A great rpg. so far the games seems quite fun. Character animations are sometimes a bit weird, but overall its a game i enjoy. Graphics are good as well. The world is large and fun to explore.

I have not yet played very much of it. But its fantastic so far. Controls are great and so are the graphics. So far the gameplay was great. I would definitely recommend it.

If you are a big fan of Piranha Bytes work, rate as 10. If you are not - rate 4-5. Why? This is Gothic successor. Old fashioned action RPG which generates a lot of fun and stress equally. Animations are crude, fighting system difficult and not so modern.... But that is not a game for "casual gamers" - You have to be hard and patient. If You will go to the wrong place, like na forest - the wolves will kill You without mercy.
This is Gothic style - NO MERCY.… Expand

It's Risen 1 minus the bugs and hitches. Graphics look suprisingly excellent, the game is very long, a good 50 hours here to play though at least. Its more hardcore than some RPG's. Pleasently suprised. worth a buy!

Yes the game is not perfect but Sorry guys ... some metacritic users are very strange... I play the game and I see some comments here that are abosotely not true. Sometimes I have the feeling that metacritic users are only happy if they can bash a game. Nice hobby, I have better things to do in my life! Risen 2 is good as Risen 1 with some cool character development, better cutscenes, nice quests with cool dialogues and a very nice environment. The battle system is fun. I dont even understand the comments here. Someone said he cant avoid a spear attack...man, that is so easy if you hold the right mouse button and go left / right. That is only one example about those evil red reviews here. ;)
So if you are a fan of PB games, buy it. I have more fun than in Risen 1.… Expand

Not as good as the first one or Gothic 1+2 but still an amazing game with a big world to be discovered. This game deserves a way higher score to be honest.

Ok, who keeps spamming 0 score to games they hate ?
Grow up, if you don't like it 1 vote is enough.
Someone with dozens of accounts is spamming the 0 score here; 120 negative 15min ago, now 130? right...
This is one of the reasons that metascores don't work and can't be trusted.

Loved the first one, the second in the series take away the steep learning curve that the first had but is still just as fun. People are giving it a bad score because of animation or fps problems? Are you serious?! Huge environment to explore and good storyline along with a fun combat system that mixes things up.

Great atmosphere, good charakters, brilliant dialogues and quests. Better than Risen and a wonderfull RPG with some weak points like animations, KI, graphics.

I now will flow **** but I think that Bethesda went on a bad way to simplify everything. A Risen 2 - Dark Water, and vice versa did not think made â

Risen is certainly not a perfect game. It isn't anywhere near perfect. But one thing is sure : it is a great RPG with a great setting. Let me explain. The story is very linear at the beginning, but never boring, and still lets you explore islands as you would have done it in Risen. Then, it becomes more and more interesting as you have to choose your faction, command your own ship etc. After a few hours, you discover a deep story and complex character interactions, with lots of interesting side quests and important decisions to take.
The graphics are so-so : while what one would actually call "graphics quality", which means lighting, texture quality, character design is great, the animations are a whole load of crap, and vegetation textures plop in next to you and change size very strangely. Gameplay isn't Risen 2's best side, as the combat system has been simplified since the first Risen, and Auto-Lock during combats isn't helpful at all. However, the skill system has been improved in a significant way, since there are no levels any more, but you get skill points every time you complete a quest or kill an enemy. This lets you level up your skills when you want, given the fact you have enough points. Moreover, you can learn a lot of interesting abilities like dirty tricks or voodoo magic.
So why would I give this game a 9/10 ? Because the setting is great, the character interactions/dialogues are funny and authentic, and the overall atmosphere is just awesome. As I already said, the lighting/weather system is amazing, and perfectly recreates the pirate setting Piranha Bytes chose for this game. When I look back at what I just played, I think of a brilliant RPG I will certainly play again, even if it has some flaws.… Expand

The 4.6 average score for this game is way exaggerated! I have to say, this is a great game, and except for the whole pirate theme, it's not even that big a difference from Risen 1 (and I mean that in a good way). Sorta better graphics than the first one, with lush jungle islands. I really think they have nailed the exploration part once again, and it follows Risen 1:s system pretty closely. That means a smaller piece of land which is wide open for you to explore... that is, if you are up to whatever kind of monsters are inhabiting that particular area. Some graphics issues exist (wouldn't be a Piranha Bytes game otherwise), such as some foliage popping in in the distance from time to time, and the conversational animations are a bit on the stiff side.
All that aside, in my opinion, Risen 2 is a great middle-budget, smaller scale alternative for anyone who's tired of Skyrim. So don't let the bombed user scores fool you!… Expand

In my opinion it is good & beautiful mature RPG. If you played Risen and you liked it I hope You will like Risen 2. Spirit of Gothic and more than 40h of gameplay.

This is a great rpg, a worthy successor of series. The combact system is in the style of the pirahna bytes. Graphics are good as well. The story is interesting and very charming

This is a fantastic game. PB are a great developer and in Risen 2 they have captured the feel of their Gothics and Risen 1. Risen 1 was great but had too few populated areas and was unbalanced in terms of how the content was spread. Risen 2 addresses both of these flaws and adds pirates!!! The only step backwards is the melee combat has been dumbed down, I hope they patch that!
highly recommended for amazing atmosphere, enviroments, good fun story and general adventure!… Expand

I don't understand who wrote the low scores and why.

This game is an excellent RPG and it's even bringing a fresh setting to the genre.
I strongly recommend any fan of RPGs to ignore the scores and to try it out, otherwise you might miss out on one of the better RPGs we get this year.

I don't understand why so many people rate this game negative. I like everything at it. Ok, to be honest, the new combat system is not as good as the one from risen 1, but risen 2 is an excellent game for which the developers get recognition by myself. The RPG aspects are all fully in this game, the graphics are really good again, a small performance leak, but that is okay, the characters have great animations, the sound is good, some great lip-synced speeches and much more... Good work, piranha bytes!… Expand

Yesterday I finished Risen 2 after 32 hours.

In contrast to many review I enjoyed Risen 2 much more than Risen. IMO the pirate setting had a refreshing effect. The story in Risen was good until chapter 3 (IIRC), where it just got to "fast". In Risen 2 the storyline is consistently interesting and the different islands keep this up. The fighting system is weak at the beginning due to the lack of skills. I played w/o the use of muskets and found myself struggling with enemies around hour 18, when not using skills like "kick" or "counter attack". So for me this is not a button masher, even against monsters you need to keep moving or kicking them away to be able to beat them.

The story might be forced, but which PB game did not have several story-lines, that merged (more or less) together at the end?

What I DISLIKED was the difficulty / balancing. The boss battles where no challenge at all, but one Island was damn hard in contrast to that.
What I miss in Risen 2 is the possibility to keep on solving Quest / looting Treasures after beating the
storyline. This was possible in Skyrim (but also necessary because the mainquest there only longs for mere 8-10 Hours...).

My conclusion is simple: If you want a pirate game, play Risen 2. If you want a game you are able to beat in rational time play Risen 2.
If you want a game not a non-sterile RPG play Risen 2.
If you want the best graphics, don't want a "new" setting, need an very large open world RPG w/o a interesting story to pursue, ..., go play Skyrim.… Collapse

Risen 2 is a really good game which is in the style of the previous products of Piranha Bytes. It has some flaws like a mediocre combat systems(at least at the beginning) and some graphical glitches you can solve with some ini tweaks. However: the story, exploration, dialogues and and atmosphere is as good as every piranha-game. Since this part is much more important for me i just love it. Don't believe all the hatred in this zero-score reviews. Most of them are pre-release reviews of disappointed core-gamers who didn't get a exact copy of the old Piranha Bytes games. It seems like many of them haven't even played the game. PB tried something new with their fresh interface and new combat system. Its not that perfect, but the game is not only about a good combat system and not having drinking animations for potions(some of this guys are really refusing to play the game in cause of this). Its about things like story, exploration, interesting characters and good and often funny dialogues.… Expand

I really enjoyed playing this game, although I was worried about many of the simplifications, which were added since Risen 1. However, having played the whole game, the quite simple fighting system (although it's still better than I expected), the little variety of armors and the disappointing content of some chests is everything, which remains a bit unpleasant. In contrast to it you have the wonderful setting, interesting and funny dialogues and a unique atmosphere, which you enjoy throughout the whole game.… Expand

Great game.Great story; great gameplay; exceptional graphics...I don't understand who wrote the low scores and why.....Awesome game.Its more hardcore than some RPG's.

Risen 2 is a nice game, with catching storyline, nice atmosphere, a big world to explore.
Well done cutscenes, as usualy lot's of interresting "pirnaha style" quests: beat the crap out of a guy, who doesn't let you through, distract a guardian with a whore, explore dangerous dungeons and temples for treasures. Good looking graphics, very well done human and monsters, sexy looking black woman :p All together is a really enjoyable game, which deserves a good note

Guys who rate this game with 1-5, seems to have some private problems.… Expand

Fantastic rpg with a great gameworld, fantastic characters, fun exploration and epic music.

There are some issues like the graphics bugs and the animations are pretty average but everything else is good imo!

This is more PB magic, if you liked Gothic2 or Risen1 I think youll enjoy Risen2! The combat seems boring at first but as you train more moves by trainers it really gets to be good fun! The game also has great atmosphere, nice graphics and is a ton of fun to play.

In a day and age when rpg devs are dumbing everything down, Risen2 is a breath of fresh air! This is the best PB game since Gothic2 imo! If you enjoy PB games give this one a try! Its a true rolepalying game and better then the last few rpgs I bought such as Reckoning, ME3 and Skyrim.

This game does NOT hold your hand and the first few hours are very tough, but if you can keep at it you will be treated to one of the best rpgs in recent years (To me its best rpg since Witcher2).

Not perfect, but whats here is a flawed Gem that every rpg fan that has an open mind should try!!! PB Has done it again! Another classic!… Expand

This game is an outstanding example of why content is always more important thant technical details. Risen 2 ist the best Piranha Bytes Game since Gothic 2. If you are into good role playing games with just awesome designed worlds, Islands in this case, this is the game for you. Hundreds of hand crafted Quests, not generic or automated as with the so called "blockbusters".
Of course there are some downsindes, for example the fighting system, which does not appeal to the gamer today. This however is not the core element of the game. Lots of detailed story elements, side storoes, lots of hidden places, beautiful landscapes and errrrr pirates with humor in the right places: This game is a worthy new game keeping up Piranha Bytes outstanding knowladge of creating "good old roleplaying games". The are some issues with the graphics / engine, those can be resolved by editing the config file. The game made me enjoy every 40 hours I spent in it up to know, and I am still realy sure I have not seen all the places and details hidden somewhere. Going to play it a second time now, and I certainly do not regret the purchase. So if you are OK with a somewhat dumbed down fighting and skill system to appeal todays audience but are also into good old roleplaying games, where all the love and details is more important to you than stupid fighting this for sure is the game for you!… Expand

In my opinion Risen 2 is a great game. Sure there are weak points like the combat system: You have just to left-click against animals, because there is no option to block or evade their attacks (against human enemies you can block and even counterattack). Moreover the story is not the most exciting. However, on the other hand, there is a lot of good stuff that makes you enjoying the game. The atmosphere of the world is awesome, it´s so much fun to explore the area (even it´s all "jungle isle"-setting). For example there is lots of different monsters to fight and many chests to open. In addition i think the characters (everyone is unique) and dialogues are brilliant, i really love the humour (Jaffar is such a funny figure!).
It took me about 35 hours to complete the game and i can assure you every second was well spent. :)… Expand

This game is awesome, not perfect but awesome. I cant understand all of this Hater-votes. 4.5 is a silly joke for a game like this. Since G1+2 the best game from PB.

This game does not deserve the negative reviews it currently gets, The unreviewed votes, I understand because DLC and Steam do bother people greatly, and I can relate to this.
But comparing this game to Arcania (and this is the only time I will ever mention this... thing) is beyond ridiculous.
Accusations like "freedom of movement and open world rewards. This game feels CRAMPED and linear!" are simply lies.
Each island gives you complete freedom of movement, and as soon as you get your ship, you can decide which island (part of the story) to go to next.
Because of the latter, It is LESS linear than Gothic 1 or 2 hands down.
I am a die hard Gothic fan. I love Gothic 1 and 2 and the glorious addon that was Night of the Raven, and let me tell you, after Gothic 3, which was far more than PB could chew, and Risen 1, which was albeit solid (on PC) was somewhat lacking that "little extra", Risen 2 feels like finally coming home to me.
Perhaps there is no bigger compliment I could hand out to this game, but it is truth. I LOVE it.

The little changes they made to gameplay (looting in a seperate window, instant drinking of potions and a few others of this calibre) are very minor when compared to the perfect balance of freedom and linearity, exploring and adventuring, atmosphere and challenge, that I missed for so long.
The dialogue, the exploration, the atmosphere, all of this is just like back in the day, when I first played Gothic 2 (Gothic 1 was slightly different, more claustrophobic, a little more action adventury).

Technically there are some issues. Shadows and object visibility (view distance settings) can get reaally whacky, but both issues are easily fixable with ingame settings and a few changes to the config.
The combat system against creatures (against humans it's great) is source of much criticism as well, because you can't dodge or block and I partly agree.
In the beginning you will die often, in pure melee against animals as all you can do is hope you kill them faster than they kill you.
However the game allows for a great variety of options to avoid direct melee against creatures. Be it companions that tank for you, dirty tricks that stagger and blind opponents, Voodoo magic or simply a good, solid musket.
Then there is the slightly outdated engine (still capable of breathtaking scenery), and other little things you just know you'll get with a PB game.

Conclusion:
If you liked Gothic 1 and 2 and want more of that stuff, Risen 2 is the next best thing. Do not let the different setting confuse you.
If not, give it a pass. The rough edges and the little flaws that inherit every PB game are still there, so I doubt Risen 2 will change your mind, when you never liked their games.… Expand

For me the best Action RPG since Gothic 2 Night of the Raven and I played all of them.

Quiet some Bugs that will get patched for sure, but the game has an amazing atmosphere, world design and dialogues.

Un ennesimo capolavoro dei phirana bytes. la grafica è ottima, i dialoghi sono sempre molto divertenti (come in stile pb), l'ambientazione piratesca è veramente ben riuscita! vi dico una cosa sola... giocatelo!

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A great rpg. so far the games seems quite fun. Character animations are sometimes a bit weird, but overall its a game i enjoy. Graphics are good as well. The world is large and fun to explore.… Expand

World:
Risen 2 has a beautiful world, epecially the twisted landscape and the jungle feeling is 100%. Awesome waterfalls, dark crystal caves, carribean ocean feeling, rivers everywhere. More hidden stuff to find whilst wandering about would be nice, but it's still there. You can still climb! I like exploring but I never noticed that climbing only works at certain points, because of the world design. To Swim isn't possible but thats ok with me as long as I can walk through rivers etc.
Characters and Mobs:
Funny dialogues, animation is sometimes over the top but you get used to it and its still better than Skyrim's imho. You start to like most Characters pretty fast. There are easy, medium and hard to get kill mobs. They're placed intelligently and so motivate to check out the next corner or cave ot whatever.
Story:
Not as good as The Witcher, but better than most RPGs. You meet old companions from Risen 1 and some other surprises but its not like MassEffect which practically knocks you out with cutscene after cutscene(I like ME).
Combat:
Easy to learn, hard to master. If you dont want to loose health, you need strategy. Muskets and pistols are really fun. Especially when they fly all over the place after you shoot em. Haven't tried vodoo yet. Quests:
Often similar get me this and that Quests. But still always other Quests to do, so combinig both sorts works really well.

8/10 Points, but because so many ppl voted BEFORE THE GAME WAS OUT, I give 10. Only the buggy 1-2 hour beta was out at that time.… Expand

If you always wanted to play a pirate RPG game, Risen 2: Dark Waters is definitely worth it. Risen2 is not based on the previous Risen, even though you still play a nameless dude. The game now takes place on several islands and you play as a pirate. There are new weapons as well, like musks and voodoo spells. You don't have to worry about a good reputation in this game. You are already thought about bad. Most quests are fun and not too hard to solve. But also not to easy.
Even though the game is very enjoyable overall I wont give it a 10/10. That's because the combat system is really hard to get used to and the character animations and the character looks are sometimes a bit weird. The graphics a very good. The characters have (mostly) been narrated well. Risen 2 is not as open-world as the first Risen but the islands are still fun to explore. In quests there are many pirate themes like finding treasure.
Risen 2 is more realistic than many other RPG's - if you want a lot of fantasy and magic this is not quite a game for you, even you do get voodoo spells. But don't expect the sort of magic from rpg's like the first Risen or Two Worlds II.
For those who always wanted to play as a pirate, I can definitely recommend Risen 2. For fans of "classic" RPG's, like myself Risen 2 will take some time to get used to but will eventually get fun. But overall the game is really fun and I can definitely recommend it to those who always wanted to play as a pirate and those who want to play a RPG really different from the ones we are used to.… Expand

This is a bold move away from the first game which some will love and some with hate, I'll get the negatives out the way first - the combat system is stripped back in favour of a fairly one dimension system which at times is easy yet other times unforgiving and the universe feels a lot more restricted than risen 1. However the pirate's life aspect of the story breaths new life into the series which ran the risk of being compared to other games such as a stale version of Gothic series and Elder Scrolls. The character traits of those you meet have you laughing out loud at times and the skill advancement system is quite robust and comprehensive and graphically it's fairly good compared ot others out there. All in all I had a blast playing it and would recommend it to anyone,… Expand

I can't believe these rubbish review. I loved Risen and was excited about Risen 2. Didn't want to pay the £40 from steam for it though so I bought it from coolshop for £24, found it a F***ING bargain. Myabe it doesn't deserve a 10, but it sure as hell doesn't deserve a 4.5. The game might not be as open as Skyrim, but what games are these days. And to be honest while I loved Skyrim... there wasn't much to look at was there? RISEN 2 is fun to play and has tons to offer for an explorer. Shooting someone in the face with a pistol never gets old for me. 40 hours into it and still having fun. I had to make an account to leave a review, because this game is getting a raw deal for no good reason at all. Find it anywhere for £25 and it's more than worth it.… Expand

I'm giving 10, only because it's highly underrated. It may not be the best, but it doesn't deserve such a low score. I would give it around 7-8. I finished this game in almost 30 hours, it's a time I really enjoyed. It has some flaws, like worse combat system than Risen 1. I was surprised how bad it is at the beginning, but with time, when You get "glory" and go for melee weapons, it's pretty good, only thing missing is dodge. The story ain't bad, and dialogues are mostly fun and pleasant. Great voice acting (Polish version). Also graphics are beautiful, I don't understand the hate towards it. I would recommend this game, it might be a bit discouraging at first, but it's getting better with time. Risen II really dragged me in, I couldn't stop playing, which is rare for me. Might be because I love PB games, Gothic, Gothic 2 Night Raven, Risen 1 and now Risen 2 joined the club.

What I really didn't liked are boss fights(way too easy) especially final fight, that was a real disappointment, I imagined it to be longer and harder. Anyway I'm now waiting for Risen 3 ;)… Expand

Great game, this game keep you always hungry for next quest. This is not boring like Skyrim when you have tons of non saying quest. Fight system is easiest then in part one, but still good

At the time of release, I was put off from playing this game by the hugely negative response not only from mainstream and largely US centric gaming critics, but also from the Gothic/Risen fanbase. It has been normal in the past for Piranha Byte games to get inexplicably poor ratings from English speaking gaming media, but Piranha Bytes have always had their band of loyal/hooked followers who know differently. So why so much negativity this time around from the PB fan club? Risen 2 is a bit of a departure from the previous PB games in that; the world is split up into smaller areas/islands; that there is not as much freedom in the game world as previously; and also the fighting mechanics have been completely changed from what went before. Therefore, those of us who were chomping at the bit for another Gothic or Risen 1 re-run, were sorely disappointed that PB had for whatever reasons, opted to do things a little differently this time around. However, the fact that PB have made a slightly different RPG to what their fanbase was expecting, doesn't necessarily mean that Risen 2 is bad game. In fact, Risen 2 is an absolutely brilliant game, which is something I have only just found out after months of staying away from the game due to negative publicity.

One of many the criticisms that is levelled at Risen 2 is that the overarching story is generic and cliched. It would be hard to disagree with this but I would like to suggest that it is not the quality of the story, but the quality of the story telling that really matters in an RPG video game. What Piranha Bytes do brilliantly well, is make the dialogue and interaction between the character's in the game interesting, easily digestible, and memorable to the gamer. The NPC's in Risen 2 are colourful, individual, and help to convey the personality and charm that the game has to offer. In this respect, Risen 2 stands in stark contrast to rave review generating American RPG's such as Amalur. Despite Amalur having it's story concocted by a professional fantasy author, the blase generic Disney-esque dialogue and instantly forgettable NPC's in the game resulted in at least this gamer, not giving two craps about anything in the game to find out whether there is a good story or not.

Risen 2 succeeds in getting the gamer emotionally involved in the various plot and sub-plot intrigues in the game, resulting in the imagination of the gamer and his interest in the game world starting to bloom. To this end, Risen 2 also offers the gamer a myriad of neat character progression features, to give just one example amongst many, is the ability to train a monkey as a theif, or a parrot to annoy the f*ck out of other NPC's. In my play through, I made strong use of the trained monkey, vital for getting to some well tucked out the way stash at various points in the game. Another brilliant and fun feature that i have to mention is the Voodoo ability to take control of another NPC's mind. Aside from offering alternative ways to complete quests, stomping around the towns and settlements of the South Sea's as another character in the game, and watching how all the other NPC's react totally differently to this guy than they do to the Nameless Hero, can be great fun. Even better, in situations where the NPC under voodoo mind control is an unpallatable character, there are opportunites to land the NPC in a spot of bother by making hims do/say 'wrong things', or in one case during my playthrough, totally ruin his (virtual) life! There are similarly charming, innovative, and fun aspects to Risen 2 right throughout the game. Furthermore, much of these things are not spelt out for the gamer, but rather the gamer comes to discover them for himself through his own musings and thoughts on the game world. Through the interaction with the NPCs and the various tricks and skills in Risen 2, intrigue in the game world really starts to open up, thus the gamer starts to feel himself to be involved in the world and motivated towards overcoming the various hurdles and challenges that stand in the way of progression. For my money, this exercising of human imagination, supplemented by the lush beautiful graphics that contribute to the wonderfully ornate handcrafted environments is what RPG gaming is all about and is something that Risen 2 brilliantly achieves.

Risen 2 however, does have many flaws. The combat can be a bit clunky and at times very clumsily implemented and the game definitely suffers from balancing issues. However, these and all its other flaws are meaningless to me because I judge a game by how much fun and entertainment that it offered me, and Risen 2 had me totally hooked for around 50 hours of game playing time in a way that no other game released in the last two years has.… Expand

"Must have" for every fan of Piranha Bytes games. You want to know why critic score is so low? Simple, this is not another one big tutorial game for kids, but deep rpg game. If u like gothic 1,2,3 and risen1 you need to buy this.

It is a good legacy of Gothic... Realistic fight with elegant weapon, powerful muskets, dirty tricks, monkey... I think it is Game not cut-scenes movie. Not ideal, but very atmospheric and "live".

Great sequel to the very enjoyable Risen! I am 22 hours in and have loved every minute. Fun and interesting story, great characters, classic nameless hero, multiple islands to explore, and beautiful graphics. The atmosphere is perfect and feels exactly like a PB game should. If you like Risen 1 you will highly enjoy Risen 2!

This game deserves more credit. It seems as though everything is about graphics and combat these days. What Risen 2 manages to achieve is a much greater good: immersion and proper character development.

I do not understand why the reviews in the beginning are so bad. Most of the bad reviews were written shortly before or after the game released. I played Risen 2 for about 20 hours. It was very entertaining and even a bit dramatic. This game provides anything I can imagine. The combatsystem is much better after the Patch and I cannot complain about the graphics. Of course it is not as huge as skyrim. But I think Risen 2 is the best RPG since the release of the first Risen in october 2009. There is nothing bad in the at all. All of you who gave the game a zero don't seem to know how badly this could damage Piranha Bytes… Expand

It's a great game, of some depth. True it has some flaws but you can get around them. One thing I thought was it was lacking facilities on most islands like voodoo cauldrons. Still I'm enjoying playing it. The islands are not exactly titchy there are plenty of full islands. Definitely one to recommend for rpg fans. Don't know why it has such a low score to be honest.

This game deserves more credit. It seems as though everything is about graphics and combat these days. What Risen 2 manages to achieve is a much greater good: immersion and proper character development.

Don't understand why gamers can't accept Risen 2. You can complain on curve animation, bad direction and low face models. But I ask you: does it stir you to play and enjoy the game? Do you consider fightings too incovenient ? Buy gamepad and calm down! You have giant intresting world to discover, unique role system, bright humour and intresting characters. It was enough to me. I pre-purchased game, ended it for 45 hours and didn't ever regret. All recomendations. Expect for Risen 3.… Expand

When I played this game the first time I didn't like it. But after playing a few hours I have change my point of view.
So, it's awesome. I like all of Piranha Bytes' games, but Risen 2 is my favorite, I think. I like pirates at all and in Risen 2 they looks very cool and funny. There is a nice graphics in game, but it's not very important. First of all, I really interested in storyline in Risen 2. And it is much more exciting than in Risen. There are some very thrilling moments, what made me feel nervous. Like scene with Steelbeard and Mara. I like RPG system, new features and atmosphere of Risen 2. Soundtrack is very nice. I have been played in Risen 2 43 hours in general and all of this time I was impressed.
But this game is unpolished and it is the main disadvantage. Strange animation, some bugs and problems with graphics.
Anyway, I have been spent my time with pleasure and I looking forward to Risen 3.… Expand

(PB= Piranha Bytes, Developer of Gothic 1-3, Risen 1, a small lovely developer)

RPG: Mechanics: +(=pro) Best of both worlds, easy leveling up, different than Risen 1 but not that bad. The skills learned at trainers just like Risen 1/Gothic.

Combat: --(=con) A lot simpler than Risen1. Should be made more dynamic , just like Witcher 2. But have more played like Gun User rather than Swordsman.
+ Guns in a Piranha Bytes game. The sound good. Animated well. Just feels nice (Musketes). +Mixture of Aiming and RPG stats

World Design:
+The game has a pirate/Jungle/Colonialism/Voodoo setting. It is executed very well. PB always creates beautiful and memorable Worlds. Not as big as Skyrim but a lot more memorable and with more soul. ( I do also like Skryim/oblivion very much though)

Story: -- slow beginnig, not that action like and not that motivating
+ later on the story really sucks you in and motivates, there are some very good twists and turns

Quest Design:
+mixture of standard fetch/kill quests but with typical PB like story and good chained quest series

Graphics:
+ nice lighting and shadows
+ good vegetation/jungle
- some minor quirks/errors
- blurry Textures/missing Detail Textures: PB please add Detail Textures!

Characters:
+ the hero, patty and the friends/crewmates of the hero are well designed: humoristic, sarcastic and still lovely


Wishes to the Users: Critize PB directly, talk to them in Forums, the World of Risen site etc. Reviews under 6/10 just because its not Risen1/Gothic are not fair. The Game is worth more. Yes the game has causual aspects, but it still has the PB/risen/gothic soul no other game has. Check it out. Give it a try. And lets make the coming PB-

Games better, together with PB.

Wishes to the Developers:
I would like to have a more Gothic 1/2 like game, medieval setting etc. with early guns if you like.
The pirate setting is good, but not perfect. If it has to be pirates, take these things as examples:
Risen1 Captain Stahlbarts treasure story (was better in some aspects)
Gothic 2 night of the raven
Monkey Island
Curse of the Caribbean

Detail Textures! Implement them please! Textures are sometimes a curse as they are!

All in all a nice game with the PB/Gothic Charm/Atmo no other game has. With some shortcomings but still good. Hopefully Risen 3/Gothic 5 will be perfect!… Expand

If you like Gothic, you like Risen 2, too! It's exactly the same Gothic-Spirit like the both first part's of the Gothic Universe. Don't let affect to the PB hater, they just Kid's.

Ignore the critic's reviews. They are obsessed with the next clone of duty game. This game is absolutely fine, and if you like rpg's it deserves a much higher score. If the critics have their way they will try and turn Skyrim into just another fps. Ignore the fools, judge for yourself. Shame there isn't a demo so customers can try before they buy.

As a big fan of RPG games, especially Gothic series, i must say that this game is.... GREAT! I wasn't expecting that this game would be soo good, but i was positively surprised. I only wish that piranha bytes would have bigger budget....

A beautiful game with minor technical issues. I challenge anyone to find a game that is this deep without any flaws. A recent patch improved performance as well. I'm getting really nice frame rates on all High settings. This game doesn't deserve a 0 rating. Character development has plenty of options, but not TOO many. Voice acting is actually pretty good most of the time...character animations are hilariously over the top in some cases during dialogue. Also note: many people who gave it crappy reviews or called it "linear" didn't take the time to find all the side quests or stick with the game past the first few islands...it picks up dramatically towards the second half in terms of freedom and options. If you like RPGs then buy this game....Skyrim it is not, but I actually like that since I'm not trying to play another Skyrim clone. This game has charm. I have to LOL at the 0 ratings ... get a life.

I'm giving it an 8.5… Expand

Ok, I'm now well in the middle of this game and this game is very much a successor to Risen, with all of its same characteristics. Very open environments; the islands are so lush and winding, that without a seachart (and sometimes even with it) I become hopelessly lost again and again - in a good way! The graphics in town are not so good, but on the islands are beautiful and the character sheet is extremely pleasing to the eye. The Save system is surprisingly very PC friendly, the way all games SHOULD be but never are - holding several quick save positions and allowing you to name your own save files; it's also extremely stable permitting Alt-Tabbing galore to quickly check email without exiting game and hasn't crashed yet. I LOVE the slow xp system that also forces you to accumulate gold to level up skills - it makes the game very very challenging. Finally, the combat is love/hate. It is VERY complicated beyond belief. Once you get the hang of it, it gets a lot more fun; I think you have patience you will come to enjoy it immensely. And Skyrim could learn something from the good and varied voice acting here. So far, VERY fun.… Expand

Alright, i came back to this game after previously hating it... I must say, I don't know if the devs patched it or what, but I am seriously enjoying this game! Sure it could be improved on, but it really isn't horrible. In fact it is a lot of fun. I really regret judging this game previously without fully giving it a chance, because I have gotten hours upon hours of enjoyment out of it. I must say, cliche as it is, the pirate theme is underused in video games. Every time I play this game it reminds me of vacation in the Caribbean, and rum. No complaints there. Approach it without expecting to be absolutely blown away and you just may be one of the people who loves this game.… Expand