Risk of Rain 2's new playable character has big Dark Samus energy

Risk of Rain 2's newest playable character has been revealed, and publisher Gearbox says it's almost like having two new survivors in the game.

The corrupt Commando Void Fiend is one of two new survivors included in Risk of Rain 2's big Survivors of the Void expansion, which launches March 1. Gearbox gave Void Fiend the spotlight in a new Risk of Rain 2 trailer that shows off his unique moveset and corruption mechanic. 

"Void Fiend has been infected by the corruption of the Void, and players have to balance his Corruption to escape Petrichor V," developer Hopoo Games says. "This makes him almost two survivors - his moveset is entirely different based on his level of corruption, which introduces a fun balance of risk / reward for players to consider in every encounter."

While Void Fiend is undeniably rocking big Dark Samus energy, he has an interesting mechanic all his own that should throw a whole new strategic element into the mix. Void Fiend's corruption increases as you take damage and decreases by healing, but it'll always be steadily growing. Once it reaches 100%, Void Fiend transforms into a more aggressive form, dramatically altering each of his four abilities.

For example, in Void Fiend's normal, controlled form, he has a move called Flood that fires off a plasma missile at 600% damage and can be charged up to deal 1100% damage. But when Void Fiend is corrupted, the same move does 1100% damage instantly and has twice the explosive radius. 

Essentially, being corrupted gives you a more powerful moveset, but in order to reach that stage you need to take a ton of damage, and since healing uses up corruption, you'll need to carefully balance how much you heal with how much damage you want to deal. This makes Void Fiend a much more aggressive character than the Railgunner, a sharpshooter who's also coming in Survivors of the Void, but he sounds just as difficult to play well. 

Check out our Risk of Rain 2: Survivors of the Void preview for more on the upcoming expansion as well as insights from studio co-founder Duncan Drummond.