How to use Keycards in Risk of Rain Returns

Risk of Rain Returns is quite familiar with strange and obscure item unlocks across the board, but not all of its features are as weird as the Robomando. Some of them, like the Keycards, are rather straightforward, in fact, and easier to use than you’d think!

As Returns is a full-fledged remaster of the 2013 original, it’s a given that some things have changed quite a bit from the last time we enjoyed Hopoo Games’ seminal indie. The good news is that regular progression is still all about you pushing ever forward, and the Keycard mechanics play into this idea, too. The only important bit, really, is that you’re going to want to be tactical on what you use your Keycards on!

Using Keycards in Risk of Rain Returns

Keycards are a unique item exclusive to the final level of any given Risk of Rain Returns run: the UES Contact Light. Whereas all the environments players pass through until that point are weird and understandably alien, the Contact Light is a perfectly sensible human vessel. It’s a given, then, that some of its doors would be locked behind security keycards, right?

A grand total of four Keycards can drop as you make your way through the Contact Light, each of which can unlock a single security door leading to a huge loot room before the final Providence boss fight. The Keycards are fully interchangeable, and as long as you have one, you can use it on any of the four locked doors.

The thing to keep in mind is that Keycards can be accessed either by killing enemies (entirely random) or by finding special golden containers, and their exact locations are randomized. With that in mind, you don’t know where and how you’ll find them, so you just need to keep exploring Contact Light until you do.

Note that Keycards are wholly optional but extremely handy. Each of the four rooms is loaded with helpful loot and, perhaps more importantly, a single special item you can teleport to the bridge to assist you with your fight against Providence. For example, if you spend a Keycard on unlocking the Security storage room, you’ll be able to teleport a massive railgun to the bridge.

So, while it’s not entirely necessary to go after Keycards, we recommend keeping an eye out for them, as they can make your life way easier during the final showdown.