Undeveloped features, unfinished and unpolished, clunky movement and combat mechanics, 'light' rpg stats, zero roleplaying outside the main quest. Few pseudo-choices that lead to the same events. Bad voice acting. No purpose for exploration. Ugly character animations. Really, PB? I know this is not the same team that made G1 andG2, but still... you're a shadow and your new series is sinking in mediocrity.

RPGFan has the best description for this 'AAA' wannabe title: I'm rarely disgusted after beating a game. Risen 2 left me aghast, and I'm not even a pirate fanatic. I can't imagine the disappointment of those expecting to finally lay their hands on a quality pirate RPG. What could have been a heavily nuanced action RPG is instead a waste of potential and a cheap product. Risen 2 doesn't just leave the niche as empty as it found it. RISEN 2: DARK WATERS GIVES PIRATES A BAD NAME.… Expand

Disgusting...this game should have stayed at least one more year in production...it's the only reasonable explanation why everything is either dumbed down or downright broken. The combat, the tiny worldspace, the limited character development, the boring fetch quests, the horrendous graphics and animations? Piranha Bytes was always a developer of unpolished games and gritty gameplay, but they've never been so broken and uninteresting, they at least used to feature attractive story and character building. This game is too modest in scope, lacks creativity and the broken gameplay looks like it's made by a bunch of secondary school kids in their spare time not by a well established studio with years of experience in RPG development. Also, selling DLC cut from the very game since development? Yeah, you've earned the gamers' respect ... NOT… Expand

This is the new Arcania, now made by Piranha Bytes themselves. I'll never understand why they had to undermine once again their own series with an unworthy successor. This one has a forced story, weak character development, uninteresting world and dialogues and very poor control for a modern rpg. The pirate setting is underwhelming to say the least, I expected much more side quests, factions that you can join, rewards, choices&consequences...Witcher 2 is far from perfect but it's miles ahead.… Expand

This is how a once great developer should NOT make games: this is a shadow of what Gothic 1 and 2 offered in exploration, compelling stories, freedom of movement and open world rewards. This game feels CRAMPED and linear! I expected a really big piratey open world with many viable playstyles and a lot of things to do. It's more of an action-adventure with poor roleplaying diversity, watered down stats, ugly interface, simplified factions and faction interaction... and the combat is horrible. This is not an open world RPG, this is an adventure (and not the best one at that) that ruined once more the illusion that we could have a big, living world of pirates RPG.… Expand

Average game. No more, no less! Nice graphics when looking in distance and in some situations... but absolutely no "polish" work by the devlopers (when the character "climbs" something, half the time it "disappear" in the texture). Bad voice acting and an average story (not very original plot). Really, really annoying fighting system! In the game beginning at normal difficulty it was very difficult to kill an opponent... to the end, everyone, also the bosses are too easy (due to the skill learned by the character)! Nice places and islands... but without things to do (just search treasures in 90% of the cases).
The game could be a great game if the developers just spent 6 months more on it.... they released a average game for 25 hours of average game play (with launch "DLC"). Buy it when it drops down to 15-20â… Expand

"How to destroy a promising series by dumbing it down, an easy guide to boredom". Chapter 1: Make it simple! Gone is the dynamic skill based combat system from Risen 1 which required the player to use different tactics dependent on the enemy he was fighting. Risen 2 offers a Fable style one button based no-skill no-system-combat. It's simple, and it won't be to challenging for some people like the combat in Risen 1 was. It's also boring and repetitive beyond believe. Chapter 2: Freedom is bad and overtaxing for small brains! Gone is the medium sized realistic open world which offered the player the freedom to explore. Risen 2 offers console RAM friendly mini islands which are so small that even navigation challenged people who experience regular difficulties with getting around in their one room apartments won't get lost anymore. Exploration, always a strong point in Piranha Bytes Games, just doesn't feel right when the areas are so small. Chapter 3: Repeating things over and over again makes them more easy to comprehend! Yes, don't expect rich quest design, Risen 2 offers the same boring fetch quests over and over again. Boring repetitive combat and castrated exploration wasn't enough, for true boredom the quest design apparently had to mirror the no-skill combat when it comes to repetition. Get used to the idea of feeling more like a Fed Ex courier than a pirate. Conclusion: By fallowing our easy guide to boredom you'll create a truly boring game. And how they accomplished that!… Expand

Atrocious: (Webster) 'of very poor quality'. Atrocity: (Webster) 'enormous wickedness; extreme heinousness or cruelty'. Failure: (Webster) 'a state of inability to perform a normal function'. Risen 2: (Fractalia) atrocious atrocity, technical failure, artistic disappointment, writing mediocrity, dumbed down RPG.

Another one bites the dust. An RPg with no RP value. An illusion of pirate career without actual sailing out on open seas. Simplified combat [Risen 1 was much better], micro-islands to explore [if you can ignore the outrageous pop-ins in the trees] and forgettable quests/dialogue. Can't these people just look at Fallout New Vegas and draw some inspiration? Now that's meaningful dialogue and role playing!… Expand

A low quality RPG in disguise. The pirate setting and the open world are attractive enough to make me spend the money but the experience is very frustrating, everything seems awkward and poorly executed, from story to character development, especially the movement, the trees, the npc animations, the dialogue options. The only thing that I do appreciate is the music, it's a nice touch that enriches the monkey islandish playful atmosphere. The quests are boring and repetitive as the usual nowadays RPG, the path is quite linear for an open world design, and last but not least the lack of interaction with the environment is a let down, it seems PB is making their worlds smaller AND removing content at the same time, I'm curious where they are heading. Maybe they want to "evolve" to 2d scrollers? I thought the free roaming and rewarding exploration in a huge world like Gothic 3 was their principled target, I guess I was wrong. Where for the love of God is the swimming ability? In a seafarer setting, for Christ sake! I don't know, this game is lacking character and content, let alone sense of adventure, innovation and a decent level of polish; and it's lacking bad. The previews were deceiving.… Expand

Linear, terrible combat, poor attention to detail. This feels more like a hastily assembled mass market clone than the deep detailed games that the Gothic series was. My recommendation would be to wait for this game to go on sale at a deep discount before risking your dollars on a fairly "meh" game.

Dishonest business practice like cutting content from the game and selling it as day 1 DLC should be discouraged. This is the most disgusting way of treating your public.

I'm so disappointed. Risen 2 is nothing you'd expect from a Piranha Bytes title. It's completely dumbed down, the character control is clumsy, you cannot freely explore the islands, you cannot swim or climb and even combat is worse (didn't think it could get much worse, right?) Honestly, I hope Piranha Bytes goes back to its roots. I sincerely cannot recommend Risen 2 to anyone.

Compared to other recent RPGs, this one looks ugly and dated. That would not be a deal breaker for a player who is still enjoying his Morrowind, Gothic 1 and 2, Fallout 1 and 2, Deus Ex 1... graphics is not everything. BUT! Unfortunately this game is also lacking more aspects that define a quality RPG experience. The premise of the story is very promising but unfortunately it is undermined by the lazy writing and the repetitive scenery. The dialogue and the npcs personalities are simple, bad quality comic and nothing to write home about. The quests are not the brightest I have played, not on par with Risen 1 anyway. The combat is simplified to a point where I start resenting the slow response of my character and the idiotic animations that either make or break a fight: you stunlock the enemy or they will interrupt you becasue their animations are shorter. Very, very bad combat design and control. The stealth character development is subtracting your combat power to a degree where you wish you did not roleplay the thief. I find the mini-games annoying and unwelcome for the immersion. In a game with pirates, harbors, ships and so much water, it is common sense for everyone(except PB) that swimming should be a part of the gameplay; going into the water and being teleported back is so stupid that it cannot be described in decent words. The Speed Tree implementation is hillariously broken, it is distracting and worthy of a cheap indie title. PB are going backwards in so many ways that I wouldn not recommend this game to my enemies.… Expand

I was really looking forward to playing this game. After reading some reviews i was thinking 'wow, that really sounds bad, but it might still convince me'.
Well.. it didnt! The mele fights are so bad, i dont even know where to start. There is no possibility to evade throwing spears other than wildly jump around and try to run away (imagine this while getting focused by 2 other melee npcs).
So i though well, maybe try to put some points to improve the pistol. Dont!. The ranged weapon (fired by pressing E) will not hit the enemy in 80% of your shots, either because you are getting hit by several enemies while you try to get out your gun, or just because you stand like 1 armlength in front of them and then get a 'you missed' pop up over the enemies head... really?
Besides the combat system (or the lack of it) i have to say i am really pi**ed of by the animations and graphic bugs like flickering shadows, trees and vegetation popping up and chaning their shape depending on the angle you look at it (!!). Usually im not that concerned about stuff like that if the fights feel good and the story/environment fits in the concept. In this case it really influences the game in a very bad way.
Maybe next time PB :/… Collapse

Oh dear. Risen 2 is just not terribly good. Laughably bad animations/character models and voice acting really ruin the overall effect here. Also, the quest design is average to say the least, the open world feel is even less than Risen 1 was and, seriously, PB, after *how* many games and you *still* haven't figured out that stun-locking enemies are a bad idea ? All in all decidedly worse than it's predecessor and nowhere near as good as the original PB classics.… Expand

i still dont understand the 4.5 user score. i played 15 hours until now. and i played Risen 1 to the end in 40h last year.

Risen 2 is not as good at Risen 1. But its still a excellent game.

I managed to convert my Beta savegame to continue it with the full game. until now a 8.5 out of 10. No less. The last 4 hours that played on the second island showed me a lot of depth. Although Risen 2 is a game a lot worse than the first Risen (because He was a masterpiece like 9.5 for me)
still Risen 2 in my opinion is one of the best rpg that i played so far. and i played liek 200 rpg. there a few web sites that gave between 8 and 8.5 on 10. below 8 i disagree. There a lot of quests to do, really a lot. A lot of side-quests has to be mandatory, but it can be done in oany order. Some side quests will unlock the main quest. so you have to do them. There are several way to complete a mission, several ways. The story is quite complex on the second island. and thats full of suspense. There many things we want to know. who are really the Crow gang? Is that Crow a good guy. how to do to talk to him. are the primitive people really free. or the Crow gang force them to work for their own goal.

The concept looks like Risen. This is the depth of the caves, the magic system, Item, the general structure which is worse than Risen1. Although the story, characters and suspense are beginning to be interesting on the second island, it remains that its superior in Risen 1. BUT NOTHING CANT CHANGE THAT RISEN 2 is a excellent game. graphics, especially on the second island, ARE amazing and I play graphic at medium. Probably the most beautiful tropical style graphics that i have never seen. they are working very hard to make the second island graphically great. The battles are less interesting than Risen1. and its unfortunately less tactical and a lot easier.

if you like Risen 1 or want to play a great complex rpg game, Risen 2 is a excellent choice

SORRY I KNOW MY ENGLISH IS NOT GREAT AT ALL ! sorry !… Expand

Grafic bugs and boring Fight System, thats Risen 2.

The old grafic and the shadow bugs are cruel.
You must first go in the ini config to do what the programmers has to do before release, thats nor normal.
No more money from me PB, your Game is a Beta

I played the old PB Games and this just like a cheap copy of a bad shadow themself..
But to the facts, the fighting system is catastrophal, just click on the mouse button to kill enemy blind..
No tactic no fun there.
The graphic is buged like hell, when u walk around the island, u have the feeling of livin alien plants horrible..
Quests are always the same, bring me x items, kill x monsters..
I dont know whats the motivation behind the hero i play, i coud not understand why i shoud do this all.

The end of the game the bossman, its just a joke dont wanna spoile but thats the point..

This game maybe for 5 euro, but i dont know if i woud play it again...… Expand

Thank you Piranha for a true horror game. The horror genre needed this badly. Horror combat, horror trees and bushes, horror ships that don't even move a little with the wind, horror animations, horror lack of lore, horror boredom courtesy to the very diverse landscape and very interesting quests.

Graphics: very mediocore for 2012 game. Animation: just wierd Voice acting: terrible, sounds like school theatre. Music: not bad. Cutscenes: like in early 2000s, nothing to say more. Story: privitive and linear, big monster, mega weapon (in pieces) etc. NPC: faceless, and have very little appearence variation. Dialogues: unmemorable, always tempting to skip them. Quests: find/talk/lkill in different order.
Roleplaying: minimal most time.
Combat system: primitive, just klick left mouse faster and eat healing things.
World: tiny ilands/coasts (half of them - for 1 visit), all towns - 4-5 houses.
Replayability: almost zero.

General idea: Good.
Realization: Bad.… Expand

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.

guys better wait for a demo, iam sad that i payd so much money for this 20 hours beta **** quests borin battles versus the monsters is just click the mouse like an abe, bugs in gameplay and graphic..
DLC 50 minutes, not 10 hours like PB sayd before release, thats criminal rly...

Didnt learnd by disaster of gothic 3, never aagain get my money....

I'll be honest, I made an account because I felt obligated to do something to try and steer people away from this game. In a word, it's terrible. I give them a 1 only because I liked the premise. The premise is why I bought it. Action rpg with pirates? Awesome, sign me up!

What I got was a pile of steaming garbage. I played about 5 hours, but I had to force myself not to quit after about 15 minutes. There are no redeeming qualities for this game, and that's sad, because I really wanted to like it. I was excited about this game. Which is why this comes as such a kick in the teeth.

The list starts right from the get go. The graphics are terrible. It's not even that they chose an aesthetic I don't like, that I could have lived with, but the graphics themselves are par for late last gen consoles. I'd expect these kinda blobby textures on the PS2, not my shiny new PC game. Even with everything cranked to the highest it would go, the game is just plain ugly. I'm trying to come up with a "but this part was nice" here, but there isn't one. The view distance is just ridiculously short. Things pop into existence just feet from you, like they over slept and are hoping you won't notice them sneaking in late for work. I remember a few times that whole trees would materialize as if by magic right beside me, and others were they'd vanish again at the edge of my screen, as though they figured they could sneak off for a coffee while I was busy taking 10 minutes to left click a wart hog to death.

And my god was the combat terrible. Just absolutely god awful. Just face in the general direction of the enemy and left click spam until they hopefully fell over before you did. There was not a single bit of skill or strategy involved. Just keep up the clicking, cause that's all there is to the combat system.

It wasn't helped by the terrible movement controls. Never have I described moving as "loose" and "heavy" at the same time before. You have no fine control of your character, he kinda flails around in the vague direction you're pointing him. But that's only once you get him moving. He feels like moving a large square boulder uphill. Getting him moving is clunky, and difficult and as graceful as drunk hippo. So many times did I walk or turn past an item I was aiming for, and had to circle around back at it, because turning around was even more clumsy.

Only surpassed in clumsiness by the awful voice acting. From the first lines in the opening cutscene, I could tell something was wrong. The dialogue is stiff, stilted, and canned. I know how lines are recorded. They're done with actors reading lines down a list, alone in their own little room, without the other people involved in the conversation actually in the room with them; but never before has that been so utterly, glaringly obvious. It truly does sound like each individual line was recorded on a different day from each other. They flow about as well as chunky sewage, which is pretty much the best way I can describe the dialogue in this game.

For those who couldn't be bothered to read all the above, I'll summarize. The graphics would have been bad years ago. Today, they're abysmal. The combat is an utter joke. It's the most boring and poorly executed click spam I've ever seen. Your character handles with all the nimbleness and precision of a rock, and has the personality to boot. The characters, story, and locations are utterly forgettable. And the dialogue makes it a good idea to turn off your sound and rely on subtitles, because the voice acting makes you wish you had no ears.

I urge you, DO NOT buy this game! I can not stress this enough. I'm not even going to touch on the fact that the developers cut out 5 hours of game play they made before launch so that they could sell it to you later for more money. That fact, while an utterly sickening practice, is completely eclipsed by the fact that this game is horrible. They can keep their extra 5 hours of content. I don't want it. I would however like the 5 hours I did waste playing this game back.… Expand

SO, Risen 2 first impressions, having downloaded it from STEAM overnight. The engine, in my opinion, has some major issues ( Faults ). Objects "pop in" at very close range. Trees and bushes change shape dramatically as you approach them, and textures flicker constantly in the middle distance. This is very distracting. Character animation is very stiff, and when they speak, they seem to flail their arms around to get what they are saying over to you, which is probably because there is virtually no lip syncing or indeed, lip movement. All the characters seem a little short and squat.
I'm running the game at 2560 x 1440, I haven't tried any other resolutions. Maybe a lower res would stretch the characters out.

The shadows cast by buildings and trees seem "twitchy", moving back and forth in an unrealistic manner on the floor.
The running animation is very odd. When you run, your characters torso becomes a fixed point in 3d space and does not move
and the arms and legs flap up and down in a very limited animation style. Overall, the engine is not great. The engine would not have been great 10 years ago. I assume the company made their own instead of buying a licence for the Unreal engine or some such.
It shows.

The animation style is very cartoon like on the game NPCs which clashed a little bit with what is otherwise, a very nice engine visually.
Textures are clear and sharp, buildings well defined & designed.

The voice acting steps things up considerably. The game has been localised , very well as far as I'm concerned, by an entirely UK English speaking cast.
All accents are either London or Cornwall based. UK slang words have been worked into the game well and used in the correct contect.
Most of the time.
Swearing is present and prevalent and is quite funny to hear.

The music is simply excellent, atmospheric and fitting to the environment, helping to set the mood well. It reminds me a little of the excellent music from Age of Conan, mainly the
Tortage city themes.

The mission structire so far appears to be the usual "fetch & bring back" type, or the "chicken & egg" conundrum, in that you have a final objective but simply can't get to it without meeting certain criteria in the first place, and those criteria, also have criteria to meet.
Standard RPG fare there then, and this will likely make the game a solid single player RPG experience.

Combat starts out with a basic parry / slash combo , and as you level up, your earn skill points and gold to spend with trainers to improve your skills or increase your arsenal of moves.
Exactly the same as both Risen and Gothic 3.

So for now, is it worth 40 quid of STEAM? ...well for a start don't buy it off STEAM unless you really have to, prior to purchase I looked to find a retail copy and could find none.
SO I bought it on STEAM.
The next day, a retail version is on AMAZON for £15.00 less !!!!

....Not to the casual RPG-er, but to anyone who has enjoyed the Gothic series, Two Worlds 1 or 2, Venetica, the original Risen, Dinity or Might & Magic 6 thru 9 this will be more of the same
involving and fun gameplay.

If you think western RPGs stop with Oblivion and Skyrim, don't bother. This game will require a fair about of forgiveness ( the engine is seriously lacking), but in the long run I think it will offer a lot of rewarding gameplay to the patient player. If you can , that is ,tolerate the heavy, HEAVY graphical issues, which I hope will not plague the console versions as it has the PC version .

The game plays with mouse and keyboard OR the Xbox controller without issue.

I'll be playing Risen 2 to the end.

I think a score of 6/10 is fair.

Now give us a patch to fix the graphics.… Expand

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.

Quote on this site from a German gaming magazine -Risen 2 is a great role-playing experience for any fan of open world games.- That is why people dont buy magazines anymore. This guy has obviously not really spent any time on the game or doesnt actually really know what open world really means. He has falled for some really shallow tricks and tools which have been used to try and inject at least an open world feel to the game. Still, perhaps his primary gaming rig is a console but surely even console owners are getting bored with playing games with very little to set them apart in "open world" games which are not open world at all but extremely linear. Sure, your not in a tunnel pointed in one direction but too often its not far off. If this was a console game this would absolutely fit right in with so many console based RPGs which you can play one after another without realising that you have actually played five games in the time you expect one to last and with so little to set them apart that you barely raised your head out of the boredom coma you found yourself in. The graphics are ok and the dialogue fits too. But the game is buggy as hell. If you try exploring early rather than following the quests in the proper order hen there is a good chance you will have to go back a long way to an earlier save. Over all the dialogue helps but the game is just so simplified it might as well just get on with playing itself. An ignominous end to a promising series. What a disappointing end to Risen. I wouldnt even bothered downloading this if they gave it to me free if I had realised it was a clone of so many other games I already played and didnt much like recently. When are we going to get another proper heavyweight RPG in a truly large open world. They can keep this dumbed down crap. Pirhana Bytes left me feeling cheated with this one. I gace it 3 simply because the dialogue and accents etc worked.… Expand

It's hard to understand why PB failed so miserly again.
Risen 2 is an example of the disease that the whole industry has contracted. They don't listen to their fans, they don't listen to common sense. There are so many bad design decisions made in Risen 2 it's appalling.
The game is haunted by defective visuals. Morphing trees, flickering shadows and bugged lod-algorithms. In addition there are awkward character models, which are recycled very often, and look like aliens with huge hands and an extra joint between the hands and wrist. The combat system is totally broken. There is no defense against non-humanoid enemies. No dodge, no shields, nothing. Most of the time you are stuck in the "i have been hit"-animation. So early on you use your companion as enemy bait, and use your musket and pistol to get rid of all the aggressive fauna around you. Even the combat against humanoids is lackluster to put it mildly. You chain up attacks, you can't interrupt them, and even with a lot of dirty tricks the combat in R2 is just not fun. It's a frustrating chore, nothing more.
Another flaw of the game are the repetitive and really uninspired quests. It's just fetch this, kill that. It's plain boring. Even the story is not very interesting. You have played similar stories before, so no surprises here. Even the pacing sucks.
Normally i wouldn't waste another thought on this game, but there are a number of good ideas and gameplay expansions, that it's extremely sad, that the rest of the game is flawed beyond belief.

The training skill with the monkeys stealing for you etc. are really nice. The dialogs are "ruffy" and the the world feels believable with a working stealing system and daily routines of the NPCs. There are a lot of thing that could redeem the game, but the combat system, the uninteresting story and the boring quests are responsible for letting this shooting star crashing down really hard.

I'm not sure if they can fix enough of the flaws, to make it a worthwhile game, but at the moment i would not recommend it.… Expand

After putting another 15 hours into the game trying to find fun i can honestly say the game NEVER GETS GOOD. The combat is always bulls**t with enemies spamming stun attacks one after another forcing you to pound grog (hp pots) whenever ANYTHING gets within melee range, The absence of a dodge mechanic is inexcusable considering NPCs tell you to dodge attacks when explaining some fights. After putting 30+ hours into this game i can say its nothing more than walking from point A to point B trying to find the exploit that allows you to kill each and every mob and keep in mind if you do not cheat in this way the game is unplayable. For instance the low level mob "firebirds" attack SO fast, if they start attacking you, your only hope of surviving is to SPAM jump and run in the opposite direction since it attacks twice as fast as you and each hit stuns you and resets your attack meaning Melee is NOT an option unless you have hundreds of potions, your block is a joke and it seems only NPCs have real blocks that totally migrate damage. They reuse the same character models OVER and OVER and OVER, which gets extremely confusing at times. For instance you need to find "NPC a" but wait in the same town atleast 5 other characters will use the exact same model clothing and voice, forcing you to run to people only to find out its just the quest NPC's doppelganger. They Claim the game is very open ended but you would NEVER know that since the game takes you by the hand and forces you down a single path while making it seem like its the only path (for example i was forced into the native camp in act 2 and was never made aware that i had the option to FIND the inquisition camp, this would normally be an annoyance but it **** me out of ALL the guns in the game and im still using the first gun i found well into the end of the game). The magic system is complete garbage and seems like its only there to punish people who though that they could go through the game using magic....you know like any other RPG in existence. COUNTLESS bugs also plague this game, and not just the Horror trees/grass bug, ive died several times because the game decided that W was suddenly run left or run backwards off a cliff, Shotguns are NOT classified as shotguns (as in the talent CALLED "shotguns") they are dependent on the "Musket" skill which is ass backwards. I could go on for days about how this game is not even worth the space it takes up, i can only hope PB pulls their head out of their ass and learns how to make a playable game, or they completely dissolve so im never tricked into buying another one of this garbage games. How a developer can look at a game like this and think "Yeah, Perfect" is beyond me, they set out with the goal of fixing risen 1's combat system and this is all they could come up with? Sorry you should not be making video games, you should be flipping burgers. Leave the video games to people who actually play them, and you cannot tell me an actual gamer made this game.… Expand

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

I used round about 31 hours to play this game and I can recommend it. It's neither a RPG-monster like Skyrim nor does it have all of the qualities the first Gothic games have, but it's still an unique and special experience. First it plays in a very well done pirate setting and secondly is has the same, special piranha bytes-atmosphere like their other games have got. Of course this game isn't perfect. The graphics are good (environments, weather, vegetation, art design!), while characters, animations and so on are just solid, mimics and gestics rudimentary. Also there are some small graphic bugs, but nothing serious. Overall it looks very organic, stylish and atmospheric. The sounds are good, the music ist very good, although it was made by a new composer. The interface is very comfortable and game balance is good. The character system is good, but not as deep as in other games, the quest structures are very classic, but there aren't many special quests. The main plot has got some interesting twists and once it surprised me. Compared with Risen 1, the main plot is much better. The combat system against monsters isn't so good at all, because you're not able to block or dodge. Against humans you got the option to parry. But overall you're able to use some funny and useful dirty tricks. The items are well-distributed throughout the game and often very useful. Well, until now this review doesn't look so good, also by my bad english (sorry!) but I've to admit that Risen 2 has most of the good things of Piranha Bytes games like an handcrafted and living environment, the well structures game with quests, fighting and exploration, the unique atmosphere. If you liked Gothic 1-3 and/or Risen, then you'll also like Risen 2. It has weaknesses, but above all the known strengths and is definitely worth a try. So I think, the games doesn't deserves these low votes. Overall it's neither an uber-game, nor it's bad. It's a solid pirate-rpg, a wort-a-try for a cheaper price, but for fans of the piranha-bytes-games it's a must-buy.… Expand

Very nice RPG. I did enjoy Risen and its second installment is also very good in my opinion. Pirate theme is very nice so far, and it is refreshing touch to the combat style. I do suffer from targeting issues, doing many pistol shots into nowhere, but this is not a major issue. I can definitely say that majority of Risen players should buy it and play. I must say that i am very surprised about the amount of negative feedback from the player base.… 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.

Risen 2 regular game for Piranha Bytes, in the best tradition of Gothic.I am encouraged by the progress in terms of firearms, albeit in small steps. The play of light and shadow is great! Those who love the series will not be disappointed, others pass by.

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.… Expand

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 have read through a couple of reviews here at metacritic and I have a hard time agreeing. I can accept if folks have technical issues with the game and are mad about it, it's understandable. But giving a bad score because of that I believe is not a fair review of the game itself. I have given Risen 2 an 8 out of 10 and I have played the game almost to the end and hopefully can give those undecided a better review than just ranting over several paragraphs on how they suffer with the display or graphics. I for one have no such issues and the game looks wonderful. Although the start is somewhat bumpy and the player is thrown into the game without much explanation, Risen 2 turns out to be one of my current favorite RPG. The game does not have the well rounded professionalism and polish of Skyrim and I would not expect it with a much lover budget. The character movements are somewhat choppy; however, Risen 2 makes it up with witty conversations and a unique gameplay. The game really starts to shine once the world opens to the player, as the beginning is fairly linear. And I can see that a lot of reviewers haven't even played long enough to appricate the mid to late game openess. Once you have your crew and ship the fun really starts. What I really like about Risen 2 is the unique combat. It's tough, especially in the beginning and I prefer it over Skyrim, as it is much more rewarding. You really have to make a fight and it's often a tactical blade dance. NPC and monsters are not leveled with the character, wich means you will run across critters that you won't be able to beat right from the start and for many of them you have to make a serious effort to beat. Winning a battle in Risen 2 can be very satisfactory or if you do not want to leave the tough once for later, it can be frustrating. I also like how the 'Thief' talents are developed. Having a pet monkey and steering it yourself to get through windows, roof openings or small wall wholes in order to sneak into houses, ruins or temples to get to treasures you otherwise would not be able to, is a fun addition. Same counts for the parrot, (which should not be missed in a good pirate game) which is responsible for distracting your prey. I also like that you seriously have to develop the 'cunning' path before you can open the hard treasure chests. It is much more rewarding than in Skyrim, where one, with a bit of patience, can already open a 'Expert' or 'Master' chest right at start of game.

Although Risen 2 environment is not as stuning as Skyrim's and it has some restriction on displaying further away objects (for me however it is not as bad as some of the descriptions here), it still has it's unique and breathtaking moments. My favorite so far was taking a walk though the jungle of Antigua just before sun set, when the sun rays are breaking the tree canopies. The light and shadow effects are amazing and is something I have not yet seen in any other game.

So far I only tried the sword, pistol and musket playstyles and as far as I can see, the most fun and tactical play is the combined sword with pistol style. Musket gets a bit repetitive and too easy in the end game, while sword and pistol is a much more tactical and diverse style. The Vooodoo path I have not yet taken, but I read it is not as greatly developed, though I will not pass judgement here before I have not played it myself.

All in all, Risen 2 is in my opinion a worthy successor of the original Risen and by far batter as the last attempt of the Gothic series. It is a good alternative to Skyrim for those who like a bit more challenge and of course a Pirate theme!… Expand

Not great, but not horrible either. However many technical issues stand in the way of fully immersing yourself into the game.

For example...
1. Standing talking to an NPC character and your view is from the inside of your characters head and you see your characters lips, nose, eyes from the inside of your head.
2. Character cut scenes are absolutely horrible, character and NPC are stiff as can be and talk about ugly! The character and NPC graphics didn't just get hit with the ugly stick, it took a walk through the entire Ugly Forest, and was beat on by every single Ugly tree.
3. Clunky fight mechanics and extremely outdated. Might have barely passed for okay 10 or more years back but by today's standards, it's just awful.
4. Quests are extremely boring and lack any real challenge.
5. Graphic problems such as walking up to a tree or bush and the entire thing blows up to 5 times it's original size as when you first were able to see it. And it does it right before your very eyes.
6. RPG-Lite? No! It's not even a lite RPG, there is no RP value in Risen 2 what-so-ever!
7. Replay value: Absolutely none to speak of. Heck, you'll be lucky to simply make it through the game one time.
8. Value: I really suggest avoiding it while it's at a ridiculous $50.00. If you can pick it up for under $20.00 then go for it, however you may still be disappointed by the many issues that plague the game.

Now, on to the plus side...
1. Barney! Which ever developer came up with the NPC gunsmith Barney should be commended, I haven't laughed that hard at NPC dialogue in years. It's only unfortunate that there wasn't more like it in the game.

2. Environmentally pretty even though you are in an "island corridor" or on rails most of the time. Sure you can wander off but ultimately you are on a linear path, but other than graphic clipping, and trees that blow up 5x their size right in front of you, the environmental graphics are very pretty. Some NPC' visuals are also very good looking, although almost all cut scenes are just atrocious to look at.

3. Combat and general game mechanics were easy to pick up and easy to master. However you were not mastering much to begin with.

Overall... I have to suggest avoiding Risen 2 unless you can get it for under $20.00 or PB has put out a BIG HUGE UPDATE to not only fix the problems in the game, but add more content as it does feel a bit lite on content. However, this being PB I won't hold my breath for that update. Really short of a rewrite of the entire game I can't imagine PB being able to do anything to make this a better game at this time, it's just that poor.

It's nothing more than a middle of the road game that desperately wants to be a "AAA" game but can't, but is still willing to charge it's customers the full "AAA" game price. I think this could quite honestly do in PB, two stinker games in a row I believe shows that they are not only behind the times, but don't have what it takes anymore to compete with real AAA titles anymore.… Expand

Promising, is what has to be said about Risen 2.....but i should be saying that about Risen one in retrospect.
The game started well, having my own "base" is always nice and a little group of people to watch over always makes me feel involved. And the combat seemed like it was going to improve too, kicking over crabs to get to there bellies. And i was about to leave the starting island.
Then there was another island...and another, shortly i realised that the crabs were the only enemies which succumbed to this tactic....i tried it on alligators and bats and birds to no avail.
The combat quickly got repetitive and even though i was going down the thieving route, a good enough sword made fighting trivial. the final boss was literally a push over.
I won't get started on the animation, i resorted to not watching the screen while the charcters were talking. the lip synching was just far FAR too atrocious.
It felt like the game wanted to break at any second, from one moment where my character was on a pogo stick during a boss fight. and another where a quest had a break which resorted to some annoying work around tactics. It all together felt a bit rushed and just not Gothic 3, which is what we all want. but with this kind of story line (which was absolutely fine.)
Overall enjoyable. But last final criticism. is it was far too short, i expect a game like this to contain hours of skinning monsters and mining veins (of which there is just gold.) and searching for sword parts. In the end the side quests were quick. Fast travel was not neccesary on such small islands. and in 30 hours when the credits rolled i was dissapointed. not in awe.… Expand

PH probably interest at working on that new intro of her more than a game.Giving this game7 only because i like the RPG style of Piranha Bites

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.

Atrocious combat, stiff and downright ugly animations, clunky menus, weird camera angles during conversations, bugs like moving trees etc. Stay away if you value your money!

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.

With all it's flaws, Risen 2 is still the best Pyrahna Bytes game since Gothic 2. It's so refreshing to play a fantasy RPG that doesn't involve orcs, dragons and armors with shoulder plates the size of truck tires. The main flaw of the game is the combat system, but it's nowhere near as bad as Gothic 3. Once you put some glory points and gold in your abilities the game gets a lot better. This is a PB game afterall, anyone who expects to kill 5 enemies with one flashy attack is better off playing Kingdoms of Amalur. The graphics are okay; character models look pretty bad and the animations are terrible, but the enviorments are beautiful and it's a great pleasure to explore, unlike Skyrim where everything is gray and brown. People are really unfair to this game, it may not be great( even compared to newer titles like The Witcher 2), but so far it's the best game I played this year..… Expand

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!

I`m a big fan of Gothic series and I enjoyed first Risen very much. But Risen 2 didn`t bring that feeling and emotions when I played Gothic or first part of Risen. This Risen is very boring. Plot is a bad side of this game. Dialogs are very disgusting and unlikely. Graphics maybe is that developers could realise. But first of all I like plot and gameplay in games. So I wouldn`t recommend Risen 2 to my friends.… Expand

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

Risen 1 had that cheesy feel about it but turned out to be a very good game, Risen 2 is an improvement over Risen 1 in most ways. The best way to describe it "Pirates of the Caribbean" in RPG format. Combat is the worst part of the game, it has that Assassins creed/Batman/Witcher 2 close your eyes and left click issue, not very good but that is the worst part of the game. The rest gets better and better with each new island you sail to (which is a kind of cut scene based fast travel affair). At many points you have to make a choice that affects the rest of the game, the first choice is to help the natives or the Inquisition, which opens or closes various options in the game. Adding reply value to the game in the process. Spears thrown at you can be dodged by simply moving out of the way despite what somebody said in their review. But the secondary weapon, a pistol which you can shoot whilst fencing can also be used against you when fighting pirates which makes some fights more interesting than others thanks to this second attack. The NPCs are all unique, there are many laughs to be had in this game. Jaffar the Gnome has to be my favorite followed by the Native Chani and then Patty. I played the game for about 35 hours in the first play through but missed some quests, so it is over the 30 hour mark easily. The Story is interesting with many good settings for quest locations. There is an issue with distant items popping in to existence at close range making it hard to ignore, but I suspect this is to allow the game to work right on the consoles which might otherwise struggle to run this game if full detail was visible at greater distance. The islands and towns look great and the native villages feel authentic. Very nicely done actually. You can run this game in 2048x1152 with max detail on a 5 year old PC without issues. But it might be better if we had an option to increase the level of detail at a distance on the PC version in order to reduce the pop in effect. Much of what i have read from the low scores on Metacritics seems to come from people who have not actually finished the game yet or gotten past the first 2 islands. The only real issues in this rock solid stable game that I could see is the combat which is horrible and the pop in effect. Other than that, the game is great, hard to put down once you get going. I hope to see Jaffar again in Risen 3, he was so funny. As was patty :) Most peoples biggest gripe is the game costs £40. I have a value for money test which I apply to games that is a games value can be measured by the hours spent playing it. My test is £1 per how. This game lasted me 34 hours so its true value is £34 not £40. But since I enjoyed it and am likely to play it again, it may go to 70 hours next time making £40 look pretty good value for money. A great game, heartily recommend it.… Expand

I am not a fan of the Risen or Gothic franchise; but this game sounded good so i decided to give it a go. After nearly 45-60 min playing; i said Screw this, i am better off playing something else.

Too much frustration to adjust camera and gampad. Fighting mechanics is weird. I wanted to give a new franchise a try but this failed to attract any fun for me.

I hope the company reads our reviews coz there are amazing user reviews whom actually love the game and want it to be better. (i feel sorry for them as they deserve better)… 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

I had a chance to try Risen 2 for about 2hrs, and I think there is a lot of potential there. Low user scores of 4 and below don't do it justice. Most importantly the atmosphere reminds me strongly of Gothic. Nice music and voice acting. Interesting and rich environment. There are some issues with graphics at the moment (somewhat annoying on occasion), but nothing that can't be fixed by a patch. Animations are a bit clunky, but I really don't care. I was playing on hard difficulty mode and didn't quite master the swordplay (human opponents were beating my character all the time). However, at a glance the combat system seems more interesting and challenging than in Risen 1. In short, definitely not Arcania. PB should fix the graphics and release a demo. Really looking forward to spending more time with it.… Expand

Its a cool game and I wish it was more playable. I love the aesthetic and the story and dialogue are pretty cool. But the game play is just way to bad to be enjoyable.

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

Before you read this, please note that my "score" is not in reference to the quality of Risen 2 as a game; it is merely a vote against what I feel is blatant consumer abuse on the part of the game's publisher, Deep Silver. As many will have heard by now, a portion of Risen 2's content which was already functional and complete was withheld from customers who purchased the game so that said content could be sold to them at a later date. As a long-time fan of the first two Gothic games, and a fan of the first Risen, I was anxious to play Risen 2 when time and finances allowed. I had my credit card in my hand tonight. However, upon learning that the total cost of the game including "DLC" was over $70, I did a little research and discovered the truth of what I said above. Mind you, I have absolutely no problems with publishers/developers incorporating a smart DLC model into the design of their games and continuing to work on them throughout the life cycles of those products to ensure sales into the future. However, to withhold content that is already complete and functional in order to milk a few extra dollars from paying customers is shady at best and downright unethical at worst. Regardless of how badly I'd like to support Piranha Bytes and the future of this franchise, I simply refuse to support such business practices. Deep Silver has not only lost a sale tonight, but more importantly, my continuing support as a consumer of their products.… Expand

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

After the first patch, combat is considerably better and less clunky. The game itself is much more focused than the previous Risen and Gothic series. It's open for newcomers but at the same time still reward extensive exploration for hardcore fans of the series. Quests are simple but not too monotonic. Skill and leveling system is improved from the previous game, but crafting is less useful now as buying the merchandise seem to be cheaper. Graphics is slightly above average; island atmosphere is deeply felt with lush foliage and superb lighting, but texture is not sharp at all. The game could use better voice acting and story presentation in order to increase immersion, but the pirate-natives-authority intricacies are well delivered. Overall a slight improvement above the previous games, albeit not a masterpiece.… Expand

It's fun that we can return to the game, similar to the old "Gothics" for which many people have already forgotten. It's fun to play a pirate, an interesting atmosphere, nice graphics and interesting game generally done in style. It is a pity that after a while begins to play old-style upset "Gothic", boring and a struggle (depending on weapon), poor optimization, and other factors. The game, however, for fans of Gothic / older RPGs might be nice. My rating -7/10… Expand

enjoyable game, but ending is a big letdown. somehow feels unfinished. a bit sloppy graphics, very little choices, no ship fights, but nice voice acting.

"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.

At first i want to say, that Risen 2 makes fun. I'm happy with this game and it was a good investment.
On the other hand i know about the negative aspects of it.

The most important points:
* Battles in this game are not user-friendly. Fights against normal monsters are a bit "strange". It can be -as it was in gothic 3- that a monster hits you a few times and you can't do anything. I don't know why PB wanted this, but it is frustrating. On the other hand the fights against human enemys are tactical, funny and well to play. So the fighting system has two sides of the medal.
But (!) after a few frustrating moments i learned and analysed the movement and the art of attacks of some enemys and there are some weak points to hit. Some are slow in rotation, other are blocking and you can go back to wait for them.. with a good timing and a good movement it is possible to "kick their asses" :-)
Maybe this is because i like the game. It is a normale piranha bytes game. It hat charme - but also there are shadows in the gameplay and small problems you have to solute..
* The graphics: I didn't got any technical problems. The game was running nice and never crashed. But there are a few graphic bugs, e.g. morphing and scaling vegetation. Also there are a few script problems; possible combinations from quests are in the game, so that solutions are not more available. I only had one problem of this kind. But a simple console command fixed it. I guess, that the developers will fix it soon..
* Now a really positive aspect: The world is really wonderful. It is a good builded world with secrets at every corner. It feels "real". The story is not something new, but nicely enought that i want to finish it.
I played about 35 h and didn't finished all quests and i know from a fan forum, that i missed a few things. So i will start a new round with risen next weekend :-)
* The new character system is good. You get Exp for quests and killing monsters or punshing people and you can access skill-points in 5 main attributes. For money and with the needed attributes you can learn skills at teachers. But everything is very expensive so that the beginning is hard and you need to proof if you really need a special skill.

Combining these all facts Risen 2 was -for me- funnier als Risen 1. It is a new setting, a new character skilling setting, a wonderful world with a few really cool characters and a /good/ story. In no point this game is perfect - really it isn't - BUT it's the combination which makes this game alive.… Expand

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

I never really got into the Gothic series, but I loved Risen and the same goes for Risen 2 - although only after a second look. The amount of exploration and atmosphere is well done. There's a lot of spoken dialog and personally I prefer it that way. Animations are pretty weak and unconvincing, but they have a certain charm after a while. The ending wasn't very impressive, but most fun came from side quests and the like anyway. Just like its predecessor the game has many weird design-choices and combat was (if you decide to go melee) mostly pressing the mouse button a lot and hoping not to get interrupted. Deep Silver have patched this buy adding things like monster-blocking and dodging in a recent patch (well done!), though I don't understand how early test-playing didn't show this before the release. Muskets are pretty overpowered, but I still enjoyed them a lot. In the end I really enjoyed this game and I would recommend it to those that have the patience to get further into the game. It takes a while before you have your basic skills and feel of combat and after that it gets really fun. I really hope we're going to be seeing a Risen III, though I hope they invite some more test-players (pick me!) that can make them avoid some of the unnecessary complaints.… Expand

Having played many adventure-rpgs so far i have to express my dissapointment for the sequel of the very good Risen. And the worst part? I played it right after Skyrim... I tried hard not to lose complete interest but after 8 hours or so i did the right thing. Uninstall.
+: tolerable graphics, satisfactory sound & music.
-: frustrating combat, mediocre Story, modest animations, annoying combat, poor rewards, shamefull combat. And not to forget to mention about how bad the combat mechanics are.
Avoid!… Expand

I don't understand game developers sometimes, Risen 1 was a fun addicting game I replayed 3 times over a few years and hearing about Risen 2, well I was excited, I don't understand why they had to change everything if it wasn't broken don't fix it, was it even the same team of people? how can you make 1 title so good then the second one terrible, I couldn't even play more then 2 hours because of the growing pop in textures and consistent bugs. Seriously guys ? this is all you can do after Risen 1.… 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.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm sorry but I must say that I do not like Risen 2. I'm a fan of PB from the Gothic series but this time they failed.....the atmosphere is the same at times: the story is quite PB style but too many problems ruin the gaming experience, imo.
The thing that disappointed me most is the game world:little detail, no more open world but more like Borderlands but with less freedom to move!! and the graphics are way worse than the Risen1 ............. and what about the combat mechanics? all titles of PB had better combat mechanics and this says it all! In conclusion it is better to play risen1, if you want to try something like the Gothic series ...unfortunately… Expand

A pretty OK game that could have been great, with a little more attention to detail, a LOT more polish and a less appaling business model.

The pirate setting was the thing that sold it to me, and some of it is actually executed pretty well. The Piranha-typical gritty and sarcastic dialogue fits really well here. But like a lot about the game, it's a ton of wasted potential. I have a measly 4 crewmen on my ship? Not a single ship-to-ship battle? *shrug* The combat system, out of the box, is AGAIN a major failure with no way to dodge the attacks of animals and simple, stupid left-clicking till they drop the way to go. How they could botch this up in their 5th attempt yet another time really beats the hell out of me.

Many quests have a very unfinished feel and a completely unsatisfying and underdeveloped way to resolve them. Immersion suffers a lot from the hilariously silly way conflict, crime and combat is handled with villagers. Get caught stealing, simply beat the stuffing out of them (you can't actually kill them, even if you try) and 5 minutes later all is forgotten and back to normal. Folks, people who are shot in the face with a flintlock pistol in a dark and gritty setting should have the good manners to stay down.

Replay value is VERY low, you only make one significant choice in the game and the results are, apart from the choice between using muskets or voodoo from that moment on, mostly cosmetic.

Graphics, usually a thing I hardly care about, are actually so much below standards that is DOES disturb me, and the fact that after playing it through ONCE I fond more than 600 unwanted save games on my HD is just such a double facepalm... really, don't know what to say...

Well, and trying to sell me DLC that is in fact - apart from the voiceovers - *completely* on the disc should actually bring down the rating another notch or two...

Ii has it's fun moments, and with the first patch, can certainly be played and enjoyed once, but it could have been so much more.… Expand

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

This game is so cheap and has many downfalls to that. There are flickering backgrounds in video scenes, horrible game-playing and leveling system that just makes me want to cry. In order to level your skills you need reputation and it costs a lot. In early levels you're struggling to gain money and its not even worth it, because almost every skill you can level up suck balls.

Enemies seem to have upper hand against you in almost every fight. They gang up on you and kill you in instant unless you somehow manage to run away. (Honestly I doubt that) I get better pirate experience by renting an rowboat and going to public lake and shoot around with a paintball gun.… 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

The first half an hour this is a promising game, the graphics seem ok as you are introduced, but once you get really going and introduce combat - the game falls over dramatically. The graphics glitchm the textures clash, the combat is both clumsy and irksome (and boring). Voices are really terrible, plot is hokum. Not an awful game, but not a 2012 AAA release by a long way.