Recently that time has added up as I just unlocked the Engineer and Enforcer in Risk of Rain. I don't mind the Commando(the character you start with) but the game really opens up when you can use a different play style to win. Playing as the Engineer is such a different experience compared to the Commando that I worry some might miss how differently the game feels...

I haven't progressed very far in the game. I haven't played it very much nor do I think I've unlocked any other characters.
I do like the point you made in the beginning with your third paragraph about "Rougelikes." That is a good point. I see it fitting with Risk of Rain, Starship Rubicon, and FTL.
I have yet to unlock anything. One of the reasons I really like this game is I can sit down and play for 10-15 minutes. If something comes up and I have to bail mid-game I don't feel like I've lost anything.
Tim, are you playing Risk of Rain with a controller or keyboard?
Controller. :)
What controller are you using? Maybe we had this discussion in previous post about this game. I bought a cool USB XBox 360 controller that's see-through and has blue lights. The game functioned much better with it and my PC recognized the controller easily enough. I remember when I tried to get a PS3 controller working on my old PC, that was a pain. I had to download a program (and device drivers) to get it emulated as an XBox 360 controller and even then it didn't work very well. Although I pretty much just tried it with Morrowind.
I use a USB Xbox 360 controller. It works perfect for playing games (like this one) that benefit from a controller.