So, this is exactly the game that was released in 2009, and boy does it feel it. I have to clear one thing up though – this is apparently not a remake or a remaster or a reanything – it is purely a port of a fourteen year old game onto modern(ish) consoles. The creatures make suitable noises and all in all, the sound is a lot better than the visual aspect of Risen. The sound is slightly better, with decent voice acting on display, whilst the various sword swishes and spell swooshes are handled well. I’m fairly sure that the new generation of consoles could handle things a lot better than this, to be honest. Take the swamp as an example – it is a large area, but you can never see clearly to the other side as there is mist and stuff in the air. The palette used is a sort of symphony of brown, the creatures that we end up fighting are basic in the extreme, and while the island is pretty enough, there are never any stunning vistas, with most areas being very small and dark. And I’m sure that back in 2009 these graphics looked okay, but by today’s standards they are nothing but shocking. The first thing to note is that Risen is not optimised for the Xbox Series X|S consoles, instead happily running on Xbox One too that is a bit of a red flag. This is most obvious very early on, where we have to choose our destiny almost – do we become an outlaw, hiding in the swamps, a warrior of the Order, or a Mage? Each choice leads to a slightly different game, so there is a certain amount of replayability built in. We have to try and survive whatever comes along, and while I don’t want to spoil the story if you haven’t played it, it is one of those tales where you can make certain choices at certain points that affects the rest of the playthrough. We awaken on a beach, on the isle of Faranga, and luckily there was another survivor a woman we knew. We are a nameless hero, and at the beginning of the game, we are stowaways on a ship, which is unceremoniously sunk by a monster. An RPG of any flavour, action or not, needs a good story, and luckily this is one area where the passing years have been kind to Risen.
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