Along with giant robots and movie licenses, pirates have never had a very good track record in the realm of video games. Monkey Island, Rogue Galaxy, and Skies of Arcadia may be exceptions to the rule, but the majority of pirate-themed games tend to walk the plank. Piranha Bytes decided to take a swing at crafting a pirate-themed RPG with Risen 2: Dark Waters. Yes, this game was originally released earlier this year on April 24th for PC, but we now have our hands on the console version! Is Risen 2: Dark Waters destined to be remembered as pirate legend, or does it get thrown overboard? Grab a couple bottles of grog and let’s take a look.
Risen 2: Dark Waters puts you in the shoes of the “Nameless Hero”. This fellow may lack a name, but he is surprisingly interactive. Risen 2’s character interaction is interesting, allowing you to tackle quests in a variety of ways through the game’s dialogue options, and this method is tried and true. The story is simple, and motivations are clear, paving the way for easily likeable characters and an occasionally humorous tale.
Your journey sends you on a quest to kill the titan lord Mara and prevent the destruction of the world. In order to do this, you’ll need to find four titan artifects, though you won’t be alone in this endeavour. Along the way, you will assemble a pirate crew to help you throughout this quest, and these guys will assist you in taking down the pirate captains that possess the artifacts you so desperately desire. This somewhat cliched story is charming, but is sometimes offset by the inclusion of dull characters—the Nameless Hero being the worst offender. I wish the Hero showed a sense of urgency throughout the 30+ hour journey, and it’s a shame this character wasn’t pushed farther. Your crew mates stick to tradition and fill all the loveable roles found in pirate fiction—the sassy lady, the stupid meat head, the stumbling drunk, the foul-mouthed comic relief joker and more. These characters aren’t explored deeply, but they do exactly what they say on the tin, and in this pirate adventure, perhaps that’s all you’d want.
There’s a vast world out there, and Risen 2 offers a good amount of exploration within its eight distinctive islands. You’ll find side quests, mini-games and of course, the pursuit of your main objectives. Navigation is immersive and refreshing. Once you’ve got a hold of the map for a particular island, you are able to see all your objectives laid out. This eliminates some of those frustrating moments of confusion that plague other RPGS, and it allows you to get right to the meat of the action. Of course, for lovers of immersion, Risen 2 equips you with a compass that gives you rough directions and rather than pointing you exactly to your destination, you are rewarded and encouraged to explore the islands—something that we wish other RPGs would do more often. If you’re not a huge fan of long bouts of exploration, you have the ability to fast travel back to important destinations you have previously discovered, and this will surely be welcomed by many.
All of these landscapes are given an extra layer of polish by way of great presentation also. A relaxing soundtrack plays back as you listen to the songs of birds, crickets, and the splashes of the rolling waves. Unfortunately, the visuals aren’t quite as pretty. Character models certainly deliver, but facial expressions leave a lot to be desired. These characters aren’t brought to life through animation, and although the game’s voice acting hits the mark, more could have been done to realize these adventurers firmly into Risen 2’s world. Technical issues will also hinder the experience with in-game texture loading, clipping and framerate drops. At times, the game will occasionally freeze for ten to fifteen seconds as battles heat up, and this can really break that initial sense of immersion that Risen 2 should be most proud of. However, when things are working as intended, Risen 2’s atmosphere and presentation never fails to disappoint.
You won’t just be traversing the eight landscapes though, you’ll be fighting in them. Combat takes up a large part of the experience, but the ball was severely dropped here. Fights range from brain dead easy to brain dead frustration. You have a real lack of options for the first fifteen or so hours and the fact is, the system itself is gimped. You’ll find yourself mashing on the attack button most of the time, and should an attack come your way, you have one option: block. Hold down the block button and you’ll be able to defend yourself. This idea sounds okay, however, many enemies have unblockable attacks. Fans of the PC version are familiar with this, and fortunately for them, they have the ability to evade. The necessary patch that included this feature was left out of the console version, and we can only hope it is released soon.
When it comes to offence, you have more options than just the one, but they won’t see much use. Guns and shotguns offer some opportunity for ranged confrontations, but rushing in and mashing the attack button is far more reliable. More offensive options become available as you dig deep into the game’s unlock system, though some would argue it is too little too late—and for too much effort.
As you gain glory (experience points), you are able to unlock more abilities. Some of these are useful and serve to make battles more interesting, such as the parry or the riposte, but it’s unnecessarily tedious getting these ready for use. Rather than simply giving you the ability once you’ve unlocked it, you must track down a teacher and pay them a large amount of gold. This slows down the pace and progression quite significantly, but it’s a necessary evil if you wish to advance your combat prowess even slightly.
Blade swings and shotgun firing hold an important role in Risen 2’s combat, but what would an RPG be without some form of magic? The Nameless Hero has access to the voodoo magic system, and much like the core melee combat, it’s a bit of a wasted opportunity. Voodoo is used to cast buffs, debuffs and spells, and there is some fun to be had here. Confusing your enemies into fighting one another rarely gets old, but it’s too bad the actual system is impractical when it comes to the majority of combat. Spells take an incredibly long time to cast, and should you get attacked during this time, the spell is interrupted completely. Voodoo has its uses in specific quests, allowing you to possess someone from time to time, and if you’re a more creative player, it can make a lot of quests easier. However, you won’t find yourself investing a huge amount of time into the voodoo system, falling back into mashing the single attack button most of the time.
Risen 2: Dark Waters had the potential to be a sleeper hit, but sadly the ball was dropped. Combat is undercooked, technical issues will occasionally ruin a sense of immersion, and the pirate theme wasn’t explored enough. However, the foundation is solid and pirate exploration is as fun as it always was. Fans of the original will love this, as it improves upon most of the aspects found in that game. If you never played the original, but you’re looking for something unique on consoles, Risen 2 is a safe recommendation. It may not offer the wide expanse and huge variety of Skyrim, nor the tactical finesse of BioWare’s recent titles, but Risen 2 offers a distinct package for console owners. We look forward to a sequel that will hopefully expand upon and fully realize all of this untapped potential.
