Oh God, there are so many different puns I could
make right now. Does the game rise to the occasion? Does it signal a rising
force in the gaming industry? Does Pirahna Bytes rise to the occasion? Or have
they gone flaccid? Okay, okay, finished now. Everyone, you can stop giving me
those disapproving stares.
Note: This review is of the PC
edition of the game. I have not played the 360 version, but I have heard it is
much worse than the PC one, with quite horrible graphics, crap controls,
horrible UI issues, and huge framerate problems.
Risen is a third-person, open-world
action-RPG developed by Piranha Bytes, the studio that created the cult-classic Gothic series. The game is intended to be a spiritual successor to that
series and there are rumors that this game was actually supposed to be Gothic 4
before Piranha Bytes was booted from that project, but as far as I know, those
rumors are unfounded. Now, I have not had much experience with the Gothic series. I have heard of the games, seen some screenshots, and
have read a couple reviews of various games in the series, but my experience
ends there. I have, however, played my fair share of WRPGs, so I have a good
appreciation of the genre and a decent grasp on what tends to work and what
does not. I recently purchased this game during a sale, having enjoyed what
little I played of the game in the demo. Honestly, I am not sure what I was
expecting when I started. I knew the game was going to be different; the demo
had conveyed that much. I did not expect that I would become as sucked into the
game as I was. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Lets take a look at Risen.
The game begins with a bang. One stormy night, one
of the men on the ship the player has stowed away on, a mage with a strange
monocle, engages a massive sea serpent in battle in a magical battle. This does
not go well and the ship is sunk by the serpent. The player and a fellow
stowaway awake on the beach of a strange island sometime later, with nothing to
their name but whatever they can scavenge from the wreckage that lines the
beach. The player eventually discovers that the island they have washed up on
is home to a small, troubled farming community. During a recent storm,
mysterious ruins have risen from the ground all across the island, with
dangerous insects and other monsters streaming out and attacking the populace.
A group named the Inquisition comes along and forces most of the island's
inhabitants into the only town, sealing the gates and forbidding anyone to
leave while they set up camp in the local monastery and try to investigate
these ruins. The Inquisition also has a nasty habit of enslaving anyone who
breaks the rules by forcing them to become new members. The local crime lord
decided that he wanted a piece of the action and escaped with a few of his men
to create a base in the nearby swamp, from which he schemes to take back the
town and loot the ruins. The player is thrust into the middle of this conflict
and forced to pick sides. Will they side with the gang in the swamp? Or will
they side with the Inquisition? And what is up with those mysterious ruins,
anyway?
Look at all that excitement and
adventure! Isn't it just too much to take?
The story has a lot of interesting themes, ideas,
and questions, many of which come from the nature of the world itself. See, the
entire world of Risen exists in a world that is post-deity. Humanity has
literally killed all of their Gods so they will not be forced to be a servant
to anyone unless it is by their own choosing. Turns out killing Gods is not
without consequences however, because the Titans that the Gods had sealed away
are awakening and causing apocalyptic destruction across the world. Yet all
hope is not lost, as humanity continues to cling to a few remaining religions,
the most prominent of which seems to be a monastic order that worships a
mysterious flame in a volcano. This setup alone brings up many different
fascinating ides, like what happens to a civilization once it has no more use
for religion? Or, should one fight for freedom if it will eventually cause the
death of millions? Will people still join religions regardless of whether or
not Gods are irrevocably proved to be gone/false? Will the past inevitably lash
out and try to sabotage the future? Is it better to sacrifice the few for a
chance to save the many?
Many interesting ideas can also be seen in the main
story, especially in the conflict between the orderly Inquisition and chaotic
swamp bandits. During the game, the player is forced to join one or the other.
The choice is muddied further by the fact that neither group is the
"good" one. Both do terrible, awful things and both have awful people
in their ranks, so the player has to actually think about which one is less
objectionable. The behaviors of the groups themselves bring up interesting
questions as well, like is it eviler to force people to pay protection money
and engage in thuggish behaviors or to force those who disobey into servitude
for the others? Are they not just two different types of slavery, one economic
based, one labor based? These are interesting questions that help to keep the
player invested in the story and make it significantly more engaging than if it
had been a simple morality tale of good versus evil.
All of these interesting themes and ideas could have
made the story among the best if it was not so damn schizophrenic. The game has
around 3-4 main plots. Not plot threads, plots. I am not joking; there really
are 3-4 self-contained plots to be found in the game. The game achieves this
odd distinction by radically switching its plot to another one multiple times.
This usually happens when a new chapter begins (of which there are four) and is
so horribly executed one can almost hear a "thunk" whenever the game
switches gears. Each plot ends with a whimper in a short, unsatisfying
conclusion that answers little and does the bare minimum to actually qualify as
an end (yes that includes the ultimate end of the game, too). For instance,
remember that plot about the conflict between the Inquisition and the swamp
bandits that was mentioned earlier? Yeah, it is abandoned in chapter 2 and is
given a five minute conclusion in chapter 3, despite being the driving force of
the first ten hours of the game. The faction the player joined in the beginning
barely matters in chapter 2 and is completely ignored in chapter 3 and 4. This
switching between plots is made even more exasperating by the fact that only
one of the plots has any foreshadowing attached to it. It is like if the first Lord of the Rings movie focused on the journey to destroy the ring,
while the second focused the inner politics of the Gondor army (with 10 minutes
of footage of the fellowship destroying the ring in Mt. Doom) and the third on
Rohan cleaning up Mordor. Then, the film producers decided it was too long and
crammed this all into one film, one plot after the other. It is distracting and
annoying, and means the story never reaches its full potential. It feels like
the devs had all these great ideas for all these different stories they wanted
to tell, but instead of just narrowing it down to one plot and sticking to it,
they decided to throw them all in a pot, mix it together, and see what comes
out. Well, I hate to spoil it, but what came out was a total mess. It is an
interesting mess, but it is still a mess.
Wow, this next-gen Harvest
Moon is looking awesome!
The characters themselves (of which there are many)
are a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the NPCs have their own names, but very few
are actually interesting. Most simply serve as walking vending machines or
quest boards with little distinguishing quirks or personality. The characters that do stand out are some of
the best I have encountered in any game. Most of the major characters, and even
some of the minor ones, have surprisingly nuanced and subtle personalities.
They have their own unique hopes, ambitions, failings, and motivations, all of
which seem real and interesting. It is also nice that the development team
actually managed to get a few high-profile voice actors like Andy Serkis and
John Rhys Davies. Their great voice work helps to add depth to their
characters.
The dialogue is also definitely worth mentioning.
There is quite a lot of it and most of it is very good. Major characters
respond and interact with the player in a manner that feels real and is
consistent to their previously established personalities. Some can even offer a
number of interesting insights, not only about the world, but about the themes
of the story. The Don (leader of the swamp bandits) and the Inquisitor (leader
of the Inquisition), both stand out in this regard, each talking about their
own moral codes and explaining problems with the opposition, often giving the
player a lot of food for thought when the conversation ends. Even minor
characters can provide interesting conversations and perspectives on the local
politics. Some can even provide great illustrations of the central themes of
the narrative. Considering how much of a mess the story is, it is a welcome
surprise to see this much attention paid to the dialogue.
The game provides a lot of choice and freedom in how
the player can complete quests. Many quests can be solved through dialogue,
thievery, combat, or any combination thereof. For instance, there is one quest
in the game where the player is tasked to retrieve an amulet from a house
guarded by the local town watch. The player can sneak into the house at night
to try and steal it, fight their way through the guards to get it, or trick the
guard at the front gate into giving it to them. Similarly, there is another
quest that involves finding the treasure a pirate captain left on the island.
During the course of this quest, rival pirates kidnap the pirate captain's
daughter and threaten to kill her if the player does not give them what they
want. In a regular RPG, the player would have to choose between her life and
the treasure. In this game, the player can kill the pirates and get away with
both the girl and the treasure. It is a fantastic feeling to "screw the
system" by finding ways to complete quests that are decidedly outside of
the norm. This makes the game much more engaging, since the player has many
more options than usual and are encouraged to play around with the mechanics a
bit more.
Anyone up for wolf popsicles? That’s
a thing, right?
This game has one of the most interesting fantasy
worlds I have seen in a game in a long time. It eschews the "high
fantasy" settings of most fantasy role playing games in favor of a
"low fantasy" one. The world does not feel like it is experiencing a
"renaissance", with all sorts of complex magic, advanced technology,
and massive cities. It feels like the world is still struggling through the
"dark ages". There are only 3 major settlements in the game, one of
which is made out of stick huts sitting in the mud, huddled together in the
shadow of an ancient temple. In another most of the homes and walls are made
out of dried mud. There are no magic lanterns, only candles and torches that
barely illuminate anything at night. All of the clothes are rather drab and
rough and there is no metal armor to be found on the island (with the exception
of some shields), only variants of leather. The most commonly found weapons are
hunting knives, rusty swords, sickles, and clubs made from tree branches. It is
a type of fantasy world that is not seen very often, yet it is so well-realized
that it is hard not to be drawn in by it.
The world is also extremely immersive. The island
itself is quite well-designed, with a lot to explore and see. Yet, unlike some
games, none of the content feels copy-pasted or boring. All of it feels fresh,
real, and is very well-designed, with every enemy encounter perfectly placed,
every cavern or ruin there for a reason. The game world is brimming with subtle
detail everywhere, from an orchard outside of an abandoned farmstead, to an
outhouse behind a shack in the middle of the woods, or the ancient gravestones
that are frequently placed outside ruins. In a nice extra touch, the game
allows players to hunt animals and gather meat from the corpse, which can be
used to cook food with recipes found when exploring. The player can also take
trophies from kills and sell them to vendors for cash. Wandering through the
forests, the player can hear the sounds of birds and roaring waterfalls off in
the distance. Villagers have fairly complex daily routines and can eat, drink,
smoke, read books, farm, sweep, move crates, or even enter into conversations
with each other. The music helps to set the mood perfectly with a number of
great pieces. When the player is killed or knocked unconscious, monsters will
wander up to their corpse and start munching, while human enemies will take the
opportunity to loot whatever belongings the player might have. The stance the
player takes in combat changes as they level up and become more experience. All
this helps to make the world feel real and therefore helps the player to suspend
their disbelief in magic and monsters for a while to become more engaged with
the world.
The perfectly placed secrets also help to keep the
player interested. They can be easy to find, such as a bow and some arrows in
the top of a tower that one finds early in the game, to fairly hidden, like a
secret hunting camp only accessible by levitation, or even fairly complex, like
finding the broken pieces of an ancient sword that can be forged together to
make the original blade whole again. It makes the player want to explore every
corner of the world to find out what surprises might be waiting for them there.
Sadly, this game contains a distinct
lack of Lord of the Flies references. And that's no
good.
The visual aesthetics of this game compliment it
perfectly. This is an insanely beautiful game and it has some truly gorgeous
sights. During the day, everything is drenched in a yellowy light that makes
everything seem bright and cheery, yet during the night the game gets very
dark, to the point where a lone campfire is a welcoming sight when one is out
wandering the wilderness. There are beautiful sweeping vistas, precarious
cliffs, dense forests, foggy swamps, and even a precarious rope bridge or two.
There were multiple times where I just had to stop and take in the beauty of a
nearby vista or watch a sunset, the game was so beautiful. It has some the most
beautiful graphics I have seen in a long time and makes some of the best use of
lighting I have ever seen in a role playing game.
The game is structured pretty much how one would
expect an open-world, action-RPG to be structured. The player can go to any
place they see, kill most anyone (baring plot-critical NPCs, of course) with a
variety of weapons and magic, complete numerous sidequests that are scattered
across the map, and steal whatever is not nailed down. The game does eschew the
"auto-level" system found in recent Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, instead opting to use the more old-school system of
"sealing" areas of the map by placing powerful monsters in that zone,
effectively stopping the player from exploring that area until they are of a
high enough level. Nothing especially new, but it all works.
The melee system is fairly different from the norm,
resembling the system found in games like Demon's Souls rather than TESIV: Oblivion, and it works fairly well. There are variety of
different weapons to choose from, all defined in the game as either a sword,
axe, and pole-arm (though each type covers more weapons than just what the
title describes, with swords containing clubs and axes containing war-hammers).
For swords and axes, the player can wield them in one hand or with a shield.
The player can block attacks in front of them by pressing the right mouse
button and can dodge out of the way of attacks by pressing spacebar plus A or
D. Attack are made by pressing the left mouse button and the player combine
moves to create simple combos. The game uses a fairly subtle lock-on system
that can easily be used to switch between enemies with the slight movement of
the mouse left or right. The comparison to Demon's Souls come mostly
from the focus of the combat; it is heavily based on learning the proper time
to block, attack, or dodge, since each enemy has specific tells, moves, and
attack patterns. Additionally, like in Demon's Souls, combat is
typically tough as nails, with most enemies able to take out half of the
player's health if they do not pay attention. The controls can be fairly
complex and take some getting used to, but work well when the player has become
acclimated with them. Finally, just like in Demon's Souls, the player
has to learn when to engage enemies and how to handle groups (which can easily
kill the player if they are not careful). Once the player does get used to all
of this, difficulty decreases significantly and combat becomes much more
manageable and fun.
If only all archaeology was this
easy...
There are two different types of ranged weapons
(crossbows and longbows) and type works fairly differently. Longbows are more
accurate and allow the player to charge each shot so that it flies longer and
does more damage, but the rate of fire is fairly poor and the player has to
stand still in order to fire (which is killer in a game where most enemies are
fairly fast and proper movement is key). Crossbows have a better rate of fire,
do more damage with each regular shot, and do not require the player stand
still to fire, but are inaccurate and do not allow for charge shots. Each is
more useful in different situations: longbows for softening up targets from a
distance and crossbows for taking them out up close. All told, longbows are
usually much more useful, since whenever enemies would get close enough for the
crossbow it is more useful to use melee weapons instead.
Unfortunately, the ranged weapons are not nearly as
useful as the melee weapons, since the player cannot block when they are using
one and the time when switching between weapons is fairly long, making
switching between a bow and sword unwieldy and possibly dangerous. When one
gets right down to it, the ranged weapons are entirely optional. The player
will absolutely need to invest in melee skills to fight all of the
enemies no matter what, but they need not invest in ranged ones, since A: there
is only one type of enemy that uses ranged attacks; B: there is only one type
of monster that cannot be defeated by melee attacks (and it is fairly rare); and
C: most fights eventually degenerate into melee brawls regardless of whether or
not the player begun the fight with ranged attacks. Sure, they can be helpful,
but the player is not losing much if they choose to avoid them, especially
since can fairly rare (especially for longbows). All this is fairly
disappointing, since it basically means that the player does not have as much
freedom to play as they want, since a ranged-only character will be fairly
underpowered when compared to other builds.
There are three types of magic in the game: scroll,
rune, and crystal. Crystal magic is powered by crystals (obviously) that the
player can find scattered throughout the world, of which there are three
different types, and allow the player to cast the spell contained in the
crystal when used. The different types of spells one can cast from crystals are
fireball, freeze, and magic missile. When the player finds or purchases a magic
rune, they can cast the spell contained on the rune, if they have the
appropriate skill level to handle it. The rune spells only contains one
offensive spell; the rest of the runes are mostly just various flavors of
buffs, with one or two exceptions for things like Levitation or Create
Illusion. Scrolls work mostly the same here as in most other WRPGs: they are
one use consumables that allow the player to cast the spell on the scroll once
before the scroll is lost, but once the player casts a scroll spell it depletes
some of their mana.
Of course, the best thing about this
game is that the player character can carry everything in the whole damn
world.
Most of the magic spells are fairly useful,
especially later in the game when it is basically required that the player uses
them to solve the puzzles in the end-game dungeons. Many of the more
interesting secrets in the game require that the player use spells like
Levitation or Telekinesis to reach them. The buff and offensive spells are
quite useful too, giving the player a significant edge in combat, especially in
the harder battles which pepper the end of the game. In fact, the spells appear
to be too powerful. Upgrading wisdom (the attribute that determines the damage
of spells) is much easier that upgrading strength or dexterity (the attributes
that determines the damage of melee attacks and ranged attacks, respectively).
There are dozens of books and tablets that upgrade wisdom when used, many more
than the items that upgrade dexterity or strength. If the player takes the time
to explore the island and read all the books they find, they should be able to
max out wisdom quite easily, even if they do not use magic. To compare, if the
player were to try and upgrade strength to max, they would have no choice but
leave dexterity woefully low. Because of this, offensive spells become
incredibly powerful very fast, allowing the player to kill most everything with
one or two shots, even in the endgame. To compare, most enemies in the endgame
still take 5-6 sword swings or 3-4 fully charged longbow shots to kill, even
with the most powerful weapons in the game. It makes the game feel like it is
punishing the player if they choose not to use magic, since they end up being
significantly less powerful in the end-game than magic users.
Additionally, the spell selection in the game is
rather... lacking. There are only four offensive spells in the entire game, all
of which are fairly uninteresting and stock. There is only one summon spell and
the enemies become so powerful that they render it mostly useless in the later
chapters. There are some interesting spells, like the polymorph spells that
turn the player's character into an animal or monster from the game;
Levitation, which allows the player to float; or Tell Joke, which lets the
player calm down hostile NPCs. Beyond
these spells, the list is decidedly lacking in imagination, providing spells
that are essentially prerequisites for any fantasy RPG, like magic shield and
berserker rage. This all means that while the mages are overpowered, they are
not as fun as they could be, since they don’t really get a lot of
"toys" to play around with. If the game had had a spell selection as
big as Neverwinter Nights 2 or even Dragon Age: Origins, magic
would have been much more fun to use. As it stands now, it is still kind of
fun, but nowhere near as fun as it should be.
Once the player gets a certain amount of experience
points, they level up. Once they have leveled up, they are awarded more health,
more mana, and some "learning points". Once the player visits certain
people, they will offer to upgrade either the player’s existing skillset or the
player's attributes for a fee of gold and learning points. Some can even teach
entirely new skills. Each weapon type has its own skillset. The same goes for
each type of crystal magic. There are also multiple crafting skills, a rune
magic skillset, and a handful of miscellaneous extra skills, like acrobatics
(which reduces fall damage) and gut animals (which allows the player to get
extra bits of vendor trash and ingredients from dead animals if they have
certain tools). Upgrades are placed on a linear path (one needs to upgrade one
node if they wish to upgrade the next) and each upgrade can do a variety of
things, from decreasing the reload time when the player uses their crossbow, to
allowing them to craft higher level items, letting them perform charge attacks
with their melee weapon, to even allowing them to wield two-handed weapons with
one hand. Whatever the case, each upgrade actually seems valuable and can have
a fairly large effect on how the player chooses to fight.
And, of course, skeletons. Because
every fantasy game needs skeletons, right? It’s practically a law by
now.
The game features a fairly extensive crafting
system, allowing the player to create their own magic scrolls, swords, jewelry,
food, and potions. Most of the craftable items in the game simply require that
the player have tools and ingredients (of which the player can carry an
unlimited number). When the player decides they want to craft an item, they
need to take the ingredients to the proper "crafting table" in order
to create it. Crafting does not work exactly the same for every type of craftable
item however, with small variations between types being quite common (cooking
and alchemy require a recipe for instance, while smithing swords requires a
number of different "crafting tables"). In order to make the better
items, the player needs a higher level the appropriate crafting skill. For
instance, potions that permanently increase the player's attributes, health, or
mana, in addition to high level restoratives, require that the player have the
highest level in alchemy.
Unlike many other RPGs, the crafting system is
incredibly useful in the game and putting a lot of time and effort into finding
ingredients and acquiring all the skills is basically required. Many of the
higher level craftable swords are quite powerful and the magic scrolls are basically
required for the end-game puzzle dungeons. Potions are basically the only way
to upgrade strength or dexterity in any worthwhile manner, which makes
investing in alchemy all but required if the player wants to plays as a melee
or ranged focused character. Food is more useful than it really has any right
to be, since some recipes can restore as much health as a large health potion
while others actually increase the players attributes, mana, or health by a
small amount. While most of the best amulets in the game can be found or
purchased, a not insignificant number can only be acquired by crafting.
Additionally, all of the best rings are the crafted ones. Basically, the game
essentially forces to actually pay attention to and invest in all of the options
provided. But that does not seem to be a bad thing. It makes the player
consider all their options and explore all of the game's mechanics. This is
something that is rarely seen in modern games and is honestly quite refreshing.
The class system is fairly different from the norm.
When the player starts the game, they are essentially "classless". It
is only once they join up with either the Inquisition or the swamp bandits that
they are given a class. Players who join the swamp bandits become Fighters,
while players who join the Inquisition get the choice of becoming one of two
different types of magi (Warriors of the Order or plain ol’ Mages). Fighters
can achieve the highest level possible in the sword, axe, pickpocket, and
lockpicking skills. Warriors of the Order can achieve the highest possible
level in the pole-arm skill, use crystal magic much sooner than Fighters, and
actually upgrade the skill (Fighters can only use crystal magic if they equip a
certain amulet). Mages receive all of the benefits of the Warriors of the Order
and are also the only ones who can use Rune magic. Beyond that, how the player
chooses to build their character is up to them. Mages can still pour a lot of
time and energy into melee weapons while neglecting their magic skills, for
instance. I have always enjoyed these types of systems, and it works okay here,
but seems very unbalanced, since Mages can invest in very single skill set in
the game, while Fighters cannot. If the game had made the distribution of
skills more even, it would have worked better. As it stands, it is functional,
but not ideal.
Welcome to the jungle, we got fun.
Not many games, though.
Risen is one of the single most engrossing
games I have played in a long time. It is also one of the most flawed. The
story is interesting, but sloppily put together with little resembling a structure
outside the separate arcs. The weapons and classes are woefully unbalanced, the
magic selection is poor, and the game is as tough as a lead brick. Yet, the
combat consistently remains engaging, there are a number of great characters,
the crafting system is enjoyable, the game features a diverse array of deep
themes, and the world is highly detailed, interesting, and immersive. There is
a lot to like here if one can get past all of the flaws. Unfortunately, I doubt
many will be able too. Those looking for something different from the norm or a
game that can easily suck them in should give the game a look. All others
should probably steer clear.
Final Rating:
Marmite/10
Breakfastman is an amateur reviewer,
student, and all around cool guy. Questions, comments, constructive criticisms,
rants, rages, or just want to tell me my taste in music sucks? All forms of
feedback are encouraged, so feel free. All images blatantly stolen from Google.