Risk of Rain 2 studio co-founder Duncan Naoki Drummond issued a grave warning to a fan playing the 2019 roguelite shooter on 3DS: "Don't do that."
Let's analyze the facts here. The Nintendo 3DS is a handheld console from 2011, and it acts like one. Though it is pretty good at running Mario Kart 7 or taking grainy photos of Chappell Roan, its puny 2011 processing power can't quite handle Risk of Rain 2's more modern blood and guts. Or slime and sand, for that matter – the glossy third-person shooter has players tearing through unfriendly alien hordes on an uncharted planet.
Happily, this 3DS player isn't really at risk for the fiery CPU explosion Drummond might be anticipating. In another tweet, the fan explains that she isn't actually operating Risk of Rain 2 on 3DS, but streaming it from her PC. "But it's still pretty cool nonetheless," she says.
Applications like PinBox and Moonlight have allowed users to remotely stream games to their 3DS for years. Through these services, people have been able to pop open the near-vintage console and play anything from an online battle royale like Fortnite to the extremely resource intensive open-world game Elden Ring. Though, it's actually a lot harder to defeat Morgott without a stylus.
In any case, it's good that Risk of Rain 2 fans are keeping themselves busy. The game's original studio, Hopoo Games, is inactive after its founders, including Drummond, left earlier this fall to work at Valve. You'll be able to see Drummond's influence on the upcoming hero shooter Deadlock, for which he's already fielding bug reports. Meanwhile, new IP holder Gearbox is trying to draw out more of Risk of Rain's magic. Its recent Risk of Rain 2 DLC could not have been more disappointing at launch, but is on the mend after several patches.
Maybe you could even learn to stream the 25 best roguelike games to play right now.
