I'm one of the few that liked all Piranha Bytes games so far. I'm not a purist so i don't care if Risen 2 has strayed even more from the Gothic formula. Risen 2 got bashed in the beginning for some graphical issues and for the combat system (no efficient dodging and no blocking). These issues have been fixed shortly after release but the negative comments based on dated info continue to this day. Risen 2 offers all i got to expect from a Piranha Bytes game: detailed and beautiful hand crafted worlds, lots of things to discover, a good story told in a light hearted way with quite a bit of humor. Its PB's first attempt at companions, you have a choice of companions that will fight by your side and contribute to the story. The combat was designed with companions in mind so it can seem quite difficult if you decide to not use their help, but its still perfectly doable. Played on maxed graphical settings the world is beautiful with impressive lighting and weather effects. In this respect it is better even than Risen 3. The pirate theme is used very well, you will have a ship to travel from island to island (you don't actually get to sail it on the seas though) You can use a monkey to steal stuff, you can have a parrot, you can use dirty tricks like throwing sand, there's also the mandatory sneaking, pickpocketing, sweet talking and lock picking, and of course all these skills can be upgraded. Despite the bad ratings it got for the voice acting, i actually liked it. The hero's voice doesn't sound like a pirate at all (well maybe because he actually isn't one) but its enjoyable, he sounds like a smart alec that makes fun of everyone and it actually fits the dialogues. There is a lot to do, to discover and enjoy in this game. The combat is nothing to write home about but it works and it can be quite fun if you put a modicum of effort into understanding it instead of rushing to tag it as bad from the start.
The soundtrack is a lie. The so-called prototype soundtrack that comes with the game is garbage and has nothing to do with the actual music in the game. If you dont want to include the original soundtrack for whatever reasons, thats fine, but dont cheat like that.
Abe series is wonderful and unique, with the accent on unique. Nothing quite like it was ever made to this day. Its a milestone in game history. This being said, the graphics are a part of the artistic package, and the graphics look like p00p on anything but a crt tv. Playing this game on a PC monitor or a HD tv is like listening to a music classic on a pocket size transistor radio without headphones.
The game does not work on Win 7 64bit. To make it work, you have to create a custom power plan in the control panel that you have to activate before starting the game, also have to deactivate after you stop playing. This is ridiculous and even more ridiculous is that this hasnt been patched up by now. Im definitely not going to fiddle with the power options all the time for the sake of playing a game since this is not a good solution. Last but not least, GoG should be more careful with the description of the games they sell, this should not be sold as a game working on win 7.
This game presently does not work properly on Vista and Win7, this is a known issue so if you dont have a PC with WinXP, dont bother with this title. On WinXP it works fine though (have to disable hardware zooming). I think this "minor" detail is important and it was omitted from most reviews. The game itself is not bad, the graphics are pleasing and the story is good. The game sucked me in from the start, which is rare. The fights are very similar to console strategy games like Vandal Hearts, which is unusual for a PC RPG. Moving around is very confusing, because you dont know where you can or can not go, the environment layout is horribly done but it was not gamebreaking for me. On the bright side the environments look good and the atmosphere is all there. At certain points (which are not marked but they are not random either), you will encounter mobs or events, so the game loads the fighting instance. These strategic fights are by far the highlight of the game. They are very challenging from the start, and will require the player to actually think and find different strategies for winning, because the enemy AI is very well done. Unless you block their path, the enemies will attack your weakest char, or the one with the lowest HP, even when they have other targets closer to them. Then they are very good at hit and run tactics, but of course you can do the same, or block their path. Another interesting aspect of these fights is how sometimes mobs can join during a fight: at the begining of the fight there are 2-3 enemies on the map, then mid-fight another tough mob can join out of nowhere, adding an element of surprise to an already tough fight. If you have a PC with WinXP, Gorky 17 is definitely worth a look.
