Risen

Earlier reviews on this site have covered most aspects of this game pretty well already, so I'll try to make this quick and get out my thoughts about this game that I haven't seen brought up yet. When it comes to gameplay and visuals, this game is mostly mid-tier by 2009 standards. The combat has its intricacies, but it feels weightless, and the generic sound effects don't help. The visuals can vary in quality. Most of the environments look pretty good, and I found most monsters pretty appealing. The NPCs mostly look pretty terrible, though, which is unfortunate, given how much time you spend talking to them. Thankfully, talking to them will rarely be unpleasant, which brings me what I think makes this game so compelling: the voice acting. While the voice acting isn't quite to the level of a Bioware game, I was genuinely surprised the first time I played how much of the dialogue was voiced and how natural the bulk of it sounded. Even NPCs that are just wandering around the various settlements can reliably have multiple paragraphs worth of unique, well-voiced dialogue with some involvement with a quest or two. Interactions with NPCs were well designed to the point that it makes the world feel a lot bigger than it is. Another point in this game's favor is the music. Every song fits with and enhances the atmosphere of every area you explore while more often than not being interesting pieces of music on their own. The soundtrack is credited to Kai Rosenkranz, who also worked on Gothic 1, 2 and 3. I'm very happy to report that he is still working, as it sounds like he's taking a major role the music and sound design for the remake of Gothic 1. This game is surprisingly engaging to me, despite the features on paper not really being all that special. I think what it comes down to is that it has great atmosphere and the island you explore is a pretty neat place with a lot of intrigue. It's also pirate-adjacent, if that's something you've been looking for.

Disclaimer: Based on Steam version Comparing to Gothic 2, it might be 3.5/5. Comparing to basically any other RPG? Clear 5/5. Game might be a little hard for players used to Skyrim, but I promise you, the game is very rewarding, you only have to make yourself immerse in it. Don't try to game the systems, just pretend that you actually ARE in the world: Can't find quest location? Ask around for directions. Can't beat enemy? You need to become stronger. How do you become stronger? Level up and train your strength or weapon skill, find better armor, find better weapon... I believe this is the correct way to start with Piranha Bytes games as the graphic is acceptable (comparing to their masterpieces - Gothic 2 and Gothic 1). If you enjoy the game, please buy Gothic 2 and try to play mod "Archolos", it is similar, yet superior game to Risen in every aspect but graphics and control.

This is one of my favorite games, probably rates just after Gothic 2. The artwork is beautiful, the combat is mostly interesting, and the plots and subplots make sense and keep you moving along. The one downside to this game is the ending, where no matter what kind of character you've spent many hours building, you have the same strategy regardless. A flaw in design, but up to that point a wonderful experience.

Dont know why but this game with its landscape, music, history, characters, gives you a feeling of immersion and familiarity with the island and its inhabitants. I find myself reinstalling it time to time just to feel its experience again. I think the combat difficulty that many complain just add to the feeling of you just being another person in this world, its not like in games whre you are so strong you can just go doing crazy stuff anywhere. I higly reccomend.

To start off, this is Gothic 3, only less crap. It's a different story, but has the exact same mechanics and it's a hell of a lot more polished. The thing with Risen is that, to appreciate it, you need to be able to appreciate janky RPGs. This isn't AAA material; but it adds to the charm. It's often in these games you can see some neat ideas that don't get overshadowed by the result of an overbearing budget. So, you're a dude, you wash up on an island; the island is split between a band of bandits and a religious order. Pick your poison, do your side-quests, get to know the world and the characters. The main quest overstays its welcome and the story is forgettable, but between the hero being a jerk and dialogue that really paints a complete picture of the game world, Risen becomes very absorbing. Problems include the lack of variety in the game world and the terrible combat mechanics. There is a delay between input and action and the lock-on system does more harm than good. There are some nifty mechanics for crafting and leveling that carry over from Gothic 3 and the game's better for it. Unfortunately, the game tends to punish multi-classing, so careful with where you choose to spend your learning points. Still, for about half its duration, Risen is totally worth it, if you've enjoyed games like Witcher 1 and Two Worlds. It needs work, skill and overstays its welcome, but for the first 20 hours, you feel part of the world and the evolution of your character is so very organic, it makes it one of the better role-playing experiences of old, despite having a fully-voiced, uncustomizable protagonist.