Risen is a good Western real-time combat RPG in the same mold as Two Worlds, Gothic and TES: Oblivion. Although not as good as TES: Oblivion Risen is on the same level as Two Worlds and Gothic. Risen looks good and the controls are intuitive, but there are some minor problems: n places the graphics have a ‘grainy’ effect that moves along with the character and this makes the picture darker. I've read that on some XBox360s it darkens the picture so much that the game becomes unplayable. The scenery graphics are beautiful, rich and luscious, the NPCs, unfortunately, are coarse and badly defined. Combat is lively but your enemy can step aside and move outside your field of vision which results in your character being slashed on the side or back. On the whole Risen is a solid, enjoyable, WRPG with plenty of fun side quests and lots of intereting places to explore.

It may not have Gothic in the title, but this is definitely a Gothic game. If you're a Gothic aficionado like me, you will immediately be right at home with the gameplay. It's not nearly as good as Gothic One or Two, though. I'd say it's roughly on a par with Gothic Three. But that being said it's not nearly as big as Gothic Three, with fewer quests, settlements and varieties of monsters. But at least there are some women in it.

The graphics suck. There is no getting away from it, they are just horrible. And it's not as if the game runs very well either. In one or two locations it absolutely chugs. If you're like me though, whether or not it's a good game is far more important than how it looks, so it didn't bother me that much. But next gen it isn't.

The other major drawback is the controls. Nearly everything about the controls works fine and is very convenient and logically laid out, except the right stick which controls the character's facing. For some reason the sensitivity is set way, way too high. And there is no option to turn the sensitivity down. It is manageable, but it makes controlling your guy far more difficult than it needs to be. This has the greatest impact in combat. Sometimes enemies dodge to one side of you and you have to quickly reposition yourself to face them. The stick is so twitchy that you find yourself spinning wildly in place trying to position yourself while whatever it is you're fighting whacks away at you. I have no idea why they made it this way. Maybe they did it deliberately as a way to make the game more challenging. If that's the case it has to be one of the worst decisions in gaming history. It's that bad! Let's hope they add a sensitivity slider in the next update.

I want to mention the combat because you may have heard how bad it is from other reviews. It's not actually bad at all. That twitchy right stick doesn't help, but using your block button has the effect of locking onto your target so you turn automatically to keep them in front of you. The manual says the right trigger does this, but I found the block works well. So just remember to keep your block up and that will help enormously. Blocking is also important because combat is very challenging. Just like Gothic 1 and 2 you'll need to be very careful what you take on, and you'll spend a lot of time running away, or trying to find a convenient rock or ledge to shoot from. I watched a video review that said it was very tough at the start of the game but you become an un-killable demigod by the end. That's not true because you face far more deadly opponents in the later stages of the game who can easily chop you to ribbons. I found the combat consistently difficult throughout the game.

The game started out really well and I was quickly engrossed but it was ultimately disappointing because the second half is more or less a dungeon crawl. Once you've explored the three settlements and done all the side quests, you are left with the main quest line that has you combing through ruins in search of five magic keys, and then five pieces of magic armour. This becomes a bit of a chore, frankly. The main plot is fairly standard fantasy fare and not particularly imaginative, and I found the ending to be totally anticlimactic and unsatisfying. It's disappointing because it started out promisingly enough.

All in all I enjoyed the game and I'm just such a sucker for role playing games (but not MMOs) that I can put up with a lot when I find a single player game. Definitely worth a play through if you're not fussed about graphics and can put up with a game that's a bit rough around the edges, and being a Gothic fan will certainly help.

Note: They included a brightness slider with the patch.

I rented this game because I didn't want to waste my money if it was bad…and I was right. I didn't enjoy this game and was not able to put the extra hours in to finish it. The gameplay was okay but lacked in ALOT of areas. The graphics in my opinion were terrible so if you like nice crisp colored environments or enemies you will not find it here. It seemed to the player the land was large but exploration was limited and as a result, was linear. Overall I give this game 2.5-Stars (which is generous) and a ‘Renter’ stamp.