This game is one of my top 10 games ever. I remember that this is the first true rpg game i ever played when i saw what was possible in game my mind was blown ,was 13 at the time. I had one pc that i shared with my brother and we would play on turns. He would find something new , then i played and experience different quests. One memory i have that is so special is that i was playing while my bro was in school, i was in harbor town and was trying to get out of it cause i didnt know how to progress. Eventually i climbed on the northwest wall and i realised i could jump over if i timed it right. I did exacly that and thought it will not work , to my suprise it did. Next thing you know im free again but , the inqusition saw me and ran me down. Thought i was dead. I was gona load the last save , but when i "died" something different happened. My character woke up in some place ( monastery ) and was super confused and excited. That is when i truly fell in love with this game.
risen is a great game, it nails the classic 3rd person RPG feel where you wash up on a shore as a naked nobody and then step by pain-in-the-ass step you build yourself up to being able to fight gods. the exploration and atmosphere is beautifully done and has the familiar kotor style dialogue. its been too long since i have seen a game pull off this simple formula even half as well. the devs knew what worked and did it well.
I've played this game a few times - my favorite way to do it is to start with the bandits, then switch to the Inquisition after they send you to Harbor Town. That way you get all the sword/shield training from the bandits as well as all the magic stuff. It also lets you see most everything in one go which is fun.
I feel like its the case with all PB games even G1, G2 to lesser extend, first chapter (joining the faction is always best by far brimming with content) the newer title the worse it became (especially with Elex).
@@michalm.3372 True. I've played through the first chapter of Gothic 1 countless times but only finished the game twice (and the second time was with cheats). There's actually barely any side quests and new stuff that you can freely explore after the first chapter, which is something people don't usually mention when talking about how open and immersive these games are.
I never understood why games would break game mechanics for a boss fight by inserting platforming or stealth elements in games that are neither platformers nor stealth. Onward to 200k. All glory to the algorithm.
Thank you for the review, Mort. It's the verticality in the exploration that I find very attractive in this title. It was a sign of things still to come. PB knew they had to do something with that.
I played risen on the xbox360 about a year ago and although the last bit of the game is a decline, the game overall had a lot of charm and an amazing atmosphere, also the open world is awesome to explore 😄
Risen 1 despite its flaws is the best combat system piranha ever done IMO. At least fighting 1 on 1 with humanoid enemies that have weapons. The sidestep/parry system is so responsive and almost skill based in a way that stat will makes it much easier, but mastering the movement and attack animation actually result in possiblity of beating the enemies. They kinda regressed in later games, even elex and i find sidestep to be superior than dodge roll in slower combat games.
Honestly I can understand the mentality behind the combat system in Elex, and it's really not that bad once you actually get used to it (which is basically every PB game bar G3 and even then, only if you don't use ranged or magic). It also makes more sense for a game where ranged weapons are heavily encouraged, instead of being the binary option in their previous game's (which were melee or ranged regardless of if you wanted to use magic or not). I don't know if the Risen combat system would work for Elex honestly. Usually I assume there's a reason PB implements mechanics the way they do, because it's going to be the first thing they work on instead of simply time constraints such as the end of Risen.
@@AveSicarius oh yeah i should paraphase. Risen's combat only shine in that specific condition i mentioned. By the overall and average elex combat is superior, but risen's duel feel awesome
Humanoid combat in Risen really is the best combat has ever been in a PB game. This is probably because they are using the same attacks as you do, i.e. multiple types of attacks that all have a slight telegraph to them, hence why they're so satisfying to react to. The visual and audio side of things is also very decent (for 2009). They were so close to making an actual enjoyable combat system. However combat with non-humanoid enemies is anything BUT enjoyable. Most of them have literally 1 or 2 attacks that come out at cca. 400ms speed, so you sorta just have to "guess" when the attack is going to come out. Your attacks get constantly interrupted because even though you started your attack sooner, their attacks will be faster regardless and hyper-armor is a myth in this game. This approach worked in Gothic because the enemy AI is EXTREMELY consistent there, so after a while you just know when to dodge/attack...also your attacks were probably just as fast as the enemies'. But it doesn't work like that in Risen. The enemy attacks really needed that slight telegraph to them, otherwise it's just guesswork. I sort of understand why it's like this...this was 2009 and real-time melee combat was still difficult to grasp for most developers. Hell, Demon's Souls only came out the same year. It's still a shame though.
Risen 1 is the best combat until u figure out that when u do heavy attacks correctly AI just can't handle it and u can just steamroll through the game without using anything else.
A great game that many have forgotten, as for me it is one of the best from PB. Yes risen not perfect, but game brought a lot of emotions and i have a good time playing it.
I really like Risen 1. Its world didn't leave an impression on me as big as that of Gothic 1 and 2, but still nice. The ranking of all PB games is going to be interesting. What surprises me is that you didn't mention how the combat skills make all melee weapon types behave the same in the end, except for the inability to wear shields with staffs.
@@kopicat2429 2 and 3 were weird. They suddenly turned it into a pirate game. They were still decent in their own way but I liked Risen 1 because it was so similar to Gothic.
@@Assdafflabaff I don't like how Risen 2 and 3 took out strafing with the movement keys and mouse that the first game had. That is one of my biggest problems with it's sequels. I don't think that the pirate theme is fundamentally bad, but they went to far with it. They should have only implement swash buckling combat for pirate specific weapons and keep the medieval combat animations for all other weapons. They should have kept magic in Risen 2. The removal of these things makes the change in setting feel vary awkward and forced.
As always, it's not a piranhabytes game if the later half of the game isn't rushed and feels lacking. I think most of us always comeback for another playthrough because the first half of the game is just _magic_ in worldbuilding, setting, introductions and that slow but steady income of currency, items, lore and EXP just tickles your adventure bones _just right_ everytime. I swear the day Piranha bytes actually makes a game that keeps that magic throught the whole thing, that's going to be digital crack. Also, good review.
Nice man. This is gonna be good. Hope your weekend is going well. I'm just diving into that short horror game "Iron Lung". It's definitely incredible 👍
As a Dark Souls player, I've had a tom of fun in those dungeons at the end, I enjoyed this game entirely and ended up playing it 3 times since it is so short.
@@VinePest eh, ridiculous but kinda funny, suddenly you have to do this lil choreography dance that has nothing to do with the rest of the game, to see the end credits, it didn't bother me much, but it would be really frustrating if you had to do it more than once during the game thou.
I think risen 1 actually is a better game, because it is relatively short. The length feels perfect. It never feels stretched out and you don't get bored because of that. Gothic was also really short and good because of that.
Just a heads up for 100%ing Risen 2: The achievements counting stuff you did in game are (or at least used to be) bugged and their progress gets reset every time you close the game. For most achievements this won't matter but should some achievements like 'dig up 50 treasures' or 'kill 500 monsters' not have unlocked after your second thorough playthrough, thats the reason why. My advice for getting these missing achievements (using the 'Digger' and 'Kleptomaniac' achievements as an example): -make a save before digging up a treasure or opening an easy lock -then after a long gaming scession (to minimize the following grind) just reload that save over and over until you've dug up your 50 treasures or picked your 100 locks You could do the same for the various monster-killing achievements, but grinding up to 500/2000 kills might become quite tedious. -an easier way (though it is a bit cheaty, so you have to decide if you want to do it) is to use the developer-console, its easily accessible in game and will speed up the grind enormousely -simply open the console (I'm not gonna say how in case you don't want anything to do with it, but its just one google search away), find or spawn a crab, focus it and just repeat the 'kill' command ~2000 times. This works even on a dead enemy. -as I said this method is pretty cheaty but I think it's justified for a bugged achievement and you're not using any external tools. You could of course also never close the game until you have those achievements, but I don't think thats a desirable way to approach this problem It's possible that the bug has been patched at some point but I doubt it, it was there on launch (2012) and it still existed mid-2016 and I'm not aware of any patches that came out since.
SPOILER ALERT While I do understand and agree with all the negatives about the second half, me personally and this just me and my experience and maybe a little bit of nostalgia, but I had pretty great time even in the second half of the game with lizards and especially going in one of the dungeons with Mendoza and his warriors. I didn't mind even that boss fight, it took me by surprise, only thing I actually had problem with is that you are kinda forced to into axe/hammer type of weapon, and I think that's why they put in that boost with the set to that particular weapon skill. Only thing in the whole game I would change is maybe an option to forge/reforge that weapon into one that actually suits your build. On the other hand I actually didn't know there was combo system and while I think back then when I played it I was fresh out of Gothic and was younger so maybe it was muscle and reflex memory but I really didn't have problem with enemies towards the end, so there are my two cents about Risen. Great game, great memories. Didn't played the other two as they changed some things but still can't wait for your reviews of those two. Great job as always Mortym. Take care of yourself.
Risen really is special. It is a combination of one of the best starts for an RPG combined with the absolute worst ending ever in the history of RPGs. You like bows? FU here's a hammer. You like magic? FU here's a hammer. You like swords? FU here's a hammer. Oh, and hop to it... literally. I replay the game every couple years since it came out, but I've only ever bothered with the boss fight once. All subsequent runs I just pretend that part of the game does not exist.
What's even funnier is that the one-of-a-kind legendary hammer that they insist on you using during the final bossfight...is just fluff. During the fight (or jumping contest or whatever it's supposed to be) you can actually just un-equip the hammer and use a wooden stick instead. And the boss will die in the same number of hits :D
I agree with you on the last boss. I remember getting to it(was way over powered cause I do all quests, kill all monsters ect). And then you have that weird platform thing.
For me Risen is one of the things from the childhood that make me seek for a monk class in every RPG. The Volcano monastery made better than any Harry Potter game in terms of roleplaying learning, and the game progression system synergize with questing and really take feels. Staff combat is amazing, it is harder and deeper than sword spamming, combinating left and right strafe strikes with jumping made me feel like this clunky combat is better than in From Software games. Love this game. I am also glad that mages came back in the third game and brought melee crystal magic with them to further monk roleplay. Hope for 100% of Risen 2 and 3 now
I swear to god piranha bytes actually decides to actually drop their way software coding that should belong in a museum by now and update to at least the 2010 era of gameplay mechanics and graphics they mights actually make goty games. Their hardcore progression,design,atmosphere and lore are top notch
I played it on my Xbox Series X through backwards compatibility and it was awesome. The funniest thing was them forgetting to map sprint onto a controller so it reminded me of launch day Red Dead Redemption 2 every journey I had to take.
@@kafaujutru I know. I know where I can find all of the combat and other ability rings in the world. Just let people find out things for themselves. That crossbows are in some way different from other weapons etc.
Another banger, bro. I'd love to see you do a retrospective on Titan Quest. I've been playing it again recently on handheld and i had forgotten how good it is. It also has expansions that are surprisingly recent.
I think a video about non piranha bite games that have the pb power curve, kcd comes to mind, could be very cool. I'm finally playing Elex and it has me hungry for more of that.
Off topic from Risen, but I would love to see you try the Persona games, particularly 5. There is a very nice battle system in addition to a great story! Regardless I love the content and I'm happy you get to focus so much on the channel these days!
This was one of the first fantasy RPGs I played in my childhood and I love it to this day! :D I may have nostalgia glasses on when looking at the game but I played it again one or two years ago and I have to say even now it is a good game in my opinion. Yes, some quests are not that well made, a bit clunky and the endboss and final chapter suck big time but in my opinion its many cool aspects make up for its flaws without issue. The world design of the island is really well done, especially the verticality. Because let's face it: Everyone likes verticality and interconnected areas in games (one of the main praises of Dark Souls for example). When you look at the world map or play the game for the first time, the different areas might seem disconnected but after exploring a bit there are so many neat little shortcuts and alternative pathways. Like the cave in the bandit swamp connecting to the little swamp where the mages' farm is or the cave behind that farm connecting to the area above the central swamp for example. And the exploration is also really rewarding unlike in many other open world RPGs. In every cave, ruin, hidden pathway or natural structure you find not only a fair amount of gold but also valuable weapons, helmets, and crafting material from gems and obsidian to broken swords you can reforge and that are actually worth the hassle unless you wait till the late-game and alchemy ingredients for the stat increase potions that really make you a beast. Many people call Risen's combat clunky but I have to say I quite like its snappy-ness. Unless you f up your build (which is sadly relatively easy, back in the day I used to neglect strength because I thought a bit more damage was not worth it and I'd rather focus on sword skills, which led to me doing zero damage and getting stomped by the undead lizards), you deal a lot of damage but also take a lot of damage. Together with the fast animations, quick recovery and combos this makes the combat feel pretty damn quick and exciting in my opinion. Also attacks feel like they have force and an actual impact, since enemies visually and audibly react to hits, hell you can even ragdoll your enemies with the killing blow and sending a lizardman flying after that fast sword slash finisher feels really satisfying. Also every enemy behaves a bit different, some have a set attack pattern and combo order like the moths, some humans dodge after every attack or always parry your 3rd strike in the combo so you have to stop the combo early, with ghouls you have to stay on high alert for their AOE and be ready to doge back and so on. After playing a while you really learn to figure out the best strategy for every enemy which in itself feels rewarding. Being locked into a faction if you f up is also something that is really unique and I can't think of a game that does a similar thing right now. Risen 2 and 3 have some good ideas but the main thing why I didn't enjoy them much was the combat. Every enemy is now a bullet sponge and your attacks feel like they have no impact at all. Also the pirate theme in Risen 2 was not really that well made in my opinion. It feels a bit too... lighthearted and "nice" for the world it seemingly tries to portray.
As a starved Ghotic fan I bought this game on launch, day 1, full price. Still have it somewhere :) I liked it, tho magic was little shalow as a Ghotic fan.
I have noticed that Piranha Bytes make good games but are terrible at making endings for said game, is there really any of their main ones that really stick the landing?
Played Gothic 1 2 3 when no one knew about them and absolutely love it! Now im reading comments about Risen and didnt know about this game is from piranha bites. Have a few days free and will try it! love to find gems like this. Ty!
Love to see these super high quality reviews for older RPGs like this. I’m sure you get asked about all kinds of games all the time, but any plans to check out the Two Worlds series?
I remember not enjoying this game the first time I've played it, even though I revered Gothic 1&2. I'd dropped it for two years. Picked it back up and generally enjoyed it. I've gone with the Bandits my first playthrough, going for melee. In general, the Risen trilogy was pretty decent fun, I thought. Also, since you mentioned Elex, I really liked the atmosphere of the game but it had an odd difficulty curve.
Chapters 1 and 2 have the gothic feelling ah his best. Sadly, the quest and the world don't renew after that, and you just have left is the main quest, diferent from G2 where every chapter the world change a bit, some quests apperas.
Even though this is my favorite PB game after Gothic 1 & 2 I always feel a bit of Schadenfreude when people experience the shitty ending and bossfight for the first time. "It can't be that bad, right?" -> It most definitely is.
I like the later acts because they introduce the lizards more and more. In the beginning the combat is difficult but quickly gets easier, but then the lizards show up and really "test" your skills :D If the enemies were easier than I too would probably be annoyed with the later dungeons
My memory of the game (as a mage) was that by mid game there were no more challenge. Rain of fire (or whatever the AOE spell was called) took care of everything, even the boss. It wasn't fun or challenging.
Didn't realize Risen 1 just got an update on Steam. Had wondered why it said Full Control Support when both sequels are listed as Partial. Hopefully the sequels get updates too and maybe I will check out the whole series (sorry, just not a kb+m guy... like at all).
This was one of the first RPGs I played on the xbox 360. I really love this game, even though the ending sucks as you mention. I remember exploring this beautiful mysterious yet very dangerous island was really amazing.
I actually really enjoyed the final chapters moreso than the first one, which I found slow story wise and awkward due to lack of skills and gear, etc. Chapter 4,it really felt like the game was reaching a finale and collecting the Titan gear was really tense as each one was easier / harder than another, so I never knew what to expect. The traps aren't an issue to see if you light your path and were easily avoided in my experience. Great review though and hope more new people get to play this great RPG.
My biggest gripe with the game is that in combat npc's telegraph their attacks waaayy too quickly, it becomes almost a guess work. The second glaring issue is the camera, for some reason when you jump or fall it does not let you move the camera and once you hit the ground, it quickly yanks it without your input, its extremely awkward and just feels terrible to control. Other than that i enjoyed it, its pretty good and to me the final boss was okay, nothing special nothing terrible.
Risen is by far my favorite piranha game. Unfortunately, the game is very underestimated by the players and, in my opinion, unjustly in the shadow of gothic. I bought it on launch day and have been back several times. This game managed to create something unique - a truly magical world. Lovely handcrafted graphics, and fantastic music by Kai Rosenkranz! My beloved game together with skyrim
I really appreciate that you review games based off of player choice, exploration and world building. Not everyone plays games for graphics and animations.
For anyone playing this on Steam now, unfortunately it seems like the closing of Piranha Bytes has stalled the updates referenced in the review; to get the most up-to-date version, you actually need to select the beta from the game properties.
After you finish the other PB games, I’d be incredibly curious to hear proper, modern review on “Two Worlds II HD”. Talk about a very curious game, which has kind of been lost in time.
I actually reinstalled it last week and gave it another try. I remembered that I never finished it but could not remember why. 15 hours in I realized why every attempt ended around the same time. You get so overpowered so quickly, the game goes from interesting and challenging fighting to effortless tedium. Blah.
I think what is missing from these reviews is perhaps an acknowlagment of the atmosphere and how it is reached. The music and atmosphere alone are why I replay this game.
Hey mort, real quick in ELEX Review U NEVER gave your opinion on favorite class and which one u recommend to start with etc., Which one has your favorite weapons , beam rifles , swords, assault rifles etc. Bows
Back in the 2000s I was hoping that future open worlds would be filled with interesting narratives and decisions like Gothic, Oblivion, Two Worlds and Risen, the possibilities seemed really exciting with better technology. In 2010s what we got were endless grindathons, with Skyrim and GTA5 released over and over because the competition was so bad and mods were far better than any official game design. The revival of 2D CRPGs was awesome though.
Just did this game followed by the two others (the 2 was nice because I like the pirate atmosphere but the 3 was a big meh in my case as it try to catch-all of the 1 and 2 and isn't really optimize on laptop). The 1st Risen is a big wow, sincerely one of my best rpg experience in my case, love the sountrack, atmosphere, the world isn't too big or to small, quests are good, progression is satisfying, you arrive in this world as a tramp and you come out as a hero
Been waiting for this one! The trial and error dungeons at the end do not sound fun at all. Move. Quicksave. Die. Repeat. The eurojank style is so appealing though for some reason.
This was the last piranha bytes game that I really loved. I never liked Elex and the other two risens always felt smaller in scale due to the maps being divided in tiny islands. I really hope they step back in future releases.
Will you be reviewing Risen 2? I find that game such an oddity, it doesn’t seem to please PB fans or your more casual RPG-liker. Tbh, I love it and think it’s got a lot of strange charm.
Try some challenge runs. Like Crossbow build where you need to max out AGI for damage but have enough STR to equip crossbows. It's a nice puzzle to do.
My big question for anyone here who knows. I already have the 360 version on my Xbox as it is a backwards compatible title. Is the new port worth getting or should I stick with the old version? Is it significantly better in any way?
The improved draw distance/textures, also the lighting is way different, ive noticed the port is a lot darker overall other than that same 60fps on both versions i think
At the moment this is my second favorite game from PB. First being Gothic 1. I remember liking Gothic 2 as well but not as much as the first game. I should probably replay it some day again. I haven't played any of the Elex games yet and only played Risen 2 because I hated the direction the series went with the whole pirate theme.
If I can mod Gorn, Diego, Milten and Lester into the game, I'll play it right away. I guess I will anyways, don't know why I skipped it in 09 after a few hours. Maybe I had a potato PC, Gothic 2 and 3 are probably my fav. games after all
Man... I could NEVER play with inquisition, have a bow/sword equipped and not use a staff. I like to role play and fit into the world with the NPCs. It's really important for my immersion 😅
Risen 1 is the only piranha bytes game with pretty fun combat. I simply don't get, why they abandoned this style and went to the horrible combat of risen 2 and stayed there. I also don't understand why they always went "BIG BIG BIG". the best PB games are the small ones with very detailed worlds, that are just so much fun to explore. the best PB games are gothic 1, 2 and risen 1. They also did a pretty good job with the graphics. It's not a bad looking game for the time when it came out. Just compare it to dragon age origins, which was a massive AAA production done by one of the most experienced RPG developers. And they also did a good job with the colors. It really has the atmosphere of a lush Mediterranean Island.
Never played any piranha byte games.. I think I'm gonna treat Gothic/Risen like Star Wars.. the aftermath then if I can get them to work or I love the setting Gothic.
In my opinion, this game actually starts off really well and that is when this game is at its best, however once those Lizard people (pun intended) start to spawn in, the game just becomes progressively worse from there on out, the entire late game is just one giant collect-athon and have a boss fight. While Gothic 1 & 2 certainly had those moments as well such as hunting down the focused stones, there was usually a far more compelling story to go along with that to add a bit of motivation. The story for this game is almost non existent (like in Gothic 3). The first chapter and the beginning of chapter 2 are great but after that the game becomes a choir. In fact I actually do prefer Gothic 3 over this game. I don't like the removal of swimming and that you can't close doors (these may be minor nitpicks), however I still do prefer Gothic 3 over Risen 1 despite the problems with the combat. Because Gothic 3 still had an amazing gameplay loop as did the first two Gothic games. One thing I do like about Risen 1 however more then any Gothic game is the dungeons are much better then in any Gothic game. The early game exploration is top notch and I love the dodging mechanics more then rolling mechanics that many other games use.
