Risen 2: Dark Waters

This game seems to me like an experiment after Risen 1. Unlike the last time, Piranhas decided to stray from their usual path and try something really different. The rpg system has nothing in common with previous titles, the setting has been shifted, the visual style has changed dramatically. It didn't go perfectly. Combat in Risen 2 is second worst in all series, after Gothic 3. It's clunky and unintuitive. Some game systems, like cooking and lockpicking, were simplified to basically nothing. Magic is almost nonexistant in this game, there are like 3 spells to cast in total. So it's easy to see why so many fans hate the game, not to mention that some didn't expect the setting to change so much. What I mean by the setting change is that Risen 1 was set in what looked like medieval, with crossbow being the most advanced weapon, while Risen 2 is full of muskets, shotguns and pistols. And there are also pirates, and some people don't agree about the rule that everything becomes better with pirates. However, there are some serious redeeming qualities to this game. Locations are as well-made as they always were, the setting, while changed somewhat, became a lot more detailed. Main protagonist in this game is likely the best of all PB games, even Gothic. The plot is above average and lesser plots are sometimes really exciting. But above all, the quality of quests is unbelieveably high. While there still are some quests like "collect 10 crates", most of them are unusual and interesting to complete, most important example being mind-control quests where you take control of key characters using voodoo. What's most interesting about those is that while you control the body of, say, comandant Sebastiano, you are not only able to complete the quest, but also interact with everything. You can talk to people, and they'll have special dialogues. You can enter places where you aren't allowed normally. You can issue orders from the poor person you're controlling or go scare your companions that are unaware that comandant is actually controlled by you. That's likely the most fun I ever had in a game and for this alone, I'm willing to forgive the game its flaws.

First of all , to make something clear: Gothic I & II (*and perhaps even III ), are among the best games I've ever played !!!!. So when I heard that the 4th Gothic wasn't created by Piranha Bytes , i got extremely sad and I thought that this was the end for my favourite series !! Gladly for me , Piranha Bytes returned with the "Risen-series" and I was pleasantly surprised that once more I would be able to play something "similar/close" to the Gothic-series masterpieces !!! Especially about Risen 2 , it was the first Risen game that I bought , and it managed to impress me with its pirate setting and the use of gunpowder-based weapons such as muskets and pistols !!! It felt to me as a welcome change to the "medieval" Gothic scenery. So I ended up loving Risen 2 and devoting more than 50hours playing this game , and I was also intrigued to buy Risen1 & Risen3 as well . (*although they haven't managed to equally impress me such as Risen 2, but still , very good games). ---So a big thanks to Piranha Bytes for continuing my ""beloved Gothic era"", through … "Risen" !!!

It's really unbelievable how a game that came a whole decade after Gothic 2 basically recycled the same structure while dumbing down everything that made that game so special. Extremely limited exploration on really small islands, lots of bugs, fundamentally broken gameplay elements (the combat system is really a mess, the fact they included a critical element like dodging as an afterthought with a patch weeks after the release really shows how much care was put into planning these mechanics), limited interaction with the environment (forget climbing or swimming, interesting "zelda-like" dungeons from Risen 1 are gone), simplified NPCs routines and behaviour (I mean, just compare Khorinis to the biggest town in Risen 2), terrible production values (like awful character models, animations, giant 2d-sprites for the vegetation...). But by far the worst thing about this game is how BLAND it is, I swear you won't find a single interesting character, line of dialogue or quest inside. Everything feels terribly generic and it seems no kind of effort was put into flashing out the setting, which is really just a bunch of stereotypes clumsily mashed together: evil titans, scruffy good-hearted pirates, noble savages, arrogant white men etc... There is absolutely zero sense of place and it feels the entire world is made up only by those few little islands you visit. Let's just hope Pirahna Bytes will eventually get back on track and deliver a worthy sequel to their first two games.

Everything that was good about the first can be found here too. I never understood the complaints. I just finished the game a day ago and loved it. I really liked how fresh the game felt thanks to the setting and theme. Love the pirates, the voodoo stuff with the natives, the dialogue (often very funny), the characters, the pistols, the voice acting, the treasure hunting, the crew aspect, parrots and monkeys and ghost pirate captains and drinking rum and swearing and referring to the main enemy as that bitch Mara. Just a fun game. Does it have problems? Sure, though i can't remember anything that really bothered me. It's a great action/adventure RPG with a unique feel to it.