Can Risen rise above in 2023?
In this age of ports, remakes, and remasters, everyone’s jumping on board. Risen is an action RPG from Wizardbox that came out on the PC and Xbox 360 back in 2009. The studio PiranhaBytes ported it to the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in January of 2023. Unfortunately, the small improvements for these new(er) consoles does not lead to any must buy conclusions. The game still screams 2009, and not in too many overtly good ways, either. There may be some charm here, but there is something missing from Risen that can put it in conversation with contemporaries.
You play as a nameless stowaway on a ship. After witnessing an old guy with a fancy monocle fight a giant, sometimes invisible monster, your ship is capsized by a giant wave. You wake up on the shore of a nearby island called Faranga with one other survivor. As you explore further inland, you meet the inhabitants and get embroiled in their conflict. The path you take and alliances you make are all up to you as you explore the mysteries of the island.
The first thing you’ll notice in the opening cutscene, and will continue to notice throughout your play through, is the dated charm to the graphics. The monocled man in the intro has some facial expressions that will leave you saying “Oh, they tried so hard back then!” But, you know, in the most complimentary way possible. And those gifts just keep on giving when you see the uncanny valleyness of some of the NPC’s and the animation loops they find themselves in during dialogues. It’s all so deliciously of the time.
Sometimes the dated quality can be more of a hindrance than a novelty, however. Items you can interact with aren’t highlighted the way they would be in most games in the genre. Finding things as small as a single gold coin on the ground in the wild turns into a game of Where’s Waldo because they blend in with the bland mix of greens that supposedly represents grass. There will be a lot of careful walking with the camera pointed down at the ground, waiting for an on screen prompt to appear. This is tedium in the worst ways. The environments are mostly forests and dirt paths, but there are caves, temples, and towns to explore sprinkled throughout, thankfully. The environments aren’t exactly empty so the curious gamer will be rewarded by taking time off the beaten path, but Risen will absolutely make you work for the gains.
Running around can feel incredibly stiff and takes quite some getting used to. Unfortunately this is a quality that carries into combat. There is a tutorial section when you’re getting off the beach with the other survivor, a woman named Sara, with Sara explaining the game mechanics. But is is hard to say that Risen eases you into anything. It is more like dropping you in the ocean with a pair of floaties and a blowtorch and saying “build a kayak”. Even in the very opening moments, combat can be very unforgiving. All you’re fighting are big ass birds and porcupine-rats, but the tide can easily turn against you. Unless you take advantage of the save anywhere feature, the chances that you’ll replay the same stretch of path over and over until you get the upper hand on every fight in a row are incredibly high. It seems like an unfair balance to prolong the game’s legnth, which is a shame because there is enough meat on the bone to not need that. What’s worse – the game is stingy with the autosaves! Heed this warning: you’ll definitely want to save frequently.
At the end of the day, Risen is a fairly average entry to the action RPG genre. Not bad by any means, for sure there’s things to gain from it aside from how hilariously 2009 it is. Unfortunately, it’s not going to bring anything new to the table for anyone familiar with these kinds of games, and the fact that it is a time capsule is among its strongest attributes. Risen finds itself firmly in the Bin It category. Pick it up if you find it on sale.
