Achievements
Risk of Rain Returns carries 155 Steam achievements, 15 of which Steam flags as hidden, and global unlock data shows a steep drop-off from basic onboarding tasks into late-game mastery and cryptic exploration. The hardest tier is tied to the Judgement Providence Trial, ten stages of enemy waves ending in Providence, which you must clear with all 15 base characters.
Risk of Rain Returns features an exhaustive ecosystem of 155 Steam achievements. Tracking global unlock data reveals a massive attrition rate, funneling players from basic onboarding tasks into a severe bottleneck of late-game mastery and cryptic exploration.
Exactly 15 of the 155 are hidden, and they are all the same thing: one per base survivor, named for that character, awarded for clearing Judgement with them. Every other achievement on the list shows its condition up front.
Notable Achievements
The following table outlines the most structurally significant achievements, including their mechanical requirements and hidden status.
| Achievement Name | Unlock Condition | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lizard Bait | Defeat 20 Lemurians in one playthrough. | Visible |
| Divine Intervention | Unlock a survivor. Commando and Huntress do not count. | Visible |
| Never Look Back | Complete the 1st stage in under 5 minutes. | Visible |
| The Grind | Level up to level 20. | Visible |
| Pre-Alpha | Find this item hidden somewhere in the world to unlock it. | Visible |
| Endless Voyager | Collect 4 Keycards in one run. They only drop on the final stage. | Visible |
| In the Forest | Find the Artifact of Honor. | Visible |
| First Place | Complete the Providence Trial "Slide to the Finish!". Alternatively, defeat 3,000 enemies as Commando. | Visible |
| Gold Medalist | Get a gold rank on at least 5 Providence Trials. | Visible |
| Thread the Needle | Complete the Providence Trial "A Rung Above". | Visible |
| "Is This Bugged?" | Fail a shrine 3 times in a row. | Visible |
| Warrior | Beat the 3rd stage. | Visible |
| Before Titans | Kill the Magma Worm, Wandering Vagrant, and Colossus. | Visible |
| Junk Collector | Kill the Scavenger. | Visible |
| In the Soup | Survive in lava for 1 minute straight. | Visible |
| Bandit's Cunning | Complete the Judgement Providence Trial as Bandit. | Hidden |
The achievement titled "Is This Bugged?" serves as a meta-joke by the developers, highlighting the brutal nature of the game's randomized mechanics. Any shrine you can fail counts, including Imp Shrines, though the Chance Shrine is where most players run into it. Three failures in a row turns a moment of extreme frustration into a rewarding badge of honor.
Mastering the Judgement Trial Gauntlet
The developers tied the absolute pinnacle of achievement hunting to the "Judgement" Providence Trial, which only opens once you have completed all 48 other trials. It is not a boss rush. You fight waves of enemies across ten stages, choosing items from multishop terminals before each one, with bosses appearing inside the waves and not one after another. Stage ten puts you against four Umbral survivor bosses in sequence and then Providence through all four of his phases, with Umbras still spawning around you.
Judgement changes the rules. You start at level 1, deal 125% damage, get no natural health regeneration, and die instantly if you fall out of bounds. You also cannot pick your abilities, so every character runs their default kit.
Completing it with a survivor awards two things: a skin for that character and its hidden achievement, such as Bandit's Cunning or Mercenary's Technique. Clearing it with all 15 base characters collects the full set. Robomando earns the skin as of patch 1.1.0 but has no matching achievement.
Judgement is widely treated as the hardest content in the game. No published source puts a number on its difficulty or on how long the full roster takes, so treat any specific figure you see quoted with suspicion. The author of the most-referenced community walkthrough says only that it took dozens of hours.
Meta Strategies for Judgement:
- Pacing the Roster: Start with high-sustain characters. Huntress, Drifter, and Engineer have the highest completion rates on Steam, and community walkthroughs order their write-ups the same way. Artificer and Miner sit at the bottom of that list, so save them for last.
- Your Starting Item: Judgement opens with a choice of one item from five: Gigantic Amethyst, Ancient Scepter, The Hit List, Guardian's Heart, or Ukulele. You pick one, not two. The Hit List builds damage slowly and caps at 20 bonus damage, so take Guardian's Heart if you want the safer opener. Guardian's Heart also shows up in a stage 1 multishop, so you can start with The Hit List and buy the shield a minute later.
- Time Control: Prioritize the Unstable Watch, which appears in a stage 2 multishop, combined with one or two Rapid Mitosis items. Stopping time for seven seconds is your lifeline for burning down elite waves. Note that Rapid Mitosis stacks multiplicatively, so two copies cut equipment cooldowns by around 44% and not 50%, and that stopped time does not protect you from Providence's lasers on stage ten.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many achievements are in Risk of Rain Returns?
There are 155 Steam achievements, 15 of them hidden. The hidden ones are one per base survivor, awarded for clearing the Judgement trial with that character.
What is the Judgement trial in Risk of Rain Returns?
Judgement is the final Providence Trial, unlocked only after you complete the other 48. You fight waves of enemies across ten stages with multishops between them, ending against four Umbral survivor bosses and then Providence. Clearing it with a survivor awards that character a skin and a hidden achievement.
How long does it take to beat Judgement with every character?
No published source gives a figure, so be wary of specific numbers quoted elsewhere. The author of the most-referenced community walkthrough says only that it took dozens of hours. It is widely treated as the hardest content in the game.
What items should you get for the Judgement gauntlet?
You pick one starting item from five, so choose Guardian's Heart for safety or The Hit List for damage that builds over time. Then prioritize the Unstable Watch from the stage 2 multishop with one or two Rapid Mitosis items so you can stop time and burst down elite waves.
How do you get the Is This Bugged achievement in Risk of Rain Returns?
Fail any shrine three times in a row. The Chance Shrine is where most players get it, but Imp Shrines and any other failable shrine count too. It is a developer meta-joke about the randomized mechanics.
What to Read Next
- Providence Trials. Trial challenges that overlap achievement conditions.
- Secrets and Unlocks. Boar Beach and Robomando requirements.
- Providence Boss Fight. The kill behind the completion unlocks.
- Survivors and Loadouts. Survivor-specific achievement work.