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About
Risen is a fantasy-themed RPG, split into several chapters. You, the unnamed protagonist, get in a storm and wake up on a mysterious island of Faranga. Immediately you get involved in the war between two factions: bandits and mages. No matter what side you choose, you dive into a web of intrigue, connected with ancient monsters and relicts.
The game features an elaborate development system, which allows you to upgrade different abilities, such as shooting, melee combat, and magic. You also can choose from a variety of weapons and non-combat skills, for example, pickpocketing and lock picking. Combat system includes several moves you and your enemies can perform; their variety increases as you progress through the game. There are multiple quests to get experience and open unavailable regions of the island. You can fulfill the same tasks in different ways, so the game provides true role-playing.
Risen is followed by Risen 2: Dark Waters and Risen 3: Titan Lords. These games don't directly continue the plot of the first title but feature some characters from it.
System requirements for Xbox 360
System requirements for PC
- OS: Windows XP™ (with Service Pack 3)
- Processor: 2 GHz Intel® Pentium™ 4 Single-core Processor
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 256 MB DirectX™ 9.0c compatible graphics card (nVidia® GeForce® 7900/ATI Radeon™ X1800 or better)
- DirectX®: DirectX™ 9.0c compatible graphic card driver
- Hard Drive: 2.5 GB free Hard Drive space
- Sound: 100% DirectX™ 9.0c compatible sound card
- Controller Support: Keyboard, Mouse
Last Modified: Mar 28, 2024
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Risen reviews and comments
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Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
"Risen" is a Third-Person robe playing game in the Tradition of "Gothic."
So, actually, it's kind of "Gothic," in the Broadest sense. Actually, even in The Deeper. After Piranha Bytes, the "Gothic" makers had lost the Naming rights, but then wanted to publish a very similar Game with a very similar World, they had to call it different.
But actually, it's nothing else. Again, there are three Factions, a warrior, a Magic and a Mix of both. The Rebels are now called Bandits. Xardas Is now called Inquisitor. Even the Animal Opponents have already been seen. Blood Flies become Burial Moths, wild Boar Wedges and Scavenger sea Eggs. And Raider Becomes Twix. Otherwise, nothing changes.
So as an unnamed Hero, we're stranded on an Island. Freshly woven we trudge into a multi-layered fantasy world. Ancient Temples have risen from the Earth, messing up the World of the Open World island of Faranga. So solve Quest after Quest, Twist enemies, Critters and Monsters, talk a lot with People, Act, level up and learn skills and so on, and so on.
Not that that would be boring, on the Contrary. "Risen" is damn entertaining, immersive, huge and offers many, many and even more Hours of Gameplay. The Characters are well built, the Lyrics fitting, the world Design really good.
However, much is also repetetive. Especially many Sidequests are quite similar and if you have searched for the "Gothic" parts all excessively, you will hardly be surprised by anything here.
Technically, "Risen" Isn't exactly a Milestone either. The Graphics were already out of date in 2009, the Animations especially in Conversations like to look ridiculous. The Variations of the NPC skins are manageable, so it can happen to you that one speaks one in succession with three different Inhabitants, but all of them look the same. And no, they're not Triplets. Women are an amazing Rarity in the World, but they all look the same for it.
The Combat System is simple, works well and each Enemy type has a certain, but quite simple, attacking State of attack. Wolves, for example, try to strike one from the Side.
There is always a lot to collect, Potions, scrolls, Shells, a whole household rat we always haul around with us. And in the giant world of "Risen," there's also something to discover at every Turn. Away from the Way, you can find a lot of Things, whole Labyrinths or even just a few Coins.
For the Most part, the Synchronizations have succeeded well, although it is sometimes noticeable that the Speakers did not really have An eye on the Connection between the Text to be used.
"Risen" usually has really good Atmosphere and also manages to drag one into this world of your own. In this Respect, the Essentials succeed. However, new or Innovative things in this RPG genre standard are being sought in vain.
Rating: 8/10 Atmosphere 8/10 Story 6/10 Graphic 7/10 Sound 7/10 Game Mechanics 7/10 Balancing 7/10 Game Pass Conclusion: Atmospheric immersive OLD-SCHOOL RPG.
7/10 Overall Rating
This is a spiritual successor to the Gothic series – nameless hero, tough fights, graphics are okay even today, environmental design is gorgeous. You can spend hours exploring, and the story (yet cliched a bit) is still quite intriguing.
One of the best games I've played. After the shipwreck, you find yourself in a brutal location with the hard-ass weather, and lots of hostile creatures around. This is a very difficult "tooth and nail" game, you'll die a lot, be prepared. Still it is very rewarding and satisfying to beat another boss.
«Time-tested»
«Constantly dying and enjoy it»
An action RPG with a fantastic world. It has everything it should have - interesting factions to join, hard and unique monsters to fight, lots of various stories to explore. The overall experience is great and put the game in line with the likes of Gothic titles or Dark Souls.
My only gripe is melee fights. In theory the fighting system sounds nice: you have defensive and offensive moves, and have to defend yourself unless you see a mistake in the opponent's fighting and then your strike. In reality, it is a very slow and sometimes frustrating experience, as just one mistake might make you loose a very important and long fight only to start it all over again. Small hint: if you choose to be a mage, you'll be able to ignore melee fights starting from act 2.
But this is just my impressions after playing it several times. By and large, Risen is an exceptional game that every action/RPG lover must try.
This is a HARD game. Take a wrong turn - get killed, take on an armed opponent without training - get killed. Blame it on the controls, but at the deep of your mind you know it is you who sucks. It was actually the first game that made me feel the great difference between initial fighting skills of my character and after I spent some points to improve his skills.
The story is okay, classic "the world needs a hero" stuff, nothing very fancy, but still solid. The characters are great, and their interrelations are really interesting to follow.
The world is relatively small, but still it manages to bring up lots of breathtaking various vistas in front of you. It is truly open. however due to the difficulty level I mentioned you will unlikely get a chance to explore every area from the beginning. I think this is nice though, it helps to keep you intrigued till the end of the game.
The sounds are nice, the score is not remarkable but still ties the atmosphere together.
Overall, it is one of the best action RPGs out there, and can easily stand up against the much more hyped Dark Souls series.
I have played Risen several times and it will always be a game I return to. The world just draws me back in.
Combat is very challenging and the trick is to get the timing right, so this is very close to Gothic. A tough game it is, but it is also a beautiful one, exploring is very compelling, even when you revisit areas during the course of the game - or just like me if you revisit them while playing the entire game for the fourth time - they still manage to look fresh and interesting.
On the whole, this is one of the best action RPGs, I enjoyed each and every minute of it.
«Underrated»