Risen Reviews

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Written by BuckGB on March 3rd, 2010

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Risen is the kind of game you want to love, and if you give it a chance, it may still suck you in. It is not, however, generous with its delights. This is a demanding mistress, expecting a lot from you before gifting you in return. As numerous as the quirks are, tolerant RPG lovers that appreciate ambition will find something here to sink their teeth into. Just be prepared for the bitter aftertaste.

Developers like Bethesda and Bioware seem to have found something that works with console RPG fans the best, and if Risen was an experiment to see if they can be pushed further in the direction of discovering the game all by themselves, I think we can call this one a failure.

It's too bad, because Pirahna Bytes does know how to craft a very interesting world and some deep, interesting RPG systems. The passion they have for their work clearly comes through - but only if you can slog through the tough parts to find the brilliance that's deep down in a game like Risen. But they just haven't figured out how to add the kind of intelligent accessibility to their games that keeps it interesting right from the start but doesn't compromise on the mystery or the discovery. If they ever do manage that, they'll probably deliver the best effort they've ever made, but until then, frustrating games like Risen will continue to be the result.

Risen for the 360 is not your perfect RPG by any means. It has issues with frame rate, player control, and sometimes very confusing tasks. That being said, if your a gamer who has played role-playing games, these are all issues that are common with an open game type. Sometimes you have to sacrifice certain aspects to make room for others. Lovers of this genre will be a lot more understanding of the short comings of Risen and will be more apt to give it a second chance.

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