Risen 3: Titan Lords

I really enjoyed Risen 3. Like another person had mentioned in their review, would I consider it a great game? No. But it provides to user with a lot of quality entertainment, even if the story is forgettable. I think where the main plot falls short, the 3 subfactions thrive. I spent a lot of my time in Risen working with the indigenous people and found a lot of fun out of that. Not only were the environments beautiful but the actual quests themselves were fun. My main problem with the game though, is the quest system itself. A lot of the quests seem to be linked to each other in a very frustrating way. Although not EVERY quest does this, it started to seem that in order to complete one quest you would have to start another....and then another.... and then another.... and then another (you get my point). After A while you've received like 6 new different quests just from trying to complete one! I think this was one of the reasons I stopped playing. The other was cause I got an xbox one and couldn't play my 360 version on it! All in all I think SUPER worth 9.99 and arguably still worth it's normal 19.99! It was a lot of fun to play when I was playing it and had plenty of challenging fights in it, even if it did have a few flaws

Risen 3: Titan Lords is, foremost, a game of severe conflictions. It does certain things so well, yet fails so miserably at other. The good. + The environment artists have done a spectacular job in creating several wonderful and memorable locations. Walking around in some places is wonderful and islands feel diverse, yet you don't feel like it's all just a big mashup. And the BAD - Most glaring and critical issues are STORY and GAMEPLAY. The story is yet another retelling of every other gothic/risen story that has been told for the past 20 years or so. Revisit most of locations from Risen2 and experience yet another rising terror plot, meeting completely forgetable characters and doing tons and tons of samey quests on every island. The story wouldn't even be my biggest gripe at all, if the gamplay were great. Swordfighting you say? Being unskilled means you get to watch a painfully slow animation of whacking a swords, which you then expand with a single click into a "combination" of strikes. This is neither challenging (timing) nor exciting. God forbid you trigger the deathcam which at the end of the animation spins violently, temporarily disorienting you. There is NO depth to combat and since the game is afraid to turn you off with difficulty, even a child can breeze through it. This sometimes leads to bizzare situations where you might have more problems with a giant rat (lockstun) than a dragon snapper or titan lord :crying inside just thinking of that finale: The game offers no challenge whatsoever, yet it does give you something! A chance to pick up tons of STUFF. Did you look on top of that ruined tower? There's 10 gold pieces lying there on a wooden beam, just waiting for you to pick them up ONE BY ONE! Maybe we'll throw in a chisel or two, or even a blacksmith hammer if we're feeling generous! Those are good money! 10 gpc a piece! The meaninglessness of everything makes the game dull and uniteresting much more than it deserves.

Humble point of view : Risen 3 is the pinnacle and most enjoyable Piranha Bytes game (baring Elex that I've not yet played). Exploration? Check. Progression? Check. Narration? Check. Frustration? Check. Satisfaction? Check!!! After 20 hours of playing Risen 3, I thought I had enough of its clunkiness and punishing combats. But, after that, every other game seemed to be a diluted unsatisfactory childish toy. So I reinstalled Risen 3, and now I intend to finish it with a vengeance. Rise 3 is probably my favorite game of all. (And I'm 54 years old, gaming since the 80s).

Took me 37 hours to complete the game and most side content, except a few legendary treasures. What is different from Risen 2? - Vastly improved combat that is fair to towards the player. - Shorter but better story that is more consistent. - Better characters with companion banter! - Improved systems, including training at NPCs. - Vastly improved animations. - Better character stat building. What does this game succeed at? - Story, characters and dialogue. - Player agency in the story, character building and quests. - World and lore. Feel of adventure. - World building and zone design. - Exploration and proper rewards that feels meaningful. - Amazing soundtrack. What does it not succeed at? - Very annoying bug when free aiming with magic / ranged, that cases the game to crash.