Risen Review
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Fighting against humanoids (such as humans and skeletons) is generally a lot more fun. They will typically have a range of moves similar to your own, and can surprise you with a combination of feints and powerstrikes, just as the PC had sidesteps, blocks and parries at his disposal. The AI is a bit limited here, and occasionally you can find a bit of stupidity to abuse, but usually fights will be challenging if the opponent is at or above your level. The big flaw in humanoid combat is revealed near the end of the game. Rather than opting for long high level fights consisting of the PC and his opponents exchanging open blows, Risen's high level combat functions by pretty much everyone causing enough damage to kill anyone else including the PC in three blows. This brings an inordinate amount of luck into the game, as specific, almost chance-based timing can mean the difference between beating up three enemies without a scratch or getting killed in single combat. Because of these differing flaws against non-human and human opponents, combat is a bit of a chore throughout much of the game. Creature combat can be needlessly frustrating at the beginning, while combat against humanoids can feel too luck-based near the end. These are weaknesses in design that drag down a system that is otherwise solid mechanics-wise.
The same does not hold true for ranged combat, whether it be spells or (cross)bow you're using. Either you kill the enemy in one shot or you'll have to go on kiting every enemy you meet. It's an annoying shortcoming that's the logical consequence of any game where almost no enemy uses ranged attacks. The limits of enemy AI become a bit of a problem here: if the enemy has no way of reaching the PC (and many can not jump) it will not go into cover to avoid your attacks, it will just stand there taking as many arrows as you need to put into it to put it down.
Character System
Risen's core character system is a duplicate of Gothic's: as the player levels up he gains learning points, which can be spent with teachers to learn certain new skills or better the PC's stats. Risen's main stats are strength, dexterity and wisdom, tied naturally to close combat, ranged combat and magic. Mana also needs to have learning points invested in it, but hit points are raised automatically every level.
There are five combat skills (sword, axe, staff, bow, crossbow) each of which can be raised 10 levels, and with each level you gain new moves, as well as more damage and speed. A big change from Gothic is that combat magic is split from rune magic into crystal magic; the three crystal magic skills are magic bullet, fireball and frost, which similarly to combat skills can be raised 10 levels, and need an appropriate crystal to use.
Then there's a bevy of non-combat skills, split between crafting (alchemy, smithing, prospect ore, gut animals), rune magic (seal, create scrolls) and thievery (open locks, pickpocket, acrobatics, sneak). Some of these have multiple levels of mastery (alchemy, smithing, seal, open locks and pickpocket), and with each level your ability increases, the others you simply know after investing 5 learning points in them. The only skill tied to a minigame is open locks, which is a simple left-right combination minigame. The levelled skills unlock harder challenges; certain locks can not be picked until you have the appropriate level, and you can not even try to pickpocket the more challenging NPCs.
The split in magic is an interesting one, with the marked disadvantage that having only three attacking spells (plus the inferno rune you find later in the game) is kind of, well, boring. The rune magic itself is pretty interesting, and used much more intensively than in PB's previous titles. Spells like levitation, nautilus (which transforms you into a nautilus, allowing you to crawl through small spaces) and telekinesis are used as elements in puzzle-like dungeons. But don't fear if you're not a mage: anyone can use scrolls made from runes, though the crystal spells are only available to magic-users.
Overall Risen's system feels like a slight simplification of Gothic, but that's not where its biggest flaw lies. In Gothic, you would lack enough learning points to do as you wish, and would have to think hard on investing some extra points in pickpocket or skipping the skill entirely. Risen has no such question, as you're virtually showered with learning points. There is no choice involved in learning the crafting or thievery skills, you can freely do it and easily have enough points left to max out your combat skill and related stat. Heck, by the end of my playthrough as an axe-wielding warrior, I had maxed out axe fighting, learned all crafting and thievery skills and still had a heap of skill points left which I simply did not know how to spend. I finally just opted to dump it all into dexterity, raising it by 60 points for no other reason than to unlock a bow I picked up, and ended up never using.
Setting & World
Risen's backstory is that a mage cast a spell to banish the Gods and give humans their freedom, which was all well and good, only it freed the old enemies of the Gods, the Titans, from their prisons, and they are raging across the human world as the game starts. The player character is a stowaway on a ship, and witnesses the Inquisitor do battle to a sea Titan before teleporting away, leaving the ship to be destroyed. He and one other survivor Sara, who serves as your tutorial guide wash up on the shores of the island Faranga. Faranga, a volcanic island that harbours the Holy Flame, source of all magic, has oddly been left alone by the Titans (so far), and the Inquisitor is searching for the answer to the world's woes there.
The basic structure of Risen's world does not shine in originality. It is your standard medieval fantasy fare, axe and sword-swinging humans backed up by mages holding their strongholds against the wilderness, teeming with wolves, giant vultures, skeletons, ghouls and gnomes. But there's two ways Risen rises above the standard fantasy tripe, both inherited from PB's earlier titles.
First, the way concepts are worked out and designed is simply wonderful. The world is grandly atmospheric and gloomy, and while the dungeons get repetitive most of the world feels uniquely well-defined. The human locations bandit camp, monastery and harbour town each have a great, specific design, with a feel appropriate to the faction that inhabits them from the rather ramshackle huts of the bandit camp, to the quiet withdrawn feel of the monastery, to the suppressed liveliness of harbour town.
Similarly, the monsters are not original but often very well-designed both in visuals and in their context in the world. Ghouls and ashbeasts are good examples of being fitted very well to their functions, with ghouls having a clear skulking, but menacing nature, while ashbeasts are just looming, stupid masses of deadly muscle. Gnomes are probably my favourite in Risen's world, both in that they serve a unique function as somewhat intelligent creatures scavenging and stealing from the humans, as in their visual design as rotund little goblins.
Second, Risen takes a well worked-out approach to low fantasy. There's a lot of politicking going about, and even more human nature at work, and really, really little altruism to go around. So much so that the PC's offers of help will often be met with suspicion, and if he is clearly not looking for a reward (that choice is sometimes up to you) he is met with open disbelief.
None of the factions are good, but nor are they really bad. The Inquisition is on the island for a clearly benevolent reason, to try and solve humanity's crisis, it's just that they let this goal take priority, and do not care about the little man, stifling the island's trade by locking up most of its population in harbour city and arresting anyone they find outside as a bandit. Equally, Don Esteban's bandit camp may seem like freedom fighters battling oppression on the surface, but when you get down to it their motives are rather superficial, fighting for money and control of Harbour Town while the fate of humanity is being decided in the background. The final faction, the Monestary's mages, aren't hurting anyone, but neither are they helping anyone, instead hiding behind the Inquisition.
The game is filled to the brim with miniature versions of this shades-of-grey struggle, especially in Harbour Town itself. Which faction to join is not an easy choice to make if you're trying to base it purely on who is the good guy in the equation, as there are simply no good guys. Sadly, the game completely wrecks the meaning behind this choice, as the factions are tied directly to what class you wish to play: Don's faction for warriors, mage faction for mages, Inquisition for paladin-esque warrior-mages. This completely strangles any significant attached to the choice, which is a shame.
