Risen

 PC
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 894 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 659 out of 894
  2. Mixed: 163 out of 894
  3. Negative: 72 out of 894
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  1. KIrillooss
    Dec 9, 2021
    8
    Великолепная игра с хорошей историей и классным геймплеем, не считая боёвки. Она так себе
  2. IamNader
    May 17, 2023
    8
    As an avid GOTHIC player, I can say that this game is truly an epic adventure that offers many positive aspects - 8/10
  3. vahn
    Jul 24, 2013
    7
    Risen is a game that takes a lot from the Gothic series and tries anew with different ideas, with a better graphics and more fluid controls: the result is a very rewarding game...but also extremely frustrating. Let's be clear with one thing: this game is unforgiving for newcomers. You'll have to step carefully on whatever you're going to do, from fights to spending points, and if you failRisen is a game that takes a lot from the Gothic series and tries anew with different ideas, with a better graphics and more fluid controls: the result is a very rewarding game...but also extremely frustrating. Let's be clear with one thing: this game is unforgiving for newcomers. You'll have to step carefully on whatever you're going to do, from fights to spending points, and if you fail you'll be taken down hard, which means that you'll be breaking that quicksave button every now and then. The game is big too and you'll be put in choosing what path you want to make, and this choice isn't exactly black and white, but more like light grey and dark grey which is very confusing but also kind of interesting: the bandits, for example, seem the right ones, although they'll still act roughly and will ask you to rob and stuff, same with the Inquisition since they'll look like nice people but actually have a rigid policy and, if you go close to them, you'll be FORCED to join them. This will be your first step, and for a good bunch of hours you'll just move carefully around a small area, until you'll be able to step out...and now the game will reward you! While out, you can start the island exploration, do additional quests (which aren't always top notch), fight more enemies for more levels if you want, anything! While the first steps are extremely slow, the game rewards you for your patience and will give you so much satisfaction in everything you've done right. This alone would be great if it wasn't for so many bad flaws. Like the combat. While it's not the clunkiest ever, the fighting is so slow and extremely laggy (in commands) that basically your tactics are literally useless: the game actually suggests you and gives you the possibility to dodge and to parry and you'll be also able to counter attack them, but so do the enemies, which means :
    1)Your enemies will often be able to dodge/parry or both most of your attacks with an insane timing and reaction, making the simplest battles some of the longest ever.
    2)Your dodges will rarely work because they'll be either delayed (or often you'll dodge twice or three times in a row), or their attacks will reach you both from side and backsteps.
    In other words, the combat is extremely laggy and non functional and the only real tactic to use is to mash the m1 and kill them whenever you can: luckily they seem to be weak to walls (they usually won't parry for some reasons) and will randomly lower their guards making our attacks go through. Luckily this won't apply to animal enemies since they won't parry...but their dodges and attacks can be insanely well timed that you'll scream (the ghouls are the worse, since they can also BREAK your parry!). Another huge problem unfortunely are the bugs: luckily I had only one crash and I haven't had any game breaking bugs...but I often got "stuck" while climbing and that basically forced me to reload everytime, without mentioning a very "useful" bug that works whenever you fall down, making you land on an invisible stair case. Useful, but extremely random. The last problem, which isn't the biggest but still is, is the story and the main character itself: they are both boring. The main character is extremely bland that I often get surprised that he talks: he kinda fits more the role of a silent character; no customization except for the few armors and weapons we'll get (and I mean few, since there are barely 10 for each), and the story, while doesn't show up very early, even when it comes up it's still very boring and I didn't feel much of a reward and, infact, I just felt more rewarded by fighting those hard enemies and by just exploring. In the end, it's not a masterpiece but it's not a bad game either but it's just too bland and too clunky and too sluggish to enjoy at its fullest. However, if you put patience into it and a lot of effort, the game will open its gates and show you a lot of roads to be taken. Worth a look, but with proper protection and a lot of patience!    … Expand
  4. Pomornik
    Sep 24, 2011
    7
    The first two chapters are marvelous, they have everything that a good RPG should have. Sadly, the other two are exact opposite of that. 10/10 for the first half of the game, and 4/10 for the other.
  5. infidel1
    May 15, 2012
    7
    There's no way you can't call Risen a good game. The combat was challenging and rewarding -- you had to be quick and observant to prevail, so button-mashing and foolishly charging-in were not an option. It had a dance-like combination of footwork, blocking and planned strikes. I died a lot early-on against low-level mobs. A LOT. But it was rewarding when, later on, I cut right throughThere's no way you can't call Risen a good game. The combat was challenging and rewarding -- you had to be quick and observant to prevail, so button-mashing and foolishly charging-in were not an option. It had a dance-like combination of footwork, blocking and planned strikes. I died a lot early-on against low-level mobs. A LOT. But it was rewarding when, later on, I cut right through them, so you don't see me whining now -- which, that said: I'm also impressed with Risen's . The world was full of atmosphere -- environments were detailed and varied. I think the developers were lacking in character design, as they reused models for NPCs and even then the models weren't the best, but that just points more focus towards an enchanting environment. The player character's smart-a** attitude made me happy, and I'm glad they gave him voice-over (unlike, say, in DA:O). Bottom line: despite imperfections that prevent me from calling it "great," Risen was fun to play.… Expand
  6. jim109109
    May 31, 2012
    7
    If you're into the realistic RPG genre, where the game sucks you in because you actually feel like a **** weak loser dropped onto an island, barely able to stay alive, struggling to find items one by one and make his way through, you will love it. The atmosphere and graphics is great. The voice acting is rather horrible and boring. In the town part which sucks you in for 10 hours (theIf you're into the realistic RPG genre, where the game sucks you in because you actually feel like a **** weak loser dropped onto an island, barely able to stay alive, struggling to find items one by one and make his way through, you will love it. The atmosphere and graphics is great. The voice acting is rather horrible and boring. In the town part which sucks you in for 10 hours (the point where i quit the game) you have to constanlty talk to everyone in town in a desperate attempt for the game producers to extend the length of the game. Maybe the game gets more exciting after that point but after having run around town for 10 hours listening to bad voice acting I got tired with the game. Up to the town I was enjoying it, though compared to Gothic and better RPG's it's inferior.… Expand
  7. Starostin_Anton
    Dec 30, 2012
    7
    First of all, Risen is very similar to Gothic. Based on this, Risen was well appreciated by Gothic fans. But Risen looks like a copy of Gothic. And it's not good at all.
    By the way, I like Risen. It's a nice game with gloomy atmosphere, very cool fight system and German humour. I think, fight system in Risen is best among Piranha Bytes' games. So, there are many interest quests in first    First of all, Risen is very similar to Gothic. Based on this, Risen was well appreciated by Gothic fans. But Risen looks like a copy of Gothic. And it's not good at all.
    By the way, I like Risen. It's a nice game with gloomy atmosphere, very cool fight system and German humour. I think, fight system in Risen is best among Piranha Bytes' games. So, there are many interest quests in first half of game. But after completing first chapters storyline is becomes very boring and annoying. Problems with story are the main disadvantage of Risen.
    Anyway, I like Risen for its atmosphere. Dark colours in swamps or bright sun lights in mountains in combination with beautiful music from Kai Rosenkranz create an unforgettable experience.    … Expand
  8. aborle
    Jul 1, 2013
    7
    What's good :
    -A Hardcore RPG that doesn't believe in hand-holding the player. But still treats you with respect.
    -No loot limit! Pick all ye want! -Beautiful environments. Just wandering in the world and looking around brings a feeling of wonder -Decent voice acting. Not great but, hey its better than a lot of bargain bin rpgs What's Not : -The combat system. I was really sick of    What's good :
    -A Hardcore RPG that doesn't believe in hand-holding the player. But still treats you with respect.
    -No loot limit! Pick all ye want!
    -Beautiful environments. Just wandering in the world and looking around brings a feeling of wonder
    -Decent voice acting. Not great but, hey its better than a lot of bargain bin rpgs

    What's Not :
    -The combat system. I was really sick of the combat mechanics and the ability of your hero to get stun locked by the 33rd hour of my playtime. Mages might be different, melee and ranged suck.
    -Lacklustre story. Its literally one giant fetch quests which can be broken down into smaller fetch quests. You'll always have to find 5 samples of item A or 6 samples of item B in order to progress the story.
    -The Quest system is kinda broken.

    Bottom Line Buy this game IN A SALE if you love rpgs. I suppose people who love the gothic series would buy this game at any price. Others move along, nothing to see here    … Expand
  9. CaptainThom
    Nov 10, 2013
    7
    A solid game but there is alot of room for improvement. I found the world of Risen dangerous and sometimes dark but fun to explore with an interesting backstory. I did enjoy the different playstyles dependent on faction giving different gameplay experiences making it worthwhile to play through more than once. The quests were on a whole pretty decent helping your faction felt like you wereA solid game but there is alot of room for improvement. I found the world of Risen dangerous and sometimes dark but fun to explore with an interesting backstory. I did enjoy the different playstyles dependent on faction giving different gameplay experiences making it worthwhile to play through more than once. The quests were on a whole pretty decent helping your faction felt like you were having an effect on them and the world around you but quest markers or a better map are desperately needed.

    The game can be ridiculously frustrating at time especially the combat system which is especially early on extremely punishing and often unfairly so when you can randomly meet creatures you have no chance of killing with no warning. Theres could and perhaps should have been far more spells available and the ability to play as a mix of classes like in the Elder Scrolls series would have been appreciated.

    Overall its a decent game it isn't anything you haven't seen before in an RPG but its enjoyable while it lasts.    … Expand
  10. Vzhik
    Nov 12, 2018
    7
    Игра прошла под лозунгом "Дайте мне магию, буду шмалять по инквизиции". В итоге и магию не всю дали, и инквизицию как-то не особо замочить получилось...
    Очень круто что игра полностью на русском, включая озвучку. Мили боёвка просто полный атас, невозможно без матов смотреть.
    Ничего от Пираний раньше не играл, очень понравились квесты, загадки, ветвления сюжета, ориентированность на    Игра прошла под лозунгом "Дайте мне магию, буду шмалять по инквизиции". В итоге и магию не всю дали, и инквизицию как-то не особо замочить получилось...
    Очень круто что игра полностью на русском, включая озвучку. Мили боёвка просто полный атас, невозможно без матов смотреть.
    Ничего от Пираний раньше не играл, очень понравились квесты, загадки, ветвления сюжета, ориентированность на прохождение где не надо всех тупо выкашивать.    … Expand
  11. Mellow_Online2
    Jan 3, 2016
    7
    Risen is definitely a good game but it's far from a masterpiece. This is definitely good graphics for 2009 (well with the settings maxed out.) but When the people at deep silver were making this hard-core RPG they did need to cut budgets on a few of the things, one of them being the voice acting. The voice acting sounds like the people were half asleep when saying their lines, the bestRisen is definitely a good game but it's far from a masterpiece. This is definitely good graphics for 2009 (well with the settings maxed out.) but When the people at deep silver were making this hard-core RPG they did need to cut budgets on a few of the things, one of them being the voice acting. The voice acting sounds like the people were half asleep when saying their lines, the best thing I can say about the voice acting is that I've heard worse. There are some elements to the game which, I have to say I'm not a big fan of like if u want to pick up an item u need to put your weapon away. If u want to cook u need to have a pan equipped but those are just nit-picks. The worst thing about Risen though, has to be the plot. The plot is u were a stowaway on a ship and said ship is destroyed by the kraken and u wash ashore on a beach. Then when u start exploring the island u find the locals and they tell u there are strange ruins that have risen from the ground and u need to find out y. Exciting story isn't it? Another problem is that when u kill an enemy your game freezes for maybe 1 sec and I hear from Xbox 360 players of the game that their game freezes for about 5 secs some versions even longer. So u will need to be very patient with Risen. The AI seems a little too smart as they seem to dodge 9/10 of your attacks so I recommend to first time players of risen (Even if you've played other RPGs) Play on easy first. There are a few times where the game can also get a tad bit boring but that only happened on 2 occasions. The map is really hard to figure out as well. Those are the only problems I can think of about Risen. u r looking at about 60 hours of gameplay with the main missions and side missions. I complete it on another PC of mine and I've just started a 2nd play through on this one. The characters are unique they all seem to have a different personality. There are tons of dialogue choices in Risen just like those in Knights Of The Old Republic. If u love looting in RPGs like I do hen this game is a Must buy. Your inventory is unlimited u can hold an unlimited amount of items not like Skyrim or fallout where u have a weight limit but Skyrim and Fallout are still better than risen.

    Overall if u like RPGs or u love looting this game is a definite buy but make sure you get the PC version because I've heard tons of complaints about the Xbox 360 version.

    Final verdict

    Pros
    + Tons of dialogue choices
    + Unlimited weight limit
    + Unique characters
    + 60 hours of gameplay
    + More of a hard core RPG

    Cons
    - Uninteresting and boring plot
    - Often freezes
    - Bad map
    - can be boring at times
    - Bad voice acting    … Expand
  12. Mellow_Online4
    Mar 22, 2016
    7
    Risen is definitely a good game but it's far from a masterpiece. This is definitely good graphics for 2009 (well with the settings maxed out.) but When the people at deep silver were making this hard-core RPG they did need to cut budgets on a few of the things, one of them being the voice acting. The voice acting sounds like the people were half asleep when saying their lines, the bestRisen is definitely a good game but it's far from a masterpiece. This is definitely good graphics for 2009 (well with the settings maxed out.) but When the people at deep silver were making this hard-core RPG they did need to cut budgets on a few of the things, one of them being the voice acting. The voice acting sounds like the people were half asleep when saying their lines, the best thing I can say about the voice acting is that I've heard worse. There are some elements to the game which, I have to say I'm not a big fan of like if u want to pick up an item u need to put your weapon away. If u want to cook u need to have a pan equipped but those are just nit-picks. The worst thing about Risen though, has to be the plot. The plot is u were a stowaway on a ship and said ship is destroyed by the kraken and u wash ashore on a beach. Then when u start exploring the island u find the locals and they tell u there are strange ruins that have risen from the ground and u need to find out y. Exciting story isn't it? Another problem is that when u kill an enemy your game freezes for maybe 1 sec and I hear from Xbox 360 players of the game that their game freezes for about 5 secs some versions even longer. So u will need to be very patient with Risen. The AI seems a little too smart as they seem to dodge 9/10 of your attacks so I recommend to first time players of risen (Even if you've played other RPGs) Play on easy first. There are a few times where the game can also get a tad bit boring but that only happened on 2 occasions. The map is really hard to figure out as well. Those are the only problems I can think of about Risen. u r looking at about 60 hours of gameplay with the main missions and side missions. I complete it on another PC of mine and I've just started a 2nd play through on this one. The characters are unique they all seem to have a different personality. There are tons of dialogue choices in Risen just like those in Knights Of The Old Republic. If u love looting in RPGs like I do hen this game is a Must buy. Your inventory is unlimited u can hold an unlimited amount of items not like Skyrim or fallout where u have a weight limit but Skyrim and Fallout are still better than risen.

    Overall if u like RPGs or u love looting this game is a definite buy but make sure you get the PC version because I've heard tons of complaints about the Xbox 360 version.    … Expand
  13. derek_
    Apr 12, 2021
    7
    Considered how old this game is, it still looks very good on PC. Act I is great, Act II is stil good, Act III and IV.. well are really bad. From great times in city, swamp or citadel, talking with NPC, getting know everyone, solving things, roaming around island.. to boring hack slash (has to kill droves of same enemis on every corner during "questing") and fetch this items direction,Considered how old this game is, it still looks very good on PC. Act I is great, Act II is stil good, Act III and IV.. well are really bad. From great times in city, swamp or citadel, talking with NPC, getting know everyone, solving things, roaming around island.. to boring hack slash (has to kill droves of same enemis on every corner during "questing") and fetch this items direction, revealing really mundane (at best) and uninteresting story. After ACT I combat became more of inconvinience than fun. But, this game is still worth try, at least for those frist to acts :-)… Expand
  14. Tilt1k
    Jun 29, 2020
    7
    Its just like gothic 3 with some adjustments and graphics enhancement. I dont know why i even like this style of games. The writing is really stupid and plain, NPCs are not memorable and pretty generic. The combat system is just hit and jump all over again, there is a little variety of enemies and most of them attack the same way. The leveling system is also nothing spectacular.

    Nothing    Its just like gothic 3 with some adjustments and graphics enhancement. I dont know why i even like this style of games. The writing is really stupid and plain, NPCs are not memorable and pretty generic. The combat system is just hit and jump all over again, there is a little variety of enemies and most of them attack the same way. The leveling system is also nothing spectacular.

    Nothing really stands out from this game, and if i look at it on paper it should be bad. But i just enjoyed most of my playthrough, what keeps this game going is the exploration of the island, you just wanna see more and more and find everything. I spent 72 hours in my first playthrough which is quite a lot. As i have said this game is not really amazing in anything but it has some magic in it and if you like RPG games, you should enjoy this one.    … Expand
  15. rezo_21
    Sep 19, 2021
    7
    ====================IIIIIIIIII GAME SCORE : 67 IIIIIIIIII====================
  16. IdleSpace
    Nov 4, 2022
    7
    Чуть ли не полная калька с Готики 1 на более современный лад. Это не минус, любители Г1 точно оценят)
    Очень сложно выбрать оценку между 7 и 8, поэтому напишу так - эта игра лучше, чем Г1, но до 8 совсем немного не хватает.
    Главные отличия: - простая боевка, которую нужно понять лишь один раз, и можно будет проходить всю игру, без вкачивания мастерства (вывозить на силе); - наполненный    Чуть ли не полная калька с Готики 1 на более современный лад. Это не минус, любители Г1 точно оценят)
    Очень сложно выбрать оценку между 7 и 8, поэтому напишу так - эта игра лучше, чем Г1, но до 8 совсем немного не хватает.
    Главные отличия:
    - простая боевка, которую нужно понять лишь один раз, и можно будет проходить всю игру, без вкачивания мастерства (вывозить на силе);
    - наполненный мир (в каждому углу лежат ништяки, что стимулирует к исследованию, да и дизайн мира вроде неплохой);
    - снижен порог входа;
    - все 3 прото-класса стали иметь смысл, т.к. все 3 стали играбельными.
    Главные сходства:
    - мир хоть и стал более дружелюбный и простой, но атмосфера ощущается приятно мрачной (тут ближе к Г2);
    - слитая концовка;
    - местами - ощущается вырезанный контент (не так критично, как в Г1, но все же);
    - иллюзия весомости принятых решений (игра достаточно линейная).
    Итог: мне игра очень зашла, с ходу прошел 2 раза за разные лагеря и классы (маг/лук). Ощущается короткой (25 часов на первое прохождение со всеми побочками).
    В своем топе поставил бы её между Г2 и Г1, но до 8 баллов по ощущениям не дотягивает)

    СС: 2 times.    … Expand
  17. PenetratorGod
    Aug 20, 2023
    7
    A good game that you can still play today. It's one of my favorite games. Don't let its appearance fool you, you should give it a chance. But I can't say the same for the other games of the series. But some parts of the gameplay and story can be extremely frustrating. If you have an angry nature, this game might not be for you.
  18. phanj
    Nov 22, 2009
    6
    I tried to and really want to like this game. I just can't stand the combat, which is very frustrating. Your opponent gets guaranteed hits, but the reflex-based combat system implies that your mouse clicking skills will suffice. So the combat tries to be action-rpg because your coordination with the mouse is important and not so much your player's stats (as opposed to DA:O where I tried to and really want to like this game. I just can't stand the combat, which is very frustrating. Your opponent gets guaranteed hits, but the reflex-based combat system implies that your mouse clicking skills will suffice. So the combat tries to be action-rpg because your coordination with the mouse is important and not so much your player's stats (as opposed to DA:O where 'stats' are everything). Even the simplest creatures seem to have more HP than you do and will take many hits to kill. Also the world is chock full of hostiles at every turn, just amplifying how frustrating the game can get when each fight seems rigged to be unfair. When you engage a hostile, you can't defend and attack (mele) at the same time, so you MUST release the shield and strike. And in this 1/20th of a second window where you release your shield and click to attack, your opponent gets a random chance at a guaranteed hit and you are forced to quaff a heal pot (which are hard to find early on). You can NOT hold the shield up and hit with the weapon at the same time. Other people who seem to have not noticed that the combat is unfair say it's fine, but they just haven't noticed the game is cheating in combat. Also the game forces you to do menial tasks to progress in the game like farm a farmer's field. Things like this serve the story, but absolutely are not fun to do. So from that perspective story is primary in this game, and RPG elements secondary. It's an adventure game with RPG elements, but as far as game progression, you must do many of the quests. What I like about the game is that the world is indeed as PB says, detail rich. The world is immersive. Everything is skillfully made. Time of day is very well done. I wish I could stand this game more so that I could see more of what it has to offer, because the scenery is very nice. I've also heard there are some big dungeons to explore and I'd love to see those. Oh well.… Expand
  19. GlennH
    Oct 21, 2009
    6
    Risen is more of the same... That's the best way to put it. The combat is decent, though repetitive. The graphics are nice, if unimaginative. The story moves you through the game, but doesn't enthrall you. The game is mediocre. One of the strangest decisions is not letting you create your own character... Why do I have to play a premade character, when there is nothing Risen is more of the same... That's the best way to put it. The combat is decent, though repetitive. The graphics are nice, if unimaginative. The story moves you through the game, but doesn't enthrall you. The game is mediocre. One of the strangest decisions is not letting you create your own character... Why do I have to play a premade character, when there is nothing interesting about him? He's the fantasy equivalent of a bald space marine.… Expand
  20. HubertM
    Jan 2, 2010
    6
    I'm a great Gothic fan(real gothic: 1,2 and Night of the Raven) that's why I suffered really much when Piranha made IMHO very crappy G3. So I was looking forward Risen, hoping they would correct previous mistakes. And at the beginning I really enjoyed it - good optymalisation, nice graphics models, interesting plot. But it soon turned out that gameplay is dull, side quests I'm a great Gothic fan(real gothic: 1,2 and Night of the Raven) that's why I suffered really much when Piranha made IMHO very crappy G3. So I was looking forward Risen, hoping they would correct previous mistakes. And at the beginning I really enjoyed it - good optymalisation, nice graphics models, interesting plot. But it soon turned out that gameplay is dull, side quests almost don't exist, the map is huge however, there's nothing interesting to see except hordes of boring mobs. Main quests were all about annihilating more and more mobs to get milion pieces of very powerful artifact, and later another and another. But during my whole 'adventure' with Risen it didn't really bother me, because I was waiting for some development of plot when suddenly...the game ended. I was laughing whole day because I think it took me the same time I would need to get to the 3rd chapter of G2 for example. For me - better than G3, but still average.… Expand
  21. ThomasJ.
    Oct 15, 2009
    6
    The game has it's moments, but it completely fails to provide any kind of depth seen in for example Oblivion or Morrowind by Bethesda. Risen also suffers from some over-detailing the 'shallow spots', if such a term exists. The developer is trying to create an illusion of depth where there is none. As a comparison to anything with Bethesda or Black Isle on the cover, this The game has it's moments, but it completely fails to provide any kind of depth seen in for example Oblivion or Morrowind by Bethesda. Risen also suffers from some over-detailing the 'shallow spots', if such a term exists. The developer is trying to create an illusion of depth where there is none. As a comparison to anything with Bethesda or Black Isle on the cover, this fails miserably - but on it's own, or even when sitting next to the Gothic games, it's well above 'nice'. Unspectacular, kind of shallow but fans of the genre shouldn't miss it.… Expand
  22. Neddy
    Jul 29, 2013
    6
    It's playable to the end with patience. It justifiabley probably deserves more than 6/10, only I was hit with a bug that prevented me upgrading my swordfighting. The game itself is quite brilliant. Controls are easy, the scenery's good, and the story is easily interesting enough.

    However I was hit by two things that slowed the game down badly. Early on, my recommendation letter was    It's playable to the end with patience. It justifiabley probably deserves more than 6/10, only I was hit with a bug that prevented me upgrading my swordfighting. The game itself is quite brilliant. Controls are easy, the scenery's good, and the story is easily interesting enough.

    However I was hit by two things that slowed the game down badly.

    Early on, my recommendation letter was not accompanied with directions where to take it. I wandered for at least eight hours, before I searched online and found where to go.

    Secondly my close combat was hindered by my inability to advance my sword fighting stats. I was regularly locked in battles with lizard warrior foes that took me hours and hours and hours to defeat. Shame. [Plus the disgusting noise the lizards make urghh. It's like the sound of regurgitation and snarling mixed.]

    Another of my grumbles, is that at least quarter of Risen, is spent in the dark. Medieval torches did little to help, and you have to drop them to battle, as your're using two hands.

    Many seem to complain that Risen is slow, and I found it exceptionally difficult in places. However if you're patient, and don't get hit by bugs you have masses of fun.    … Expand
  23. kyosuke69
    Oct 10, 2013
    6
    Beautiful, autistic and buggy. Do you like beautiful game settings? Risen has you. How about grinding endlessly for tiny gains? Screw Disgaea, here's your new joint!
  24. tsakiym
    May 12, 2015
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I do not have to say anything more. But i need to write one hundred and fifty characters. i think my score can describe it............................… Expand
  25. masi
    Feb 28, 2019
    6
    I loved Gothic 1 and 2, didn't finish the third (too empty and boring to my taste), never tried Arcadia. Now I finally got some time to try out Risen and... well, it's kinda meh.

    It isn't all bad. I quite enjoyed the bandit camp quests and dungeon riddles seem fun so far (I heard they get repetitive toward the end but I haven't got there yet). The beginning also feels very Gothic-like,    I loved Gothic 1 and 2, didn't finish the third (too empty and boring to my taste), never tried Arcadia. Now I finally got some time to try out Risen and... well, it's kinda meh.

    It isn't all bad. I quite enjoyed the bandit camp quests and dungeon riddles seem fun so far (I heard they get repetitive toward the end but I haven't got there yet). The beginning also feels very Gothic-like, in a nostalgic kind of way. But that's about it, unfortunately.

    One of the best thing about Gothic 1 and 2 was the variability. There were 3 distinct factions, each with their own philosophy, equipment and quests. To join the monastery and to join the militia in G2 you had to do completely different things, each fun in their own way, hell, from what I remember there are at least TWO ways to get accepted to the militia. In Risen, however it is reduced to MMO-like collect 5 sets of unit X and give it to the faction you prefer, rinse and repeat 7 times. Thus, the Harbor town was less fun than the bandit camp, but the initial hype was still there, so at that moment I didn't really mind. Then I joined the mages, did the monastery quests and set off to the east where supposedly some gnomes had some quest stuff. Somewhere on the way I got lost and wandered into a huge swamp (it felt almost as big as the G1 one) and there was pretty much NOTHING in there apart from 3 worms and a couple dozen of moths. Literally nothing. That got me wondering if the exploration is actually worth it in this game. Well, it turned out that it wasn't. Pretty much all good stuff (apart from plants but there are so many of those that you can actually miss out some) is found in the quest caves. No more hidden caves with OP loot you could miss.

    Well, let's get back to our gnomes. I looked at this big empty swamp and thought "well, after all i'm not exactly supposed to be here at this point, maybe smth exciting will happen here later". And I set off in the opposite direction to Don's camp. Now, imagine this greedy powerful criminal who got thrown out of his own town by the Inquisitor and wants to get revenge and get it all back. On top of this our nameless hero cheated all his spies, kicked them out of town and sold the criminal's family jewelry to the Inquisition . How do you think he should greet us? "Die, you thieving scum!"? Nope! "Oh hi again! You want a golden disk in exchange for the ruin I already have? No problem! Saving the island comes first!"Just like that. It pretty much killed the game for me. The writing is just awful, and not just in this particular instance. For example, I have absolutely no idea, why the hell I should save this island at all. By tradition, our MC doesn't have a background, but if in G1 it worked due to the setting, here it only rises questions. Just why would this guy want to stow away in an inquisition ship? what exactly is his motivation for coming here, staying here, killing this **** of lizards, for anything? No idea.

    Speaking of lizards, the local fauna is extremely poor as compared to the Gothics. Given the repetitiveness of combat (both melee and magic), it quite discourages exploration as well.

    Magic in Gothic was pretty awesome. I still remember the satisfaction of a dozen orc elites dying together in your fire rain. The was a huge variety of spells to choose from, some were pretty useless but fun nonetheless, you could turn into a chicken just for the heck of it, for instance. Here the are only 3 combat spells you can't even you simultaneously at full potential. The rest are either pure utility or obsolete by the time you get them. That's just shallow and boring.

    And there are bugs. I had to tweak the fps in the .ini to let the Nameless climb up without freezing in mid-air. I found at least one unfinishable quest. NPCs risk dying to a pack of boars when travelling the roads even if you are not there to help (thus the ogre in the prison actually killed all the lizards on his way from one cell to another XD).

    Right now I've just begun the chapter 3. I'm not sure if I play Risen to the end but I'm definitely not gonna replay it. Ever    … Expand
  26. Jeyker
    Jul 18, 2019
    6
    First couple of hours I was feeling like I wanna walkthrough Risen again but after first completion, I understand that Risen's world is very limited. There are no differences if you decide walkthrough Risen in another way (another faction for example).

    Also, there are no reasons to collect armor, weapons, because you will get the top weapon and armor at the end of the game. Weapons and    First couple of hours I was feeling like I wanna walkthrough Risen again but after first completion, I understand that Risen's world is very limited. There are no differences if you decide walkthrough Risen in another way (another faction for example).

    Also, there are no reasons to collect armor, weapons, because you will get the top weapon and armor at the end of the game. Weapons and armor are really boring and usual.

    Gothic was really better I think. It could be worse, so I will give this game 6 out of 10.    … Expand
  27. Magical_Viktor
    Apr 30, 2023
    6
    Существуют просто Зло и Большое Зло, а за ними обоими в тени прячется Очень Большое Зло. Очень Большое Зло, Геральт, это такое, которого ты и представить себе не можешь, даже если думаешь, будто уже ничто не в состоянии тебя удивить. И знаешь, Геральт, порой бывает так, что Очень Большое Зло схватит тебя за горло и скажет: «Выбирай, братец, либо я, либо то, которое чуточку поменьше»Существуют просто Зло и Большое Зло, а за ними обоими в тени прячется Очень Большое Зло. Очень Большое Зло, Геральт, это такое, которого ты и представить себе не можешь, даже если думаешь, будто уже ничто не в состоянии тебя удивить. И знаешь, Геральт, порой бывает так, что Очень Большое Зло схватит тебя за горло и скажет: «Выбирай, братец, либо я, либо то, которое чуточку поменьше»
  28. AndyG.
    Jan 14, 2010
    5
    Started fine, but very soon became apparent that I'd played it before. Piranha Byte's brand of RPG will die like 'Might and Magic' for its chronic inability to advance, improve or develop their creation. At least Bethesda take some risks to build on what they have.
  29. GabrielU.
    Oct 13, 2009
    5
    Well... I'm very disappointed by new PB's game. Firstly, they were shouting about "NEWS, NEWS, NEWS, other look of their games". They even showed few concept arts with big nosed people, a dwarf. But they didn't want to work much, so we have a Gothic 3 except it's called "Risen". That's because i wouldn't rate it above 7 already. JUST THINK ABOUT SOMETHING Well... I'm very disappointed by new PB's game. Firstly, they were shouting about "NEWS, NEWS, NEWS, other look of their games". They even showed few concept arts with big nosed people, a dwarf. But they didn't want to work much, so we have a Gothic 3 except it's called "Risen". That's because i wouldn't rate it above 7 already. JUST THINK ABOUT SOMETHING NEW, PB! I played this game, almost the same, in 2001 when Gothic 1 had had realesed, and again when G2 and Night of the Raven came out, and once more in 2006. Just cut this out. But I leave that graphic and gameplay issues... Don't care, after all i wanted a great story in this game, which will memorize me great moments from G1 and NotR. But no. The beginning is SO, so BAD, with sucky "training missions", when i felt like an idiot, when the game had showed me how to jump or pick up an object. Later is a little better, i had been played almost 10 hours with joy, a great moment when I've entered with Mendoza into volcano, lizardmen showed up and... OH NOEAS, betrayer Mendoza! Fire Titan! GO, you nameless fella, with tragic voice actor! BECOMA LORD OF THE TITANS and gather 5 pieces of my SUPERDUPER ARMOR and beat the bastard! No, that's not a good and epic story. Sorry PB, you made 3 almost same games with much better stories. Cut it out and make something NEW!… Expand
  30. JeffA
    Nov 15, 2009
    5
    Blah dialog, blah combat, blah voice acting and character animations. Blah enemies, very very dull all around. Try gothic II or oblivion, this game is lame.
  31. JohnS.
    Oct 12, 2009
    5
    Its a bit like gothic 1 with new decent graphics, less interesting character development, boring and very repetitive fights and a bit dull story. Not a bad game, but waaaay behind what i would expect from Piranha Bytes.
  32. JohnW
    Nov 25, 2009
    5
    A lot of glitches. Poor battle system. Poor maps. Not worth the price at all.
  33. Horrux
    Mar 13, 2012
    5
    Dialogs are delivered in a monotone. Quests are obviously filler quests that are meaningless, at least at first, letting you see that you're up for a grind. Combat is fraught with false difficulty, meaning it's a kind of randomness instead of there being something you can do about it, like get better at controlling your chararcter, or upgrading your stats. The graphics are good, though.Dialogs are delivered in a monotone. Quests are obviously filler quests that are meaningless, at least at first, letting you see that you're up for a grind. Combat is fraught with false difficulty, meaning it's a kind of randomness instead of there being something you can do about it, like get better at controlling your chararcter, or upgrading your stats. The graphics are good, though. Overall, it's a pretty frustrating RPG.… Expand
  34. Spartan111
    Aug 22, 2011
    5
    I only played an hour of this game but that was all that was needed to totally bore me. First of all the graphics are mediocre, oblivion looks better and it's 3 years older, the music is great... if you want to fall asleep and i read that the voice acting was supposed to be great, it's not, it's actually the opposite (piss poor ) there voices are all expressionless. The actual presentationI only played an hour of this game but that was all that was needed to totally bore me. First of all the graphics are mediocre, oblivion looks better and it's 3 years older, the music is great... if you want to fall asleep and i read that the voice acting was supposed to be great, it's not, it's actually the opposite (piss poor ) there voices are all expressionless. The actual presentation could have been so much better the dialogue is in a boring font and the dialogue options are very plainly done. The world itself may be big but it is also dull, lifeless and just to damn plain . Many people complain about the combat being very hard, how is simply clicking for attacks and holding in for block difficult it's just about timing although it feels as though the enemies attack at random which might make it feel hard, there is not much technique involved and ends up being more shallow than Fable's combat. I don't know much about the story at all but the intro did nothing for me and basically just showed how the main character got stranded. I applaud this game for trying to be a hardcore RPG which it does some what succeed with but overall it falls flat and if you've played oblivion or mass effect than this game will just be plain boring. 5/10. Waste of time.… Expand
  35. tk421storm
    Mar 25, 2011
    5
    Pros: Great environment design, interesting quest design

    Cons: annoying combat system, difficulty spikes, stilted character acting, being trapped in areas before completing objectives, generally unhelpful and difficult quest system

    TLDR: A unique world hampered by annoying combat, tedious questing and huge difficulty spikes
  36. laxleonidas
    Sep 16, 2011
    5
    Come on! I don't know how RPG's like ,,Risen" can still exists in this generation. Age of games like ,,Gothic" is ended. I don't like games that shows everythings in the start and then, there's nothing what can surprised.
  37. bancandrei
    May 12, 2020
    5
    I didn't pick this up when it came out and I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Although it was definitely dated, as this feels mostly like a remake of Gothic (& Gothic 2). That being said, those are some great RPGs and this one would have been just as great, but there is no reason to pick it up unless you have nostalgia for it.
  38. Gorbunov2004
    Aug 13, 2021
    5
    У игры сюжет полное дно непонятно что делать и зачем, боевая система такая же ужасная и отвратительная. Персонажи неинтересные, главного персонажа вообще никак не раскрывают.
  39. Kiblams
    Feb 3, 2011
    4
    This game could have been very enjoyable, thought his is stunted somewhat by the awkwardness of almost every aspect of the game from combat to levelling.

    I am a huge fan of RPG games and after oblivion and Dragon Age this simply does not stand up against modern titles. One thing that I will say for Risen is that the graphics are very pretty indeed, this may be of the only feature of    This game could have been very enjoyable, thought his is stunted somewhat by the awkwardness of almost every aspect of the game from combat to levelling.

    I am a huge fan of RPG games and after oblivion and Dragon Age this simply does not stand up against modern titles.

    One thing that I will say for Risen is that the graphics are very pretty indeed, this may be of the only feature of the game which held my attention for the duration that i played it, more a desire to see more of the lush surroundings than the want to develop my character and see where the story would take me.    … Expand
  40. mcTwex
    Apr 8, 2011
    4
    Frankly I do not understand what the fuss is about this game: everything from go is positively frustrating: from the ridiculous jarring and frame stutter you get (specificallyon ATI HD+ cards) to the hideous character visuals (the environments are gorgeous though) and the lack of an apparent mini-map. That and the fact that it is ridiculously hard to the point of frustration = a game to beFrankly I do not understand what the fuss is about this game: everything from go is positively frustrating: from the ridiculous jarring and frame stutter you get (specificallyon ATI HD+ cards) to the hideous character visuals (the environments are gorgeous though) and the lack of an apparent mini-map. That and the fact that it is ridiculously hard to the point of frustration = a game to be avoided. Absolute trash with almost no redeeming value whatsoever.… Expand
  41. Matseb2611
    Apr 9, 2015
    4
    I should've listened to my skepticism, considering this game was made by the same developers that made Gothic series. This game is exactly like the Gothic games, except in slightly better graphics. Tedious menial tasks such as harvesting, collecting, and finding n number of some item are back again. No story hook whatsoever. It's just a random island your character finds himself in afterI should've listened to my skepticism, considering this game was made by the same developers that made Gothic series. This game is exactly like the Gothic games, except in slightly better graphics. Tedious menial tasks such as harvesting, collecting, and finding n number of some item are back again. No story hook whatsoever. It's just a random island your character finds himself in after being washed ashore. To add to this, the character's walking speed is very slow and the map isn't detailed enough and shows no landmarks, making exploration a real chore.

    There are a lot of items to find and the combat is semi-decent, but nothing in this game really stands out. Everything has been done before by other RPGs and done better.

    Some of the dialogue is not bad and can be kind of witty, but some of the voice acting isn't all that great, especially the main character, who hardly puts any emotion in anything he says, and this is coming from someone who is rarely ever picky about voice acting in games.

    Some NPC and enemy A.I. is a bit strange too. I got into the arrogant guard captain's house and stole stuff from his treasure chest right in front of him and he did not bust an eyelid. I then took a mug of beer from his table and he got all pissy at me all of a sudden. Another enemy was doing a decent job stopping a few feet away from me, letting me shoot them with a bow, then to chase me for a few steps, and to repeat the same procedure till he was dead.

    If you liked Gothic games, you'll probably like this one too, but it's way too slow paced for me personally. The most fun I got from this was when I decided to stop doing any quests and to simply mess around. Piranha Bytes just keep rehashing the same old boring formula in every single game, and until they make something new and different, I don't think I'll be buying any more of their games.    … Expand
  42. DrBrogbo
    Dec 6, 2012
    4
    The game world is richly detailed, expansive, and full of life. The graphics are pretty good (for the year it was made anyway), music and sound are well-done, and the voice acting is good too. It's a shame then that the combat is so insanely, brutally punishing as to prevent you from enjoying it. The combat may get better as the game goes on, but the 5 or so hours of this game that I couldThe game world is richly detailed, expansive, and full of life. The graphics are pretty good (for the year it was made anyway), music and sound are well-done, and the voice acting is good too. It's a shame then that the combat is so insanely, brutally punishing as to prevent you from enjoying it. The combat may get better as the game goes on, but the 5 or so hours of this game that I could stomach saw the combat devolving into nothing more than holding down block until the enemy attacks twice, then attacking 2-3 times rapidly before blocking again. It was idiotic. Couple that with how it is entirely impossible to kite one enemy away from a large group, causing you to get swarmed by 5 enemies at once, and you had better get familiar with the load game screen. This is not fun. Everything seemed so interesting that it was really a shame it was kept out of reach. It's like when you were a child, and older kids would hold things in the air out of your reach and taunt you. Eventually you learn to punch them in the stomach, and go do something else.… Expand
  43. loungegecko
    Jun 3, 2012
    4
    Probably the most linear RPG I've ever played. Crappy voice acting and the backing noise track doesn't fit the game at all. Combat is boring (and once again) linear. I already said this, but I'll say it again: crappy voice acting. At first I was actually laughing at how bad it was until I just stopped playing. Combat is just click-click-other click (hit-hit-parry) style. Third person withProbably the most linear RPG I've ever played. Crappy voice acting and the backing noise track doesn't fit the game at all. Combat is boring (and once again) linear. I already said this, but I'll say it again: crappy voice acting. At first I was actually laughing at how bad it was until I just stopped playing. Combat is just click-click-other click (hit-hit-parry) style. Third person with no option to go into first is obnoxious. Controls are absolutely horrid, and made me change the layout immediately. Good modeling and design is probably this game's only redeeming factor.… Expand
  44. Danil
    Oct 7, 2014
    4
    Annoying voice acting. Poor combat system with Über-imbalanced enemies. In some early game quests you will have to spend 10-15 minutes of clicking-and-saving just to defeat someone and move forward in the storyline, which is EXTREMELY frustrating. Also the quest log is horrific, it simply saves dialogues in the journal and you have to keep track of all those long tedious conversationsAnnoying voice acting. Poor combat system with Über-imbalanced enemies. In some early game quests you will have to spend 10-15 minutes of clicking-and-saving just to defeat someone and move forward in the storyline, which is EXTREMELY frustrating. Also the quest log is horrific, it simply saves dialogues in the journal and you have to keep track of all those long tedious conversations narrated by crappy actors. Oftentimes it doesn't even place (or misplaces) quests on the map. Oh and there is no minimap as well.… Expand
  45. slappyface
    Sep 8, 2014
    4
    This game is the RPG version of a "B" movie. Sincere, ambitious, but ultimately flat and often absurd. I felt sick after 30 minutes of constant flashing of endless thunderstorms. How hard could it have been for them to simply tone down the lightning? I slept and it was still happening the next morning.

    My character jumps inhumanly high but in slow motion. The creatures in the forest    This game is the RPG version of a "B" movie. Sincere, ambitious, but ultimately flat and often absurd. I felt sick after 30 minutes of constant flashing of endless thunderstorms. How hard could it have been for them to simply tone down the lightning? I slept and it was still happening the next morning.

    My character jumps inhumanly high but in slow motion. The creatures in the forest apparently do not fight or fear each other because at one stage there were like 10 of four different species all attacking me at once, seemingly oblivious to each other.

    If you want to experience a game these guys pulled off right, try Gothic II Gold. It is flawed but forgivable, whereas this one got uninstalled after 30 minutes.    … Expand
  46. aecsuter
    Sep 5, 2022
    4
    It's a little complicated to talk about this game, because it's a little dated, but I'm going to talk about my experience with the game currently, which was when I played it.
    The idea of ​​the game is good, with great difficulty and an acceptable story, but it has several technical problems, which made me end up dragging myself to the end of the game.
    Pros: - History OK - Well done    It's a little complicated to talk about this game, because it's a little dated, but I'm going to talk about my experience with the game currently, which was when I played it.
    The idea of ​​the game is good, with great difficulty and an acceptable story, but it has several technical problems, which made me end up dragging myself to the end of the game.

    Pros:
    - History OK
    - Well done and well voiced dialogues.
    - Beautiful Armor and Weapons

    Cons:
    - Very ugly and clumsy Jump System. When he jumps from a high height, it looks like there's a ladder in the air that falls from step to step. I have often escaped traps by standing in the air.
    - First Teleport Stone was to appear after 21 hours of gameplay. Too tiring to go from one side of the map to the other, in that mequetrefe run. Even more that there are no arrows indicating where to go in the quests.
    - Boring and Repetitive Combat. (I found out later watching videos that as a Warrior he is much more boring than a Mage).
    - I went to find a Helm after 28 hours of play.
    - Complete imbalance between in-game weapons
    - Complete imbalance between classes in the game (Mage is much easier).
    - Final fight very dull and extremely easy due to quicksave.

    Basically in my opinion the game could be good, but the mechanics make it boring and very tiring not to say frustrating at times.    … Expand
  47. StuartC
    Oct 2, 2009
    3
    Another sub par game filled with glitches, horrid 360 controls and a bizarre menu system. Think Two worlds with no multi-player and slightly better voice acting, thats about it. Who knows it could be your thing, I would still wait till the bug are sorted out though.
  48. OveM.
    Jan 26, 2010
    3
    This game could have been so much better. The RPG elements are very well implemented and the fighting is cool. BUT i the quests are almost impossible to do since there is NO quest tracking system. Thats why i uninstalled the game after a while.... i couldn't manage to do the quests... I mostly ran around wondering what to do next.
  49. tanim
    Sep 4, 2013
    3
    Poor visual, no problem. Poor story, no problem. Poor combat, problem. Without combat progressing is not possible. I believe they tried to provide a realistic combat mechanics. Unfortunately they messed up. A counter system could probably solve this but there is none. Movement in battle looks joke and poor visuals make them even worse. They tried to reinvent the wheel and that's where theyPoor visual, no problem. Poor story, no problem. Poor combat, problem. Without combat progressing is not possible. I believe they tried to provide a realistic combat mechanics. Unfortunately they messed up. A counter system could probably solve this but there is none. Movement in battle looks joke and poor visuals make them even worse. They tried to reinvent the wheel and that's where they messed up. As a 2009 game, it is surprisingly poor.… Expand
  50. Thanatos4x
    Nov 5, 2013
    3
    Risen is buggy and frustrating. During my 38 hour play-thorough the game crashed 5 times with exceptional errors.
    The biggest problem with Risen is the combat which is very frustrating. The developers are trying to prevent a click fest of hacking your opponent with strategic combat with blocking, parrying and then carefully timed attacks. However, a good idea, it is poorly implemented.    Risen is buggy and frustrating. During my 38 hour play-thorough the game crashed 5 times with exceptional errors.
    The biggest problem with Risen is the combat which is very frustrating. The developers are trying to prevent a click fest of hacking your opponent with strategic combat with blocking, parrying and then carefully timed attacks. However, a good idea, it is poorly implemented. Enemies can block and parry all your attacks and counter attack you super fast that there is no way to block. Worse of all many difficult enemies attack in groups making the strategic combat a joke because the enemies gang rape you from all sides prevent any possible block or parry. Most of the time you hop around a group of enemies while quickly hacking them before they counter hack you. If you don't have full health death is certain unless you get lucky.
    Save very often because you will die a lot! Mostly from cheap kills like enemy gang bangs, but also traps that kill you without any hint of a trap being there. I feel like you almost have to die in most areas in order to proceed. Not fun.
    There are lots of glitchy things like NPCs pooping through things and how enemies cannot seem to follow you down short drops (exploit to kill them easily, but not fun), and the WORST thing ever is the NPCs can defect you anywhere in there house if your not sneaking. They will "see" you through a wall and know you just stole from them really?! But the worse is a stupid glitch that happened to me many times, if you accidentally or intentionally hit and/or stole from a NPC they will attack you this is normal, but after I sleep and the crime is forgotten other NPCs in a completely different area will attack me even though that NPC already forgave me. This glitch will try your patient to the limit. I never knew if all of a sudden NPCs were going to attack me. Many times one NPC would be fine and then they would call a witch hunt for a crime that they previously had forgiven or forgotten -really really WTF!    … Expand
  51. Broyax
    Apr 14, 2017
    3
    Techniquement c'est pas trop mal (et parfois assez joli) et Risen a le mérite de ne pas être trop exigeant côté config ! en outre la VF bien que caricaturale est bien faite. Passons à ce qui fâche, c'est-à-dire tout le reste... La musique par exemple est assez pathétique (elle a du être écrite sur un Bontempi), le système de combat est délicat et la difficulté élevée (la touche F8 est tonTechniquement c'est pas trop mal (et parfois assez joli) et Risen a le mérite de ne pas être trop exigeant côté config ! en outre la VF bien que caricaturale est bien faite. Passons à ce qui fâche, c'est-à-dire tout le reste... La musique par exemple est assez pathétique (elle a du être écrite sur un Bontempi), le système de combat est délicat et la difficulté élevée (la touche F8 est ton amie).

    La progression est très lente et laborieuse, les quêtes peu claires et pour couronner le tout, des bugs empêchent le bon déroulement des scripts et donc la résolution des dites quêtes. Enfin, l'interface est globalement perfectible sur bien des détails : on ignore si c'est pour faire chier ou si c'est tout simplement l'incapacité des développeurs. Bref, voilà un jeu bien pénible.    … Expand
  52. jamesyeah
    Oct 8, 2009
    2
    The combat in this game is STUPID hard. You have to constantly double tap around whatever you're fighting or you will die almost instantly. There is no way to defend yourself, parry does nothing as you still get hit just the same. They need to have some way to defend attacks.
  53. NooblordFocker
    Sep 4, 2013
    2
    Perhaps I'm not giving this game a fair judgement,perhaps it was due to certain circumstances that I was unable to fully enjoy the game.There must be some reason why this game received so much acclaim,from players and critics alike.Well,the idea and setting are nice,the story sounded promicing...and that's pretty much it.This game has numerous problems.Let's start with the technicalPerhaps I'm not giving this game a fair judgement,perhaps it was due to certain circumstances that I was unable to fully enjoy the game.There must be some reason why this game received so much acclaim,from players and critics alike.Well,the idea and setting are nice,the story sounded promicing...and that's pretty much it.This game has numerous problems.Let's start with the technical ones.My pc exceeds the recomended system parameters,but the FPS I'm getting is complete sh*t (15-20).Changing the graphic settings doesn't really do much either.Turning shadows off is the only thing that makes a little better.Now,maybe it's not fair to blame the game for this,maybe it's just not compatible with my graphics card in particular.So ok,i can bear with low fps,but it wouldn't piss me off so much if this game's graphics weren't this crappy.I personally don't judge a game for it's graphics,but "Risen" just looks ugly. No AA,low res textures everywhere.And it's not just the textures,character models are unappealing and have very little variety.Combat system sucks,there's not a lot of startegy into it.Enemies are way to OP.Normally a little more challange is OK,but with this piece of sh*t combat system it's just plain frustrating.The story sounded promising,but I couldn't bare with this game long enough to get into it,because of the dialog.My god,the dialog is so boring.The voice actors sound like they're going to fall asleep.The quest log is the most useless pice of sh*t I have ever seen. Classic WoW had a more useful quest helper than this,at least there you could find the approximate position of the quest target by reading the actual log.Here it just shows a simple objective and highlights the f*cking quest giver.Not the objective,the quest giver.I get where they were going with this,trying to make a more hardcore RPG,but it just doesn't work.It's tedious and unsatisfying.Maybe this isn't such a fair judgement,because I only endured 2 hours of this game.Perhaps it picks up afterwards,but I can't see how with the horrible combat system and visuals.… Expand
  54. Predikit
    Jul 26, 2013
    2
    Playing Risen, a game I’d bought during the Steam Summer Sale along with it’s sequel, and am sorely disappointed already. Little to no tutorial in the beginning, no explanation of game mechanics, and most importantly when you die you just… lay there? It doesn't drop you back to your last save, it gives you no on-screen prompts, it simply leaves you there wondering what to do next (this isPlaying Risen, a game I’d bought during the Steam Summer Sale along with it’s sequel, and am sorely disappointed already. Little to no tutorial in the beginning, no explanation of game mechanics, and most importantly when you die you just… lay there? It doesn't drop you back to your last save, it gives you no on-screen prompts, it simply leaves you there wondering what to do next (this is the FIRST time I have ever played a game that, upon death, you are not prompted with at least a direction to reload a past save, I actually had to tab out and search to make sure this wasn't a glitch).

    If this is all supposed to be to amplify the sense of immersion into the game world, it’s not doing a very good job at all. If I were dead, I highly doubt I’d just stay there hovering over my corpse panning around uselessly, so the more likely answer is that designers were more concerned with making bank than ensuring their finished product had the information necessary to play. Barely five minutes into the game and I’m tempted to simply shrug it off and uninstall; why would I put my time and effort into something that clearly had no effort put into it where I am concerned? For the sake of not judging too quickly (though already, the first impression I’ve had is that this game was a waste of my money), I will continue to try to play… but I don’t see myself writing a comprehensive review on this particular title.

    Edit:

    Ten minutes later, and I’ve quit and uninstalled. I have never been more dissatisfied with a game, or more specifically with it’s complete lack of consideration for introduction to gameplay. Players are expected to somehow know beforehand (or stop playing the game to go through the menu and search) key bindings and core mechanics beyond WASD. On-screen ‘tutorials’ consist of a single, font-only floating text direction on what to do once something has already happened. There are no prompts to explain how to equip or ready your weapon unless you happen upon one specific area that triggers a particular ‘cut-scene’ of dialogue from your companion (and even then, the mapped key was non-functional and I had to remap it to another key for it to function properly). This game is not just raw, it is unprofessional in that those who chose it’s introductory mechanics must have believed what they were thinking was going to by magic or osmosis be what every single other person that chose to play their game would be thinking. Fighting mechanics, if you can call them that, are chunky and awkward, in where a player may be facing their enemy and swing their weapon, but the character will turn and swing in a different direction. On six separate occasions, versus three different mob types, this problem persisted until I finally decided it was practically insulting to myself and my computer to have this game taking up space on my hard-drive. I would give this game a 2/10, the 2 being only for the graphics, as this was the only portion of the game that seemed to get any attention. Would not recommend.    … Expand
  55. Camman0908
    Nov 18, 2010
    1
    Very lack luster game. with no quest log to give you guidance, you are merely wandering around half the game. You are very vulnerable to EVERYTHING! Rats will make you scream at the low levels. Could have been so much more. Really wish the developers had taken more time to CARE about what they were making. Story is bland and unentertaining. Don't waste your money on this when you could buyVery lack luster game. with no quest log to give you guidance, you are merely wandering around half the game. You are very vulnerable to EVERYTHING! Rats will make you scream at the low levels. Could have been so much more. Really wish the developers had taken more time to CARE about what they were making. Story is bland and unentertaining. Don't waste your money on this when you could buy Oblivion or Mass Effect for a much better story AND a better game. Again, stay away from this, its a horrid release and does not deserve your money.… Expand
  56. Ninja7Everin
    Aug 29, 2014
    1
    The combat system this game is absolutely horrible. The moment you let your shield down is when the enemy strikes, you die quickly, and is even worse than Dark Souls. At least Dark Souls is worth playing. Nothing about this game can make up for its lack of definition of enjoyable combat. BLEH. I HATED this game.
  57. reviewthis4u
    Jul 15, 2016
    1
    Who decided to separate magic from combat from plot from character customization from... well, everything? Did no one play test this tripe? I can see a developer shipping their ego out in a box, but surely someone, ANYONE else looked at this and thought, wait, maybe it should actually be playable?
  58. WadeG
    Oct 8, 2009
    0
    This game was flawed in every way I could think of. The graphics are way too dark. It looks like a PS2 game. Lighting in the environment pops in a random when it feel like working. There is no collision detection on various pieces of the scenery. When swing your weapon at a wall or any object other than an enemy your arms simply go through the walls. The voice acting seems like it was This game was flawed in every way I could think of. The graphics are way too dark. It looks like a PS2 game. Lighting in the environment pops in a random when it feel like working. There is no collision detection on various pieces of the scenery. When swing your weapon at a wall or any object other than an enemy your arms simply go through the walls. The voice acting seems like it was ripped out of Troma movie. The difficulty is set way too high and the controls are horribly laid out. This game makes Two Worlds look like game of the year and thats saying something.… Expand
  59. JubalH
    Oct 30, 2009
    0
    The game is very good, but the DRM is unacceptable, only 3 activations is an absurd. The support for revalidation at deep silver ignores you. Don't buy and don't loose your money.
  60. MillersWeeb
    Nov 16, 2018
    0
    Калька с готики 1, практически полностью копирует старую игру. Квесты в стиле ммо. Неиграбельно.
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Awards & Rankings

67
#67 Best PC Game of 2009
19
#19 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
21
#21 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 32 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 32
  3. Negative: 0 out of 32
  1. Meristation
    80
    Fun, large and with many things to do, Risen is a good game for medieval RPG lovers. It has its flaws, specially due to technical issues, but overall it's a great experience, where every choice has its consequences. The great storyline and the different paths that we can follow are the strongest points of this game.
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  2. SpazioGames
    80
    While Gothic sails away to other developers, Piranha Bytes turns the tide with this return to the origins of true RPG. Deep, polished, compelling, Risen is an RPG for RPG true lovers. Some small glitches and a general lack of accessibility make it step down a little bit on the score, but it's still THE game to have if you love RPGs.
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  3. Everyeye.it
    80
    An old-fashion RPG, with an impressive number of quests and NPC, and a deep level-up system.
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