This is just a technical review of this GOG edition. (The game itself is amazing and deserves 5 stars) It works perfectly fine IF you enable all CPU cores manually after launching the game (Ctrl+Alt+Del => Details => right click on DAOringins.exe => Set affinity => All cores checked) I play on 1920x1080p monitor. Perhaps the game is unstable on higher resolution, so beware. I play on max graphics, everything is smooth (always more than 60 FPS). I had 0 crash. My computer = GTX 1080 i7 6700K 16 Go RAM. HDD use. So, even if GOG does not fix the CPU affinity issue, you can easily enjoy this masterpiece. Take care adeventurers!
+++ dense and immersive world, full of details +++ philosophy : explore, learn, think, and know that your choices have consequences ++ dialogues, humour ++ cool musics ++ great balance between narrative and fighting gameplay + still good graphics + several good ideas about monster behaviour - a level with trolleys was just a pain in the *ss - subtitles for EVERY characters would be a great add Thanks to this game, I am discovering the books too ! I recommend them :)
+++ Art direction, atmosphere ++ gameplay : hard, but rewarding rigor ++ combat boss : epic ++ music : sets a deep-dark-futuristic-corrupted-techno-daemonic ambiance :D + cool graphics + panel of combat-styles + level design : complex and clever + plenty of secret passages everywhere + you discover many parts of the lore through gazing the world --- can't pause the game : huge issue when you live with someone else or animals -- still some bugs (escpecially in Blue Sun DLC) - it was kind of boring for me to get lost so often ^^' - some secrets are just too hard to find (no clue for some demolishable walls, order to kill some specific ennemies,...) CONCLUSION : I will be happy to try the New Game + or a new character to experiment new combat style (to use magic or ranged weapons for instance)
+++ coop on the same screen!! +++ really cool wood elf armors!! ++ easy to handle ++ cool graphics ++ wood elf can dodge, so great in an ARPG! + simple and efficient skill trees - minimalist writing - we cannot zoom, so bad for for these good models! - deserves more musics! Especially with the Tomb King DLC! -- issue with difficulty ladder --- absolutly not enough ennemies variety CONCLUSION : it is a short (you will play it for 25 hours and leave it) but welcoming game. It really deserves a try when on sale.
I probably played it 5-6 times in my life ^^ The ambiance, the demanding combats, the art direction, smithing, progression, dense map... Many things are great and make this game unique. I love this kind of game with a "taste" you remember forever! Only "4 stars" because lack of fast travels, it is kind of boring to spend so much time just to walk through the world ^^' (yes there are teleportation stones, but you find them lately and there are only few of them) I recommend you to experience this game :)
There are many good ideas, as the presence of Voodoo magic, but the combats are so terribly bad they spoiled almost all the game by me. I mean, they are not just hard, they are too random, frustrating (ennemies hit you even if you dodge), they hit faster than you can parry,... I cannot "recommend" Risen 2 due to the frustrating combats. At least Risen 3 fixed that and is much better in every ways!
It is what Risen 2 should have been, especially about combats! + Cool factions with cool stuff, I was so happy with all new spells learnt from Daemons Hunters trainers! + temples, caves and other environment have a "presence" like Risen 1and Gothic 3 + full of great animations, finish moves or choregraphic punchy spells. It reminds me impressive fire spells from Gothic 3 + good lifetime + good graphic + dense maps, great map design + dodging works! - toooooo many stories and characters written about alcohol - very poor writing about women : in Risen 3 they are just greedy, dumb or sexy. C'mon you can do better Piranha Bytes... - some bugs remaining - I had to edit a file to massively improve performance - I miss smithing like Risen 1 => Risen 3 is good, I can't wait to play a new game with a mage this time!
DLC which addresses complex themes such as discord because of hierarchical relations (colonialism?) or differences of vision, forgiveness versus caution,... I am interested in collapsology, this game is a gold mine of intelligence and thoughts related to this theme. I loved the games I played despite the fact that I would have liked them to last longer ^^
Pros : - Graphic : great! - Sound : very nice OST (even if the game deserves even more musics^^), ambiance,... - Gameplay : I just do love it. It's like developpers took every good tools from other RTS to make a new optimized one. Gameplay is fluent, efficient, immersive and well balanced. - Campaign : really cool and clever story, well concieved characters (at last strong and not sexualized women characters, thank you God of Gaming!!! ), great challenges. And what a fascinating universe <3 - Skirmish (vs AI) : really cool. This is not a game with legions of soldiers, in Iron Harvest every unit counts! Cons : - Graphic : huge FPS loss during most of the campaign missions (GTX 1080 !)! I hope there will be optimization fix! Why not adding a more immersive camera like Dawn of War 1 ? :) - Sound : some DEEP bass for far explosions would be more immersive :) And I want more musiiiiiics :D - Gameplay : I only had 2 little bugs, including a funny mek shaking as hell^^. Factions have all different units, but I think it would be even funnier if these factions would be more different (for instance, in Company of Heroes, british faction was very defensive). - Campaign : as already said, beware the huge FPS loss. - Skirmish : I enjoyed several games against hard AI but it was somehow too easy for me, maybe the campaign made me good at skirmish games^^ NB : I still dit not try Multiplayer CONCLUSION : I do recommend this game, really. I understand the bitter taste left to some players because of the game sold as not complete (some maps and big changes come every week), but it makes sense to me considering the spirit of Iron harvest : a game concieved by passionate people (developpers and community) for passionate gamers, and we can still follow its growing and evolution through weeks. I am very confident in the evolution of this (already great) game, this is why I give it 5 well-deserved stars :)
So much love in this game <3 octobre 7, 2020 Pros : - Graphic : great! - Sound : very nice OST (even if the game deserves even more musics^^), ambiance,... - Gameplay : I just do love it. It's like developpers took every good tools from other RTS to make a new optimized one. Gameplay is fluent, efficient, immersive and well balanced. - Campaign : really cool and clever story, well concieved characters (at last strong and not sexualized women characters, thank you God of Gaming!!! ), great challenges. And what a fascinating universe <3 - Skirmish (vs AI) : really cool. This is not a game with legions of soldiers, in Iron Harvest every unit counts! Cons : - Graphic : huge FPS loss during most of the campaign missions (GTX 1080 !)! I hope there will be optimization fix! Why not adding a more immersive camera like Dawn of War 1 ? :) - Sound : some DEEP bass for far explosions would be more immersive :) And I want more musiiiiiics :D - Gameplay : I only had 2 little bugs, including a funny mek shaking as hell^^. Factions have all different units, but I think it would be even funnier if these factions would be more different (for instance, in Company of Heroes, british faction was very defensive). - Campaign : as already said, beware the huge FPS loss. - Skirmish : I enjoyed several games against hard AI but it was somehow too easy for me, maybe the campaign made me good at skirmish games^^ NB : I still dit not try Multiplayer CONCLUSION : I do recommend this game, really. I understand the bitter taste left to some players because of the game sold as not complete (some maps and big changes come every week), but it makes sense to me considering the spirit of Iron harvest : a game concieved by passionate people (developpers and community) for passionate gamers, and we can still follow its growing and evolution through weeks. I am very confident in the evolution of this (already great) game, this is why I give it 5 well-deserved stars :)
