Take to the high seas in this pirate adventure

Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes take us on a journey to tropical isles, set several years after the original game. Titans are fighting it out, leaving normal folk fearing for their lives. You take the role of an unnamed hero – a member of the Inquisition – who must find a way to save the world from mythical sea creatures and weird beasties.

The graphics aren’t as good as you’d expect on current gen consoles  and despite best efforts to make the environments lush and varied, the game is plagued with pop up and tearing, dodgy collision detection and poor animation. Aesthetically, it all looks a little dated, which is a real shame. Conversely, the subtle background music and sound of waves lapping on the shore are strangely therapeutic and really add to the atmosphere.

The game largely consists of a combination of missions, fetch quests and exploration. As you’d expect from a game about piracy, pillaging and swashbuckling, you’ll come across a fair amount of cliche in your playthrough. On your travels you’ll meet some memorable characters such as feisty Patty, her father Captain Steelbeard and a varied cast of NPCs keen to bend your ear, give you quests or moan about something. Like all games of this ilk, you get to choose your dialogue response from a list of options, some of which are more effective/beneficial/useful than others.

There’s plenty of drinking, fighting and swearing; it’s what pirates do!

Our hero gets to traverse various tropical islands rather than a vast single play space, with fast travel making his journey a little more bearable. There are chests to open and treasures to hunt, as well as plenty of items to collect. And there’s plenty of fighting  too, from gorillas, monkeys, giant crabs and huge spiders to panthers, warthogs and tribesmen. Level up your character and you can even partake in a little lockpicking or monkey taming. And what about learning the art of Voodoo? On paper it all sounds fantastic and exciting… In practise, not so much. For all the good ideas – like the way certain tasks can be completed in different ways depending on your skills – there are just as many flaws that dampen the fun.

To achieve anything in this game, you’ll need a lot of patience as you try to collect XP – or Glory – and gold coins. Without these, most areas and supplies will remain out of reach. Staple character movements also need to be learnt so even basic kicking isn’t possible from the start. You just have to remember that if you can make it through the early stages of the game and power up a little, Risen 2 can be an fairly decent romp.

You only have basic character movements and skills at the start

My first personal bugbear – all be it a minor one – is the fact that you’re wandering these lush islands with lovely beaches but can’t even swim. What self-respecting pirate isn’t able to swim? You can’t even go for a paddle… you just respawn a few metres back from the shore.

This is not a game for young children either, largely because most of the characters spew profanity. I guess you’d expect pirates to suffer a little from tourettes but there’s really quite a lot of foul language throughout the game, which would make a younger audience blush.

The combat system is flawed too. It sucks that you can’t really defend yourself from attacks, and most confrontations just result in whacking the attack button and hoping your health outlasts theirs. Your inability to defeat some of the bigger beasts  until you learn or enhance your skills also means many paths are closed, which is a little frustrating. It’s understandable for an RPG I guess, but you really do feel massively underpowered from the outset and it takes an age to level up significantly.

Mauled by a monkey. What a way to go

In the meantime, you should get used to seeing your lifeless body onscreen after yet another beating. And woe betide you if you haven’t saved recently. The autosaves are not particularly well placed meaning a sudden, unexpected death could lose you a lot of ground. Countless times, I found myself losing a few hours play as I’d forgotten to save the game before getting unexpectedly mauled by a monkey!

It all seems a little unfair. Even early on in the game you’ll be baffled by quite how easy it is to die – and how random it can be…  After one cutscene at the top of a tower right at the start of the adventure – featuring cliched dialogue and mediocre voice acting (like all the other cutscenes in the game) – I misjudged my footing as I ran back down the steps and plunged to the ground from a ridiculous height. You’d expect such a mistake to result in a death sequence and a restart to ensue, but our protagonist instead emerged unscathed. I was in such disbelief that I ran to the summit again and took another nosedive… same result. A short time later, and with a full health bar, I tried to take part in some sword training with a few soldiers in the courtyard; two hits from them and I was dead. Not so much training as a severe beating. A quick trip to a beach a little later to collect some flotsam and jetsam, and I strayed a little too far along the sands, only to be clawed at a couple of times by some crabs. Again, a few hits and I was a goner.

You’ll also often find yourself stuck in a horrible loop during combat, where a hit from your opponent nudges you backwards and prevents any form of retaliation. By temporarily stunning you, it means that you’re often unable to defend yourself. And what’s more, should you want to turn and flee, you can rarely even outrun your opponents. I cannot reiterate how important it is to save often!

There may be plenty of gripes but should you persevere, earn loads of XP to level up, save lots of gold and grab decent weapons and things become a little fairer… and far more enjoyable.

Power up your hero and it gets much better… but it’s a bit of a grind

Sadly, art seems to imitate life, and buying any remotely decent items can prove very expensive. Most of the better weapons, supplies and skills are exorbitant  so until you get your mitts on vast supplies of gold, many items will be out of reach.

When you have completed countless errands or sold enough items, your hard-earned bullion can be used to acquire not only new clothes, provisions and sabres but also schematics to forge new blades.  Oyster shells, selling old junk and killing monkeys will slowly but surely improve your gold reserves – but it is a painstaking process – and one that proves a little frustrating.

Although it’s refreshing that Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes decided to move away from the traditional fantasy realm where knights and monsters meet, and instead focus on the pirate theme, it doesn’t quite live up to its promise. Look past its flaws and invest some time and it’s a decent RPG – it just could have been so much better.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Risen 2 was released on the PC earlier this year while the console versions were slated to released later, but guess what? Risen 2 is already out! Yup, out on consoles along with extra content as an incentive to make people buy the game. I had reviewed the game earlier and my thoughts on it were clear, “Risen 2: Dark Waters will give you a genuine RPG experience, but it gets a lot frustrating sometimes.”

What extra content you ask?

They contain the episode “The Air Temple” which features several hours of additional gameplay. In this sub-plot the hero embarks on a quest to discover the lost temple, source of air magic. When he hears rumors that his old acquaintance Eldric has been seen in Antigua the hero knows that he needs to pick up his trail in order to find Storm Island, where the Air Temple is located.

So what are you waiting for? Go kill some pirates.

Risen 2: Dark Waters is already available on PC and will be released on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation3 on July 31, 2012 in the USA and Canada and on August 03, 2012 in European countries.

Since the Titan Lord Mara unleashed her dark powers, fearsome beasts have invaded the world of Arborea. These fiends endanger sea travel and trade routes, cutting off the supply of vital goods for the population of each island. From gigantic Leviathans, nasty sand devils to drowned undead seamen, these monsters lurk everywhere and will make a pirate’s life one deadly adventure!

You can check out our review of the game over here. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Deep Silver today released a new trailer revealing the beautiful sunset over Arborea in the Southern Seas as seen in the stunning game world of Risen 2: Dark Waters.

The glittering waters, lush forests, blazing sunshine and crashing waterfalls set the calming scenes of the Southern Seas. But as the pirate adventure unfolds, the tranquility of this beautiful and intruiging land will surely not last.

Our editor Kartik Mudgal had mixed feelings with the PC version of the game. He had the following to say about the game in his review:

While I think the game isn’t that memorable as the first one, it does have its moments and if you’re a fan of RPGs in general, Risen 2 will satisfy you if you are a bit negligent to its shortcomings. All in all, this is a decent effort by the developers but I fail to understand why they broke down the game into different islands.

Risen 2: Dark Waters is out now on PC and comes to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 3rd August, 2012.

***Please note this walkthrough was not uploaded by GamingBolt.com

Special thanks to Youtube user AlanGamingHold for uploading this walkthrough.

Check out more video game walkthroughs here.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

Deep Silver today announced new release dates for Risen 2: Dark Waters on consoles. The game will be released on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 on 3rd August.

The console versions of Risen 2: Dark Waters will offer extra content on both platforms, including the episode “The Air Temple” which features several hours of additional gameplay. In this sub-plot, the hero embarks on a quest to discover the lost temple, source of air magic. When he hears rumors that his old acquaintance Eldric has been seen in Antigua, the hero knows that he needs to pick up his trail in order to find Storm Island, where the Air Temple is located.

Stay tuned to GB for more news and updates.

Björn Pankratz, Project Director at Piranha Bytes says that Risen 2’s pirate setting drew plenty of inspiration from “classics” like Monkey Island, Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.

“Naturally, we drew some inspiration from classics like Monkey Island, Treasure Island, or Pirates of the Caribbean,” he told GamingBolt in our recently posted interview. “Finally we sat down, tried to pool our ideas, and implemented them. What would a pirate game be without treasure hunts, eyepatches, and rum?”

When asked if Risen 2 would manage to be unique and fresh despite the pirate setting, which is quite stale now, he said- “We spent a lot of time debating what developments the player character as well as his friends and enemies could undergo.

“We decided to give each main character an individual appearance and voice, and to reveal their story and motivation in the game. We hope there will be something for everyone.”

You can read the full interview through the link above. Stay tuned for more updates.

We recently previewed the game and we absolutely loved it. Here is what our editor Kartik Mudgal said:

I really loved Risen inspite of its flaws, and from what I have played here, I can say that Risen 2 is shaping up to be a terrific one as well. Now if only the rest of the game holds up – we have a winner in our hands.

Shubhankar: The concept and story of Risen 2 (from what we’ve seen so far) definitely seem to be interesting. Was there any particular media that inspired you while developing this game?

Pankratz: Naturally, we drew some inspiration from classics like Monkey Island, Treasure Island, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Finally we sat down, tried to pool our ideas, and implemented them. What would a pirate game be without treasure hunts, eyepatches, and rum?

Shubhankar: There’ve been a lot of “Pirate games” in recent times, and none of the have been particularly successful in portraying characters. How will you avoid that in Risen 2?

Pankratz: We spent a lot of time debating what developments the player character as well as his friends and enemies could undergo. We decided to give each main character an individual appearance and voice, and to reveal their story and motivation in the game. We hope there will be something for everyone.

Shubhankar: The PC version of Risen incorporates the use of DRM, but it doesn’t require the DVD itself for the game to be played, and it has unlimited installs too. That is obviously the right way to go about this rather controversial issue. But does it pose any kind of problems for the developers or the publishers- at all? And what is your general outlook on DRM as a whole?

Pankratz: It is far from lucrative for both our publisher Deep Silver and us to find that the game can be downloaded free of charge on the internet two days before the release, so we opted for Steam this time, a platform that is widely used and popular among gamers, as well as providing quite a high level of security. We hope it will prove to be the best possible solution for everyone.

Shubhankar: The first Risen game was so successful in what it did because of its grounded charm and uniqueness. Is Risen 2 similar in that fashion, or does it have its own kind of charm?

Pankratz: We improved some elements such as the skill system for Risen 2, and dedicated a whole game to the pirate setting. This certainly gives Risen 2 its own kind of charm. However, the game is still quite unmistakably a Piranha Bytes title, especially with regard to the linguistic style and the design of the game world.

Shubhankar: How long will Risen 2 be? Will it promote replay value?

Pankratz: Risen 2 turned out to be a bit larger than its predecessor, but it was still important to us not to let the frequency of quests drop towards the end of the game, but to keep it exciting throughout. Depending on which faction you play for, the story also develops differently. Thus, you can choose to fight for or against the Natives or the Inquisition, specialize in firearms or voodoo, or take different crew members on board your ship. The dialogs also offer many choices of answers and different quest solutions for the player, which all increase the replay value.

Shubhankar: Risen 2 is being called by many to be a semi-open world game. How is that going to work here? How many and what kind of things will players be able to do? Can we expect a level of freedom that games like Skyrim offer, or will it be more towards the Fable side?

Pankratz: Risen 2 starts with a short tutorial introducing the player to the game, and becomes bigger and more open as the game progresses. You can move around freely on a medium-sized island to begin with, but have your own ship later in the game, allowing you to return to locations you have been to before, or travel to other islands. Eventually, the whole game world will be open to you and you can freely decide where you want to go.

Shubhankar: Risen 2 is a very unique RPG in that it doesn’t make players choose a particular class. Do you think that might have a negative impact among conventional RPG purists?

Pankratz: We feel that focusing on a specific hero and telling his story like a book has a positive effect on character creation and the game plot. Players have plenty of liberties in the course of the game. That is where they will make their choices and define their character further. We believe that the games market has enough room for both ways of playing, and we think that is a good thing.

Shubhankar: If a gamer has a PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, which version would you recommend picking up and why?

Pankratz: Although we develop our games on the PC, privately some of us are console gamers and others prefer PC games. The advantage of consoles is quite clearly convenience – you can watch the game on a big TV screen while sitting comfortably on your sofa, while PC gamers usually sit at their desks. On the other hand, PC gamers get to enjoy better graphics, for example. So people should decide for themselves what is more important to them.

Shubhankar: Can you detail the combat system of Risen 2 a little more?

Pankratz: There will be right-hand weapons such as sabers and cutlasses as well as left-hand weapons, e.g. the pistol or Dirty Tricks. Depending on the skills the player character has learned, these can be combined. There is also voodoo magic, which allows the player to set monsters against each other or weaken enemies, or muskets which have to be wielded with both hands. So the combat system is quite diverse. I recommend you try it yourselves!

Shubhankar: Can we expect any more games or DLCs from the Risen franchise in the future?

Pankratz: We are definitely planning DLC for Risen 2. It will be more like an add-in, not directly interwoven with the main story. We also have some ideas for the time after Risen 2, of course, but we will see where they lead in the future.

Shubhankar: Is there anything else you want to share about the game?

Pankratz: We tried to develop a game that we would like to play ourselves, and we achieved that. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for the full review of the game.