, which forces players to move quick and make smart item choices. The loop is simple but deep, and the game supports solo and online multiplayer in which you can create 4 players squad to survive the planet together.
Key facts about Risk of Rain 2:
- Genre: Roguelike shooter
- Engine: Unity
- Modes: Solo, online co-op
- Focus: Build crafting, scaling difficulty, replayability
- Community: Active on Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Discord
Is Risk of Rain 2 Cross-Platform?
Risk of Rain 2 does not support full cross-platform play. Crossplay is available only on PC between Steam and Epic Games Store. To play together, players must be on PC, using the same game version, and the crossplay toggle must be enabled in settings. This is the only officially supported cross-network pool. Consoles, including PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, cannot party up with PC or between different console brands unless they are from the same family.
Here is how crossplay multiplayer currently works in the game:
- PC (Steam ↔ Epic Games Store): YES
- PC ↔ Consoles: NO
- Xbox ↔ PlayStation: NO
- Xbox ↔ Nintendo Switch: NO
- PlayStation 4 ↔ PlayStation 5: YES (same family)
- Xbox One ↔ Xbox Series X/S: YES (same family)
Why is Risk of Rain 2 Not Full Crossplay?
The limitation is due to development complexity, platform rules, and version parity. On PC, Steam and Epic Games Store can use common backend services, Account/ID linking, and combined matchmaking systems. It makes cross-platform play easier to manage. Updates can roll out fast, and certification is simpler than on consoles.
On the other hand, every console ecosystem operates in its separate infrastructure:
- Xbox uses Xbox Live services
- PlayStation is reliant on PlayStation Network
- Nintendo Switch operates on Nintendo’s network stack
These systems have different rules for friends lists, entitlements, online services, and patch certification. Without a unified account system, cross-console play becomes very hard to achieve.
For cross-platform games, everyone needs to be on the same version. Even small differences in patch notes can break matchmaking. Console updates often lag behind PC due to certification cycles, which makes shared lobbies unstable and unfair. Furthermore, Risk of Rain 2 wasn’t developed with a universal cross-game from day one. Retrofitting crossplay server architecture later is expensive, time-consuming, and risky. Hopoo Games has acknowledged the challenges in community forums and developer discussions.
- Related: Is GTA 5 & GTA Online Crossplay?
Will Risk of Rain 2 Ever Be Cross-platform?
As of now, there is no official announcement that confirms full Risk of Rain 2 crossplay across PC and consoles. Hopoo Games has stated that the feature outside PC is not planned for now. Gearbox Publishing currently handles updates and expansions like Seekers of the Storm. Although content updates continue to come and go, cross-platform support hasn’t been mentioned in patch notes or official help articles.
It’s one of the most requested features on Discord and Reddit. However, community demand doesn’t equal feasibility; engine and network limitations are there, and console policies are barriers on the road. Until devs change their statement, full crossplay shouldn’t be expected, and don’t buy the game with that in mind.
Does Risk of Rain 2 Support Cross-Save?
No. Risk of Rain 2 does not support cross-save or cross-progression in any way. Your progression is restricted to the platform where you play. Unlocks, characters, items, achievements, and logbook entries do not transfer. If you switch systems, you have to start over. This limitation is true across all combinations:
- PC ↔ Console
- Console ↔ Console (Xbox to PlayStation, PlayStation to Switch, etc.)
- Steam ↔ Epic Games Store
Even though Steam and Epic support PC crossplay, they do not share saves. Every storefront keeps its own save data. Cross-save requires infrastructure that Risk of Rain 2 lacks, like a single global account system, centralized cloud save sync, crossplay entitlement, and ownership checks. RoR 2 is not a live-service game, so it wouldn’t be easy to have shared progress across different systems. Setting up a system like that would require major changes to backend services and agreements with the platforms.
- Related: Is Among Us Cross-Platform?
Is Risk of Rain 2 Solo or Offline?
Yes. Risk of Rain 2 fully supports solo and offline play. Solo is a first-class mode where you enjoy the full experience, like:
- All survivors, items, and endings
- Difficulty scaling adjusts for a single player
- Progression and unlocks
A lot of players prefer solo mode for mastery runs, Eclipse mode, speedrunning, and interesting challenge builds, because the game is really good at balancing these things.
The game also offers offline play with no restrictions on core gameplay. You can play locally without an internet connection, and all progress will be saved as normal. But mods must be downloaded through the web, and online co-op needs an active connection.
