The game features the original set of Characters, plus 4 new ones. Below is a guide for each character, as well as their available skins.

Free the chained creature.
Its container can be found in the underwater level in the top right section. Freeing it will start a fight that you need to win in order to unlock the character.

Found in "UES Contact Light" by making your way outside below the bridge, then jumping up above Cabin into the small seemingly solid way between Bridge hallway and Cabin. It is to the left of the Stage Log.

Found below the stage in "Boar Beach", see "Stages" section. At least two jumps or equivalent are required to arrive at the Prism.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Visit 10 unique stages.
Play the game. That's basically it.

The most annoying one out of the available prism gems is by far, as the developers though it funny to put holes everywhere. Make your way to the left wall of the map, then take the two jump pads that suspiciously lead nowhere if you follow them to the left. You should land next to a dead Lemurian Fisherman, and then just go to the wall and climb down. Go out of bounds, then back in bounds to land in a chamber. From then on its a minefield of holes that you need to follow right - a jetpack and extra jumps are recommended. If you did everything correctly, a prism gem will appear that you can collect.


Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Complete the third stage of a run.
In multiplayer, you must be alive for it to count.

Found in the tutorial area by going down a hidden rope, then going to the other end of the stage. (Thanks to profiles/76561199569292980)

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Obtain "Meat Nugget", "Bustling Fungus", "Sprouting Egg", "Bitter Root" and "Foreign Fruit" in one run.
The "Foreign Fruit" is an equipment. It is only necessary to have these items simultaneously in a single run, you can immediate switch to a different equipment once the achievement pops up.

Kill Acrid with the "Cook" ability.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Unlocked by default.

Complete the Providence Trial "S.O.S.". (Thanks to id/CadesBurgers)

Located in "Desolate Forest", same variant as the enclosed Artifact of Honor. Accessible via a hidden rope in the top left section, which you simply climb down to the lowest chamber, and the prism should appear. (Thanks to id/zodaan, id/Paygie, id/NVUSLY)



Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Recycle 6 drones in one playthrough.
Become a drone vacuum, then loop until you find a drone recycler, and stuff all your drones into it.

Found in "Ancient Valley" #2 (Boar Beach variant). Make your way to the center of the map and find the visible and invisible platforms leading up to a Snowlemurian. On the larger of the two platforms, the prism gem will appear. (Thanks to profiles/76561198020320813)

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Defeat the three initial bosses: Wandering Vagrant, Colossus, Magma Worm.
Can be achieved through multiple runs.

Complete the Providence Trial "Inner Demons".

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Purchase a total of 40 drones.
Destroyed drones can be repaired and count towards this.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Find the robot janitor.
Found in the final level "UES Contact Light" in a damaged light gray container, either 2nd from the top or bottom, depending on the level variant. You can figure out which level variant you are on based on the window to Storage being broken - if broken, the container is on the top, otherwise bottom. The container is visually distinct from the dark gray purple-ish background containers, and you just need to interact with it to unlock it.

Complete the Providence Trial "Think of the Children".

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Unlocked by default.

Found in the same variant of "Magma Barracks" as the Miner through a hidden rope under the lava. It is slightly to the right of the entrance of the tunnel and leads into a small chamber. This chamber is connected to a room much further left which leads to a Stage Log, and from there on you can leave to the stage without going back. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657)

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Obtain 30 different items in one playthrough.
Play the game and become a loot vacuum.

Located in "Sky Meadow" #2 under the map, near the area with the artifact. Movement items will be required to reach the area with the archway, where the prism is located. (Thanks to profiles/76561199014790020)

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Beat the game five times.
May require more than 5 clears, for me it took 16 before it finally counted.

Found in "Risk of Rain - UES Contact Light" by making your way outside the ship to the area under the bridge to the dancing golems. If you head over to the area with the "1 Equipment" chest and make your way over the wall, there will be an island with a visible prism above it.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Clear a path for the survivor.
Found in a "Magma Barracks - The Core" variation, in the bottom right corner of the map behind a long lava tunnel. You will have to kill an Elder Lemurian boss named "Direseeker" to unlock the character.

Complete the Providence Challenge "Gup Sorting?". (Thanks to id/CadesBurgers)

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Collect 15 Monster Logs.
Play the game. That's basically it.

Complete the Providence Trial "Juggling Priorities". (Thanks to id/CadesBurgers)

Appears to unobtainable through any means. Not tied to the usual skin unlock save file flags, and there is no reference to it.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Secret.
Unlockable by carrying the "Strange Battery" from a previous run to a new run on at least Rainstorm difficulty, then on the third stage clearing the teleporter and waiting until the timer shows 22:00 (but no later than 22:59). You should now see a green arrow pointing to a red robot, which accepts the "Strange Battery", upon which you fight it. You must lose this fight to unlock this character.

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. Possibly not achievable at this point in time. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Beat the game.

Complete the Providence Trial "Lone Wolf".

Complete the Providence Trial "Judgement" with this character. (Thanks to profiles/76561198080266657, profiles/76561198437126992)

Artifacts allow you to modify the game mechanics somewhat. See "Risk of Rain Returns all Artifact Locations" for an in-depth guide.

Enemies create a temporary clone on death.
Found in "Desolate Forest" #4 in a noticable chamber below the ground. There is a hidden rope that can be climbed down into, which contains two buttons to press.

Items are no longer random.

Monsters can appear outside their usual environment.
Found in several shards across the stages. You need 4 unique shards to unlock it.

Found in "Sunken Tombs" #5, "Magma Barracks" #?, "Hive Cluster" #?, and ?

Lock a random skill every minute, but skills have decreased cooldowns.
Found in the top right section of the "Damp Caverns" stage, and requires that a purple pedestal/button is damaged in some way. It can not be directly hit, so you will need an explosion or similar. The artifact should then appear in the correct place.

Spawn with a random equipment that changes every time it's activated.
Found in the Underwater stage in the bottom right. There is a hidden geysir below the stage, so just hold right while falling.

Deal 500% damage, but have 10% health.
Found either on the left or right side of "Ancient Valley" and requires that you active 5 buttons "quickly". The timing for this is quite lenient, but not enough for sunday drivers to not fail at it. The artifact will appear at the bottom once the sound plays after activating all 5 buttons.

Enemies always spawn as elites.
Found on the left top section of two "Desolate Forest" variation. If surrounded by solid walls, it can be accessed by a hidden rope that is slightly further left than the leftmost chamber wall. Otherwise, you will need an extra jump to get into the chamber.

Only one enemy type spawns per stage.
Available on a "Dried Lake" variant on the first stage on the far right side. There is a breakable wall hiding a tunnel leading to a chamber with three buttons that need to be shot to make the artifact appear.

Imps invade the map every 10 minutes.

At least one Shrine of the Mountain spawns every stage. Shrine of the Mountain effects are permanent.

Chests no longer spawn; monsters now drop items on death.
Found in the "Magma Barracks", there are three buttons that need to be triggered. The first one is in the top left, the second one is bottom left, the third one is in the middle. Once all three have been pressed, the artifact can be collected in the left.

Characters run faster at lower health.
Found on the right side below the stage in one of the "Temple of the Elders" variants, behind a long series of precise jumps. Much easier to get to if you have a lot of vertical movement items.

Enemies explode on death.
Found in the "Sky Meadow" stage bottom left section below the level. There will be a noticeable hole on the lower - but not lowest - level terrain level into which you will fall. After a short jumping puzzle, you can pick up the artifact.

Items are worth multiple stacks. All items are temporary.
Arrive at "Temple of the Elders" and collect the Artifact before 16:00.

Risk of Rain Returns has various stages you can visit. All currently visitable stages have 6 possible variants, however what variant you get seems to be random or sometimes tied to what items and equipment you have at what time.

1. Dried Lake or Desolate Forest
   
2. Damp Caverns or Sky Meadow
   
3. Sunken Tombs or Hive Cluster
   
4. Magma Barracks or Ancient Valley
   
5. Temple of the Elders
   
6. UES Contact Light or Loop back to the first stage

Looping does not guarantee that you will get the same stages and variants again. Great for unlocking things, since you can stack up all the movement items to get to places.

There are six available variants. To reach "Boar Beach", you will need to get the 2nd variant, and find a broken/darkened fence area. Simply hold up on that area, and after a bit you should be teleported to the map.

A reference to MapleStory, accessed via "Ancient Valley". Contains a Strange Prism for Acrid, as well as the (currently) only known instance of the White Shirt. It is potentially inaccessible in multiplayer, and the end teleporter does not use the same rules as normal.

6 available variants.

6 available variants.

6 available variants.

6 available variants, plus a base map.

6 available variants.

2 available variants, plus an empty base map.

6 available variants.

6 available variants.

6 available variants. Always the stage before the "UES Contact Light".

The tutorial.

Just random things you'll find in the rain.


This chest allows you to teleport an equipment piece of your choice from the final level to the next run. It will appear in the 2nd level with the same price as a normal small chest. You'll reach it by leaving the ship on the top, then manouvering over and under the bridge to the area with the dancing golems, then heading through a hidden tunnel that leads to the chest. The chest will not be present if an item is still stored in it, so you can't override a bad previous choice without picking it up in the 2nd level.

Stored as:

Providence does not have a minimum health enforced by the game, so it is entirely possible to deplete his entire health bar in one or two attacks, thus forcing the next phase. The amount of items and levels required for this though make it non-viable for speedrunning.

The trials are listed as a 9x7 grid, with only the center one unlocked.

There are many items, some even have a use!