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.
There are many things about this game that deserve praise. I love the combat system, I enjoy the landscapes, I like the quests. But what matters for me is that this game, like literally every other Piranha Bytes' game, is a heaven for my inner perfectionist. The game rewards you for being a perfectionist, for picking up every single herb in a location, for doing every single quest, for killing every single monster. How so? Because your resourses in this game, unlike in many others, are limited. You can't keep walking around and farm until your character is strong enough to progress - you have limited opportunities and you are encouraged to use them, as the game is also quite demanding. Every coin counts, every treasure chest that you found matters, and what's important is that you can, if you wish so, actually pick up every single coin. And you can be sure, those coins won't remain unused in your pocket.
When I saw this game last time, it was basically "yet another procedurally-generated sandbox". Since then, it became so much more. Since then, it acquired an actual plot and lots of places designed by people. It acquired space travels and lots of things to complete. There is a multitude of things to do in this game, and that's what makes difference between "yet another procedurally-generated sandbox" and something more than that.
I am terrible with platformers. I consider pixels the bane of modern graphical design. This game became an exception. It's beautiful and has really smooth gameplay, while immersing the player into the atmosphere. Even though I'd still consider it being beautiful not because of pixels but despite them, it's a work of art.
If you ever played a tabletop game called Munchkin, this one seems to feel just like it. I absolutely the game's visuals, and I appreciate that the author went for a hand-drawn style instead of pixels all around. Also narrator talking in limerics and mocking characters' deaths is nice to listen to. I couldn't give it 5 stars for a single reason, and that's gameplay being a little lacking and randomness dependant. The system of character choosing its own actions could be interesting, were it not so shallow and easy to control, as the character just goes towards the monster that's closest in level to him, else goes to the biggest pile of treasure he sees. Both of which are exactly the things you want him to go to 99% of the time, so, basically, you have no need to bother with character's actions, as they are very predictable. What isn't predictable, however, is what tools you are offered to make a dungeon, especially the shape of corridors, which might lead to very long time until you finally get the piece you need to finish the quest (for instance, any corridor leading up), and sometimes outright cause you to lose (in case there is a turn limit or a boss chasing you). Also, some desing features seem useless. Say, there is a screen where you manage your guild. You can buy the rooms for it, that give specific bonuses, and then you get to position the room. And it makes absolutely no difference where you position them. Moreover, once you built them, almost all the rooms are non-interactive (graveyard being an exception), so you have a map of guild where you can do absolutely nothing meaningful, except to press the "upgrades" or "go exploring" buttons at the bottom of the screen. It just seems like a huge waste of time that was, perhaps, meant to be something useful, but didn't make it into the game.
First of all, there are lots of things about this game that I enjoy. The atmosphere of a gaming table, the animations of the Dealer shuffling his cards with magical gestures, the notes he makes over the course of the game, the storytelling itself - those are all extremely amazing and satisfying. The core idea of the game to switch from a table with cards to a battlefield where those cards become real creatures or items is kind of innovative... but that's exactly where problems start. The combat is bad. The combat controls, first of all, require some inhuman finger flexibilty to make use of all options they provide - those being movement, rolls, attacks, counterattacks, shield bashes and up to 3 active abilities from your items. The worst part is that you really have to use all of it if you want to succeed in battle - which means first counterattacking with Q button, then immediately rolling away from an attack that you can't counter with spacebar + direction, then using item ability with 1, etc. Then, despite aforementioned complexity, combat doesn't have much depth. You basically spam attacks, then you counter those that you can or roll away from those that can't be countered, then you roll back to some enemy and keep attacking - repeat until enemy dies. But worst of all is the camera. It never turns around, always pointing one direction, and it's far from vertical, so major part of combat arena is going to always be out of sight. Not only it means that you sometimes don't know if an enemy is a meter away from you or not, but that you often don't even see where you are going to roll. Which, considering that some arenas are littered with traps, often leads to you taking damage in unfair way that couldn't really be avoided. I, personally, am able to get over this fact most of the time, but it still spoils the whole experience somewhat. For some, it might make the game completely impossible. For some, it won't matter at all.
It takes a lot of imagination to disregard the fact that there's your computer with its keyboard, screen and mouse in front of you. It takes a lot to start believing that you're actually controlling the awesome and detailed 3d model of a ship that's in front of you. It doesn't take much, however, to accept the fact that your computer is where it is, but it's actually a control panel for a spaceship, and you are its captain. That's why FTL interface doesn't try to simulate anything but that very control panel. That, and an awesome soundtrack, is what makes the game so real. Sometimes simplicity is the key. However, one shouldn't think that anything but the visuals of the game is simplistic in any way. Actual gameplay is complex and strategic, and you'll have to make lots of decisions of all kinds. The game is not easy to beat, either, as every decision you make is permanent and can't just be cancelled, and is balanced so that you have to really make the best out of what you're given, otherwise you're just doomed. One interesting point about the game's soundtrack is that every track has a "peaceful" and "combat" version, and when situaction becomes dangerous, it doesn't just switch to another track, instead continuing the one that was going with a different arrangement, which makes the experience more integral.
What makes this title so unique compared to others is neither setting nor combat system nor the general style, all of which I enjoyed a lot. However, what makes it actually stand out is that its procedurally generated "dungeons" (that are, in fact, office buildings, mines, facilities and abandoned ships) don't start feeling repetitive even after quite a while. Even when you start recognising individual blocks as it always happens with procedural generation, there is always a feeling of exploration and that a game still has something to surprise you.
Sunless Sea looks like an exploration and trading game. No matter what you'd think from screenshots or gameplay videos, it's not. Trading is not a focus of the game at all, and while possible, isn't really the best option for profit. Combat feels like a filler mechanic, and the exploration, while aesthetically amazing, is dulled by sheer amount of real-time it takes to sale from one place to the other. Yet it's in no way a bad game. Sunless Sea is a game of stories, of long text quests with texts so detailed and beautifully written that they would easily fit into a book. There are stories, stories, and more stories, and everything else serves as not much more than a way to immerse you into those stories. Even the menaces of the Sea, your nightmares, starvation or lack of fuel serve as a way to deliver story first, and only then as actual ways to lose. Sunless Sea mostly plays like a very story-focused RPG, with character skills having much more effect on success or fail in stories than on your performance in trading or sea battles. It's rich with lore (however it seems to assume that you are at least familiar with Fallen London, which I would actually recommend if you liked this game), and the stories are so bizzare and vivid that I can't forget them, and sometimes dream of the sunless sea. Victorian London deep underground, lit now only by gaslights. Port Carnelian, surrounded by fungal jungle full of sentient tigers. Codex, small island of mute exiles. Frostfound, a huge castle made of ice. Far Khanate, lit by electric lights, founded by descendants of Mongol Empire. Chelonate, built inside of a shell of monstrous turtle the size of a city. Irem, pillared city where time has no meaning and all that was, is or will be is the same. Each of those names recall a memory brighter than any place I ever saw in any game, film or real life. The art of the locations is actually pretty amazing too. And the music is a real masterpiece. But you really won't find much of trading-survival-roguelike experience that you might've been promised by some. Yet perhaps, you'll find so much more.
