What are corrupted items in Risk of Rain 2?

gamepur.com:

Risk of Rain 2 has its first premium DLC with Survivors of the Void, and a large mechanic of the expansion includes a new mechanic of corruption. How corruption will interact with your Risk of Rain 2 playthrough will depend on your character, and what you’re attempting to accomplish in that specific run.

Corrupted items, however, are a new universal mechanic with the DLC that will be present through every run. New interactable objects, the Void Cradles, will appear in stages in the shape of a purple cauldron. Opening these cauldrons will cost players 50% of their current HP, and a resulting item will drop. These are called Void items, and picking them up offers a unique buff, but they also corrupt specific items.

This corruption of other items isn’t necessarily bad: it simply changes specified items to match the void item picked up. If players were to pick up the Lysate Cell void item, for example, all Fuel Cells currently held by the player will corrupt into Lysate Cells. This means that players will lose all stacks of additional equipment charges (granted by the Fuel Cell) and will instead gain stacks of Special skills (granted by the Lysate Cell).

The item that the Void item will corrupt is typically viewable before picking up the item, noted by the original asset being morphed into the new icon. The Tentabauble, for example, prominently features the Chronobauble icon, alluding to players what will corrupt before the item is picked up.

Paying attention to the item details prior to picking it up will allow players to determine how to form their builds for that run. Ultimately, as is the tradition for roguelikes, exploration and experimentation will be the key for future successful runs.