Risen 2: Dark Waters

Open-world RPGs are some of the most immersive and popular video games of the modern age. Several different companies have hopped on board the trend of capitvating storylines and wide open worlds to explore. Developers like Piranha Bytes have made this genre their niche, creating beautiful virtual worlds with detailed story lines. Risen II: Dark Waters is just such a game, first releasing on April 24, 2012, and published by THQ Nordic. Become a pirate and set sail for beautiful vistas, loads of quests, and maybe a few game engine problems and a buggy fighting system.

Become a Pirate and Save the World

This tyrannical pirate world is one of the many games within the Risen franchise, where a devasted world has become decimated and pushed to the brink of existence by titans. You play as the same protagonist from the first Risen game, but with some changes – he’s now an alcoholic and a member of the militaristic organization, The Inquisition. The story begins at the Fortress of Crystal at Caldera’s port where The Inquisition’s last fortress is located.

The surrounding mountain area has been overcome by god-like fighting titan figures, resulting in areas of Caldera being abandoned entirely. All is well enough until you’re bombarded by a fleet of pirates warning you that humanity can only be saved with the mysterious crystal cave located under the Fortress. To make matters worse, you’re also bombarded by The Kracken, an infamous sea monster causing supply ships headed to Caldera to sink out at sea.

Excellent Environments

The creative characters and atmosphere make it a great game, despite the poor combat system. The mechanics are particularly difficult to pick up on at first, with very few options to increase health until later in the game. There’s not a lot of guidance about where your next objective is located, other than a rudimentary compass.

However, there’s a lot of really engaging, fun dialogue. Even with the lack of immanent threats at times, the overall story line is really engaging. It does fall flat at times, providing the player limited options and sometimes predictable plot progression. In addition, the boss fights often feel unsatisfying due to the weapon options and dated game mechanics. Ultimately, the characters and the environment/world itself is what makes Risen 2 slightly more memorable.

Buggy Journeys

While the game markets itself as the ultimate RPG pirate experience, it left some fans with a lot to be desired. There were an insurmountable number of bugs when the game first released in 2012, turning some players off the game entirely. It also didn’t totally deliver in the “immersive” experience as promised, offering little integrative, choice-driven gameplay.

Pros:

• Entertaining and funny characters
• Creative open-world environments

Cons:

• Clunky game mechanics
• Unsatisfying boss fights