Risen Message Board

Risen 2, Piranha Bytes’ sequel to semi-great RPG Risen (spiritual sequel to the Gothic games) arrived a couple of weeks back, and I’ve been sinking hours of my time into it on and off since then. It puts you in the shiny-buckled boots of a neophyte pirate as he attempts to save the world from evil sea gods. Yeah, it’s Pirates of the Caribbean: the roleplaying game. But does it offer the freeform, amoral delights of its predecessor, or the flabby tedium of three of the four PotC films? Tickle my pegleg to find out.(more…)

Update to remove 3rd Party DRM solution from game

In 2009, the bulk of RPG commentary on PC was all Dragon Age this, Dragon Age that. Me, I ended up sinking more time into something rougher, readier, odder, 50% glorious and 50% drudgery. Piranha Byte’s spiritual Gothic sequel Risen was a hell of a place to visit for a time. Here’s my fall and rise and fall again on its peril-packed, amoral island of adventure.(more…)

Not everyone inhabiting Risen 2′s archipelago will be a pirate, although all players will start that way. But what is a pirate without an authoritarian regime to cock a snook at? The Inquisition, now in a world without magic, are “organised very strictly”, which is why they have short haircuts and “walk around in goosestep”. Crikey. They’re just asking for a carefree buccaneer to rob their precious things. Then there are “the natives”, with their shaman, warriors and hunters. Many of them have been enslaved and forced to work on plantations. As for the pirates? They’re “drunk most of the time”.

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I’ve been travelling for 25 hours, and now I’m in Utah. There’s snow, and buildings made from wood. Why do I tell you this? Because I’m knackered and want to have a little moan. Pity me. Weep for me. Tell me you love me.

Cheery news, however: 1) there’s a big pot of coffee right next to me. 2) Gothic creators Piranha Bytes might be getting their original franchise/universe back, having had to hand over the rights to erstwhile publisher JoWood some time ago.(more…)

‘Bittersweet’ covers this news, I suppose. Arcania: Gothic 4 was a picturesque but depressingly stupid RPG, and one I couldn’t bear to finish despite a lingering hope that at some point it would suddenly open up and improve. None of this was the fault of series creators Piranha Bytes, who lost the rights in a spat with publisher JoWood, but fortunately went off to make the far more interesting Risen instead.

Nonetheless, Arcania was deemed successful enough to warrant a standalone expansion, Fall of Setarrif, which promised 10 more hours of monster-bothering and a bit more variety. It sounded quite literally “okay.” We shall never know for sure – Setariff has indeed fallen. And in a really weird way. (more…)

Piranha Bytes is lifting its Risen series out of generic fantasy land, and dropping it into the high seas. Risen 2: Dark Waters, coming to "consoles and PC," is a seafaring RPG set in a destroyed world, years after the end of the first game. The hero sets out to discover what's causing monsters to rise out of the sea, sailing from island to island and getting mixed up with pirates.

Players can expect the same kind of open-world RPG gameplay, but now on a series of islands. The sequel "maintains the most immersive features of the original Risen, with multiple approaches to every challenge allowing players to shape the game world based on their own decisions." Let's hope Piranha Bytes shapes its own game world the right way the first time, so it doesn't have to rebuild the console game as it did the original.

In this place, one of the few places left of a shattered world, it is choice that is the most powerful weapon. Check out the official launch trailer for Risen.

Hit the hookah and a little rolled-up brugleweed for a relaxing effect, then visit busty Gwen.

click to enlarge Piranha Bytes' RPG Risen is getting a second chance in America. Originally released in Europe on October 2009, reviewers slammed the game as "unfinished and unrefined" and "a technical mess" -- for good reason, too. The original retail release of Risen on Xbox 360 was largely a "beta" version of the game. Four months later, Piranha Bytes is putting the true finishing touches to the game, and the improvement is immediately noticeable. The European game's framerate was inconsistent at best, but this revised version is -- dare we say it? -- playable. In fact, aside from the occasional hiccup, the experience is rather smooth. According to the developer, Risen now boasts higher resolution textures, denser vegetation, better lighting, sharper fonts and brightness controls. Visually, this is pretty much a different game altogether. Unfortunately, that still doesn't place Risen in the same league as games like the admittedly underwhelming Dragon Age Origins. This is still a visually dated product, but at least this time around, the game is playable.

Looking for another role-playing game in early 2010?

Piranha Bytes' Risen will release this February on Xbox 360 in North America. Speaking of rising, that's likely something the review scores could use after the North American release. The PC version is currently scraping by with a 77 on Metacritic and the Xbox 360 version, which has raided Europe, is sporting a frighteningly low score of 58. Under normal circumstances Risen might stand a chance with a February release -- despite its review scores. But, as has become disturbingly clear to other publishers, 2010 is just full-up with solid launches, that everyone has to bring their A-game to survive this year's release schedule.

Deep Silver bringing the fantasy RPG to North America.

Tour the countryside of Piranha Bytes' immersive new role-playing game.

Piranha Bytes' Risen will make its scheduled PC release on October 2; however, the Xbox 360 version has been delayed until "early next year," a release window that's just begging for more. (Also, let's just ignore that our GameFly account deems the console version as "canceled.")Sporting a solid voice cast, the fantasy RPG by the developers of Gothic 3, is a toss-up in the quality department -- which means that Australia was either punished or spared by the game's "banning."

Wash ashore a tropical island and wonder--how did you get here? Answers from Cologne.

A juicy sample of beast-battling and gory gameplay.

A legendary wrap-up to a legendary adventure walkthrough.

The story begins at GamesCom 2009.