Risen 2: Dark Waters Previews
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Eurogamer, which clearly didn't enjoy the first title, seems more intrigued by the pirate-y sequel:
Like Oblivion, the soldiers of the fort interact socially with each other and follow set routines, meaning you can both listen into their dialogue to get tips and quests and work around them like Batman, picking them off when they're isolated. Much of our demo time was taken up with the hero, sneaking around, spiking cannons, nobbling guards and blasting his crew out of prison. The small area was pleasant enough, reminiscent of WoW's original Ratchett and evoked a feel about the whole game of a primitive Witcher 2, with a nice variety of mixed quest types.
This section also showed off the single item of the game that made me sit up and take notice, a remote-control monkey that can be used to access small spaces, as well as powder kegs the hero could scatter round the place, to act as traps for the AI-deficient guards. Once we'd got the ship, we were told, the whole world opens up for your piratical depredations - though we weren't shown this.
We also saw a quick combat demo, set in a ruined temple, where your hero and a team of navy riflemen go up against another pirate. He's called Crow, he's armed with a formidable native artefact, a great spirit spear, an equally formidable Midlands accent, and could be a bad Johnny Depp parody - and if so, it's very, very bad. He sends a wave of natives against you, who are swiftly dispatched by the sharpshooting of your riflemen. Then he summons a stone golem who hurls great rocks, backed up by a horde of pirates.
The combat wasn't complicated, but it really wasn't interesting or new. Having dispatched Crow and his cronies easily, and acquired the spirit spear, even the developer struggled to avoid the Titan's attacks. If you have to resort to bunnyhopping, then you might want to reconsider how cheap you make your bosses.
VG247:
The island we're shown features a number of Risen 2's more interesting features with its day and night cycle alongside NPCs going about their business and not standing idly by, waiting for you mine them for side-quests. The hero's main goal here is to spring the unwilling resident of the local jail-house so that he might join the crew you're putting together for a little pirate adventure.
Happily, this task can be set about in a number of different ways and speaking to the detainee reveals information about the burly guard that holds the key to his freedom. Here, the hero is presented with the option of deploying a trained monkey which you take control of directly to pick-pocket the guard, though this option first requires dealing with the other guards, either quietly or with brute force. It's also necessary to disable the numerous cannons fortifying the town so that a clean getaway can be made without fear of being bombarded once aboard the ship.
Alternatively, if stealth and subterfuge aren't your thing you can choose to commandeer one of the cannons before disabling it to blow a hole in the side of the prison, assuming that you're fully prepared to face the wrath of the entire town guard if you take this least subtle of routes.
Strategy Informer:
This is a very story driven game, with voiced conversations and multiple dialogue options. There's more tongue and cheek humour this time around, with swearing, innuendos and everything in between. Quests can be approach in multiple ways, each requiring slightly different skill sets. Do you want to steal what you need? Talk your way into getting what you need? Simply blow a hole in the wall? This is a party based game as well, although you can only choose one other member to come ashore with you. Sometimes a quest or a mission will grant you other NPC's that will fight with you, and companions have their own skills they can use in battle.
If Risen was the prototype, then Risen 2 is mass production model - everything from the original game has been expanded upon and fleshed out, from the lore, to the mechanics, to the world itself. There's foraging and crafting Talismans, 'potions' (although they're not really potions), there's factions that you can join and interact with. There's loot, clothing and equipment, and the game world itself is designed to reward you for exploring and poking about. This isn't a Final Fantasy game with redundant corridors and dead-ends - there's always an incentive to go wondering off.
Daily Joypad:
The next section of the game we were shown saw your character in a town area named Porto Isabella with the quest of finding a ship, some supplies and some crew members. Doing so would open up every other island in the game. We were shown that a potential crew member was locked in a tower and you had to bust him out to get him to join your crew. You get to choose one of two ways to rescue the prisoner; steal the key from the tower guard, or blow the tower open with a cannon. Since stealing the key required a Theivery stat of 35 (something the character we were shown didn't have), the demonstrator set about sabotaging cannons to allow a safe getaway and knocking out guards so that they wouldn't witness the crime. Whilst all good in general, it did show the AI to be somewhat unaware of what was going on around them as you could throw things like explosives at their feet, back away, and trigger them without them batting an eyelid. To boot, once they awaken from unconsciousness, they just carry on about their daily routines without saying a word. Rather ironically though, they do seem to remember other important things you've done as they reference quests and major happenings you've done throughout the game. Hopefully they'll have undergone awareness training before the full game. We were also shown your character's monkey partner that can steal things stealthily in places that might be too open for your main man to try. You're also able to use dirty tactics when battling enemies including kicking sand at them and a parrot you can fling at enemies. What's not to like?
