Why Risen is One of the Best RPGs in Recent Years
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Any free roaming RPG is only as good as its environment, and Risen boasts one of the most well crafted sandboxes in recent memory. Compared to the size of Skyrim or Kingdoms of Amalur, Risen's game world is surprisingly tiny. Confined to a small island, there doesn't seem to be too much to get up to. Fortunately, Risen goes to the Batman: Arkham Asylum/City school of design, where it favors a small, dense, memorable environment over a sprawling, sparse world. In game design, bigger isn't always better (just ask Driver: Parallel Lines and its ridiculously large 225 miles of empty space).
Risen's island is just the perfect size. It isn't small enough to keep you feeling hemmed in, but it isn't overly large. It is densely cluttered with treasures, dungeons and secrets, making it feel like a chaotic example of mother nature's work, and less like an artificial world created by a group of designers. The world is nice and compact, making it feel intimate and memorable. Similar to how viewers of the show Community grow familiar with the various locales of Greendale Community College, over the course of my playthrough, Risen's tight game world established itself as a memorable and familiar location.
The small size of the island allows Piranha Bytes to cram in plenty of personality per square foot, as a new little discovery waits around every bend. The world was truly a pleasure to explore. The naturalism of the world also translates over into the gameplay, which could easily put some players off. Those used to the Elder Scrolls game, where any location is easy fair game will be in for the shock. The enemies and foes do not scale with player progression meaning that many areas will be off limits until you progress. While this can make for an unforgiving and frustrating experience (especially during the early portions of the game), it does a good job of nudging the player in the correct direction, without feeling forced.
