So I've been playing Risen for the last few days. It's a new RPG that just came out by Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes. It's not too bad over-all. So far it's pretty fun. It has a lot of what I call "Action RPG" elements. You don't just click on a monster and watch your character swing. In combat it plays more like The Witcher or Fable or any other action game. When it comes to talking to NPC's all the text is spoken and you can read subtitles if you like. You can interact with many things in the environment. You take quests to earn money and you can pick up almost anything you can find. Be careful not to "steal" where anyone can see you though or you'll be attacked. The magic system is decent so far, nothing too spectacular, but I haven't learned any higher level spells yet. It's interesting to note how you can interact with the environment using magic. One of the spells you can cast is "Levitate" which does exactly what it sounds like it does. You Levitate up so you can grab ledges that are out of reach or find things hidden in the world. You also get a "Telekinesis" spell which allows you to bring small items to you or to hit switches and levers in the world. Also any arrows or bolts fired from Bows or Crossbows can move things in the environment.
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SPOILER SECTION: A "few" story spoilers here. If you don't want to know, skip down to after the next lined section.
As the story starts off you are a sto-away on board a ship belonging to "The Inquisition". There is a powerful mage on board who's commanding the ship to go into a huge storm. This mage is wearing a magical crystal over one eye which lets him see these monsters that no one else can. One of these demon monsters is attacking the ship and making what everyone else on board can only see as a violent storm. The mage teleports off the ship when he finds out he can not confront the demon and the demon sinks the entire ship. You wash up on the shores of an island with the rest of the crew dead all over the beach except for you and one girl. You find a stick and a knife and a few gold coins early on. Aside from that you have nothing for quite a while. You escort the girl to safety and then set about trying to find out what happened to you and to earn money. You quickly find there are strange "goings on" on the island you've been shipwrecked on.
The island isn't small, I still haven't explored it all, not even close. I'm still not too sure how I like the idea of the whole game taking place on this one island. I'm hoping to be able to explore other islands as well. I've found a place called "Harbor Town" but the Inquisition isn't allowing ships to set sail through the storms. Most likely this is because they know there are huge demons in the storm that no-one else can see.
There are also these ancient ruins that have "Risen" on the island. I suspect this is the main theme of the game and where it gets it's name from. I've explored part of them but there is a lot of backtracking in this game as you'll find monsters early on that you aren't strong enough to kill and puzzles you don't have the tools to solve.
END OF STORY SPOILERS
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As I said there is a lot you can do to interact with the environment. I've found ore deposits that can be mined. There is a crafting system of sorts in the game as well. You can learn to make magical jewelry and other items. I believe you can also take jobs as well when you can find them. When you kill a animal you can skin it and get meat from it as well. This meat, once cooked over a fire, will give you HP when you eat it. There is also food that revives mana as well.
I've been playing about 6 or 7 hours a day for the last two days and it's kept me interested so far. Not a bad game if I say so myself. The graphics are pretty good. The magic system could use a little more "power" in my opinion but there are most likely more powerful spells I haven't seen yet. I'd say give it a try if you're a RPG fan.
