I feel conflicted about Risen.

On one hand I admire the scenery of this RPG. For it's time it's pretty well made, the characters seemed alive and distinct. Also, this game is not holding your hands and you can do whatever you feel like to do, except killing off some of the major characters. It has enough content with the quests and the exploration which can takes easily 25 - 35 hours, or even more, not even mentioning the different route you can take in the story. You are not locked in a class for your character, you can upgrade however you feel like it. And also the game is also challenging even on normal difficulty and the game mechanics are something which the player can get into fast, but takes time to master them.

But on the other hand the combat system gets blend and hard to navigate, and even though it's enjoyable to figure out the enemies move set and do your thing with the combat system, in the long term it gets old. The final two chapters sadly are not fun to get through and feels rushed, not even mentioning the final boss fight. The story gets less interesting as you progress through the game and makes some of the happenings completely useless. Also the physics when you jump and fall around can get broken.

But surprisingly the most annoying thing in the game is the freedom you get with upgrading your character, exploring the game and doing quests, because it is important to upgrade your character and your equipment in a way, otherwise later in the game enemies can take you out easily. Not even mentioning that sometimes you can get easily lost what you can do or what to explore.

You can say that Piranha Bytes' games were always worked like this and for some this is basic understanding, but for those who don't know PB games or just not used to the old school RPGs, this is something which can come as shock. Basically you need to focus on gaining experience and maximizing upgrading important skills in order to get through the game and this can get annoying if you played long enough and you start struggling around the end game.

So, yes I can see the value in the game even if it's old and the idea to give freedom for the player for the exploration, but this is also one of the weaknesses of this game. I believe it's recommended to learn some tips about the game before you start playing it or be familiar with the developers game formula to enjoy it.

Either way, I can still recommend Risen as it is an unique game to play and unusual comparing most of the modern RPGs in the current time. It doesn't worth 15€, get it around half of that atleast.

I feel conflicted about Risen. On one hand I admire the scenery of this RPG. For it's time it's pretty well made, the characters seemed alive and distinct. Also, this game is not holding your hands and you can do whatever you feel like to do, except killing off some of the major characters. It has enough content with the quests and the exploration which can takes easily 25 - 35 hours, or even more, not even mentioning the different route you can take in the story. You are not locked in a class for your character, you can upgrade however you feel like it. And also the game is also challenging even on normal difficulty and the game mechanics are something which the player can get into fast, but takes time to master them. But on the other hand the combat system gets blend and hard to navigate, and even though it's enjoyable to figure out the enemies move set and do your thing with the combat system, in the long term it gets old. The final two chapters sadly are not fun to get through and feels rushed, not even mentioning the final boss fight. The story gets less interesting as you progress through the game and makes some of the happenings completely useless. Also the physics when you jump and fall around can get broken. But surprisingly the most annoying thing in the game is the freedom you get with upgrading your character, exploring the game and doing quests, because it is important to upgrade your character and your equipment in a way, otherwise later in the game enemies can take you out easily. Not even mentioning that sometimes you can get easily lost what you can do or what to explore. You can say that Piranha Bytes' games were always worked like this and for some this is basic understanding, but for those who don't know PB games or just not used to the old school RPGs, this is something which can come as shock. Basically you need to focus on gaining experience and maximizing upgrading important skills in order to get through the game and this can get annoying if you played long enough and you start struggling around the end game. So, yes I can see the value in the game even if it's old and the idea to give freedom for the player for the exploration, but this is also one of the weaknesses of this game. I believe it's recommended to learn some tips about the game before you start playing it or be familiar with the developers game formula to enjoy it. Either way, I can still recommend Risen as it is an unique game to play and unusual comparing most of the modern RPGs in the current time. It doesn't worth 15€, get it around half of that atleast.