Risen is the second series of RPG games from Piranha Bytes studios. The first was the legendary Gothic, which made a splash not only in the world of RPGs, but also in the industry as a whole. You know, I had the idea to tell you about the history of the series and my opinion about it, but this will go on another wall of text, while writing which I will sit in nostalgic tears, and will not be able to talk about Risen 3, since at that time I will be installing Gothic. Therefore, let’s skip this point. Let me just say that the Risen series is in the shadow of the merits of its predecessor. But the developers are trying, and it’s noticeable.

Risen 3 continues the story of Risen 2: Dark Waters. We are introduced to the son and daughter of Captain Steelbeard. No, we won’t be given a choice of who to play for, which is a pity. We’ll play for our son – a man with a rough voice. Which was very annoying at first, but over time I got used to it. The plot is simple: The main character is trying to return his soul, which was stolen by an evil demon. Evil spirits emerged from portals around the world to bring about the end of the world. And our hoarse and soulless hero growls and goes in search of his comrades to stop evil. The continuation of the story of Risen 2 entailed a repetition of the same locations, which I really didn’t like.

Risen 3 is an open world action RPG. The game world is large and the pirate theme is its main feature. As before, you will find teleportation points around the world. They are turned on with special keys that can be found in a variety of places. You have access to any of the islands almost from the very beginning. Each island is rich in various quests, treasures, monsters and puzzles, as well as characters who, depending on the island, are representatives of certain cultures: be it natives who speak voodoo, or eternally drunken pirates – getting to know them is equally interesting. All these characters create a story with a lot of humor. By the way, they all swear a lot. The dialogue options are structured so that you can be kind to characters who don’t deserve it or, on the contrary, be rude to everyone without exception. This or that choice will affect the change in the number of souls the character has. Playing as a villain and losing souls will lead you to becoming a demonic minion and making friends with the inhabitants of the underworld.

As the story progresses, you https://goldbetspincasino.co.uk/login/ will need to make a choice – which faction to join. There are only three factions: natives, demon hunters and magicians. Each faction is located on a specific island. Your choice determines how your hero will look and what type of magic you will use. Having become a Voodoo pirate, your face will be painted and taught to use curses to weaken your enemies. Demon Hunters use very impressive and dynamic rune magic, and you will look like a bald scoundrel. Well, magicians give you a glowing glove for throwing typical spells in different directions. I advise you to decide in advance and complete the chain of quests to join the faction, as you will discover magic that will significantly diversify the battles. And yet, the choice of faction, as it seemed to me, does not greatly affect the main plot, so it is unlikely to be worthy of a second playthrough.

There is also a feature of all Piranha Bytes games – trainers who teach, in addition to basic combat skills, various side skills. Potions, picking locks, persuasion or intimidation are typical and expected skills. But there are also unusual abilities, for example, a tame monkey that helps you climb into hard-to-reach places. By the way, it migrated from Risen 2. The abundance of unusual skills gives a certain feeling of freedom in this world. You can concentrate on hunting and make your capital by skinning animals. Or develop the ability to eat raw meat, and not be distracted by preparing edible dishes. All this is fun, but, unfortunately, superficial. You can easily do without most of these skills.

The combat system is ambiguous. The basics of attack and defense are simple. The enemies are not smart, but they dodge and use different attacks. You can easily defeat enemies with a simple call. But if you time your attacks and interrupt the enemy’s, the battle will turn into a frantic action with a spectacular finishing move at the end. Still, the combat system is pretty crude. Over time, you will understand that it is easier to let your enemies be distracted by your partners, and then hit them in the back. Here I want to highlight one of the biggest disadvantages of the game – the huge number of enemies. On every meter of the islands there is a pack of unfriendly monsters. You just get tired of the constant shredding of sea devils, scavengers, spiders and hellhounds. It seems to me that the developers should have moved away from quantity to quality, so that there would be more difficult and memorable enemies, and not a ton of weak ones that just irritate.

Speaking of partners, they noticeably perked up. Comment on the locations and events you find yourself in. They even participate in dialogues, but rarely. Most of them are banal and boring, but there are some really funny and interesting personalities. For example, the very first person you will meet will be Bones – a voodoo healer. Interesting comments, a strange accent, and, without exaggeration, very useful healing, especially in the early stages of the game, make him one of the best companions. Well, or another example, a gnome thief who likes to rob your entire team.
I forgot to mention that in the game you will have your own ship. But sea travel in Risen 3 is just one click away from where you want to be. From time to time you will encounter some meetings that at first glance seem interesting. But in reality we get boring monster hunting, which looks like a mini-game, and boarding, which consists of the usual sword fight and throwing exploding barrels overboard. Seemingly good ideas, but repulsive with their poor implementation.

It’s time to draw the line, and this is what I want to say. I think Risen 3 turned out to be the best in this series, but it doesn’t live up to the Gothic series. But it’s worth remembering that Piranha Bytes consists of about twenty people. And these people create amazing RPGs, and for some, even the best. Create unique and individual games. I love this studio and wish it success. Because Piranha Bytes games are an opportunity to finish the quest before you receive it. These are the characters that are remembered and found throughout the series. This is clumsy and clumsy animation in dialogues. It’s like playing the whole game in rags and saving up for decent armor. These are partners who constantly get lost and stuck in textures. This is a lack of balance, by the way, in Risen 3 there are cheating long-range weapons. Having more or less upgraded your skill, you will shoot everyone with one critical shot. Moreover, the sellers update their bullets with every visit. Piranha Bytes games are excellent and unique humor. This is a surprisingly bad interface. Who thought of putting a health bar in the corner of the screen under the map?? These are colorful and atmospheric worlds. This is when scavengers turn into fat parrots. This is when you become a parrot to climb into certain places.
Piranha Bytes loves their games and works hard. And since the rights to the Gothic series were given back to them, I want them to abandon this pirate setting and return to gothic medieval fantasy. In the time of metal and the clash of swords, in the time of meat beetle stew. And so that the name bears the proud name of Gothic 5.

P. S. The opinion probably turned out to be too subjective, but I couldn’t do it any other way. Author: Beliar’s henchman.