Risen is a game which could have been great were it not for its many small shortcomings.
If you've played any of the Gothic games, you'll immediately notice the similarites, like the extensive dialogue system or the way you level up your character. Heck, some of the animations are even still the same. What I was hoping was that Risen carries forth the things Gothic did well, and builds on it.
It does not.
To start with, the combat is godawful. Under no circumstances can you fight multiple enemies, or they'll stagger you to death. It is absolutely necessary to pull each enemy one by one, which makes combat slow and fiddly, since the way enemies aggro on you / "see" you is inconsistent. While fighting with a sword, you'll often rely on combo attacks to get the job done. Unfortunately, some enemies (especially the ones later in the game) love to interrupt your combo and hit you back while they're (theoretically) still staggered. In general, enemies are very fond of interrupting their animations (like stagger, stun, wince, anything you'd see as an opportunity) just to fuck you over.
Then, hitboxes are a mess. Your twohander can't reach a ghoul standing right in front of you, but of course it's scrubbly arms can reach you.
Enemies' attack animations are often too fast to react to. Especially ridiculous when your own options all take an eternity to execute.
Besides combat, dialogue sometimes makes no sense as characters repeat the same line in different variations, or even try to give you quests which you've already completed with another npc.
Also, movement is awkward and sometimes bugs out. Falling is not a thing the game is prepared for, including when you jump; and I've gotten stuck in walls and/or the ground after trying to climb up a ledge by pressing space numerous times.
Overall, the game shows some ambition, but the odds feel skewed in your disfavour, and the plainly obvious lack of polish make it infuriating to play.
