Risen (computer game)

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Risen
Studio GermanyGermany Piranha bytes
Publisher GermanyGermany Deep Silver
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 October 2, 2009
platform Windows , Xbox 360
Game engine Genome engine
genre Action RPG
Subject Fantasy
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard , mouse
Xbox controller
system advantages
preconditions
medium DVD-ROM , download
language German
Current version 1.11 (February 21, 2014)
Community Patch 1.3 (2012)
copy protection Tagès
later removed by patch
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 16+

Risen (English; "ascended") is an action role-playing game with a fantasy scenario by the German development company Piranha Bytes , which was released on October 2, 2009 and is published by Deep Silver . The game was released for both Windows and Xbox 360 .

action

The gods have left the world, whereupon strange events occur. Ruins emerged from the ground and vicious creatures roam the wilderness, the titans threaten the existence of humanity. The king therefore sends Inquisitor Mendoza to Faranga Island, who is supposed to investigate what is going on and to bring order to the island. He had the rural population interned in the port city and many men were forcibly recruited to search the ruins, supported by the magicians of the volcanic fortress. Under the former ruler of the port city, Don-Esteban, who lost his power due to the arrival of the Inquisitor, a group of resistance fighters has therefore formed to take action against the Inquisition.

The player, washed up on the island as a shipwrecked man, is now given the choice of which side he wants to take. From Mendoza he learns about the sacred flame that burns in the volcanic fortress and protects the island from the titans. The inquisitor wants to open a gate in the mountain to use the flame as a weapon. To do this, the player has to get him five golden crystal discs, which serve as keys. He comes across lizard people who make the landscape unsafe, but is also supported by the druid Eldric and the pirate daughter Patty Stahlbart, who is looking for her father's treasure. When Mendoza finally opens the gate, more lizard people pour out of it, and the Inquisition has to fight its way into the volcano with losses, where the player meets an underground fortress of the lizard people. You learn about the titan lord Ursegor, who once hunted the titans on behalf of the dark god and locked one of them under the volcano. This fire titanium is the origin of the sacred flame that protects the island. The inquisitor then sets out to free the titan in order to make use of his power. Since that would mean that Faranga is no longer safe from the rest of the titans, the hero wants to stop him. Ursegor's ghost sends him out to get his armor and weapon. With this, the hero succeeds in first killing Mendoza and then defeating the titan and locking him back under the island.

The plot is divided into four chapters, which by cutscenes are initiated. The player has the opportunity to join different factions and thus gain access to teachers for different branches of weapon and even magic.

Game world

Risen takes place in a medieval world that only the fictional , several vegetation zones existing Mediterranean includes island Faranga. Around a third of the game world consists of caves ( dungeons ), so that the entire area is roughly comparable to the size of Gothic II . The weather on the island is dynamic, there is also a day and night cycle, which does not run in real time , but is accelerated. In contrast to Gothic 3, there are more women in the game world who now also take on leading roles.

  • The port city : The quarantined city, in which the Inquisition is working hard to keep order, is one of the few safe places for the island's residents. There is an inn and a brothel in the port city.
  • The volcanic fortress: It functions as the base of the order of the magicians. The Inquisition has also established its most important base here.
  • The bandit camp : the headquarters of the resistance is in the swamp. Some bandits who could no longer stay in the port city because of the Inquisition have fled here.
  • The underworld : Under the temple ruins there are entrances to extensive underground labyrinths that are equipped with traps and puzzles. The player has to explore them as the story progresses.

Factions

There are three factions :

  • The Inquisition : The king sent them to investigate what was happening on the island. Under the leadership of Grand Inquisitor Mendoza, she has taken control of the island and is extremely ruthless. The Inquisition offers the player the opportunity to learn staff fighting and crystal magic.
  • The bandits : The bandits are made up of refugees, Don Esteban's people and outlaws, and their leader is Don Esteban. They rebel against the rule of the Inquisition, they are also interested in artifacts that come to light as a result of the earthquakes and their accompanying phenomena. This faction offers the player the opportunity to specialize exclusively in combat.
  • The magicians : The magicians are interested in the magical component of the incidents on the island, they work together with the Inquisition to research them, even if they have other goals. They offer the player the opportunity to learn the magical arts.

Gameplay

The game is controlled from the third person perspective (tracking camera) with mouse and keyboard or with the Xbox 360 gamepad . There are three levels of difficulty.

Risen offers the opportunity to collect points by completing certain long-term tasks in the game, which the player can then use to compete with other players. For example, there are 50 points for collecting 300,000 gold pieces.

Combat system

Various weapons are available to the hero, including axes, swords, staffs and shields. Different combinations of strokes are possible, which are executed by pressing the direction buttons appropriately. The success depends on the timing and the learning points already invested. Parrying attacks with a weapon or shield is possible. When using long-range weapons such as crossbow or bow and magic attacks, aiming must be carried out by hand.

Character development

As with the Gothic series, there is no possibility of character creation before the game starts. In the course of the game, the hero rises in levels . Every ascent gives him learning points. These can be invested in skills with teachers. Skills that have already been learned can be partially expanded.

development

Having enjoyed after the dispute over the responsibility for technical problems with Gothic 3 of JoWood had separated, Piranha Bytes announced on 25 July 2007, the development of a new game under the project name RPB to. Due to the attention that the dispute had generated and the success of the Gothic series in Europe, media interest was already high during the development phase. The game magazines brought reports almost every week, to which the developers reacted with a restrictive information policy. The game development ran under large involvement of the Gothic - Fans from, so there was, for example, in 2007 a website to play with a forum that enabled the fans to communicate with the developers. Piranha Bytes tried to defuse the malus of the mixed reviews for Gothic 3 in advance.

When the game went into the beta phase , which was unusually long at five months , several cover stories followed with previews in the magazines, even the rather non-specialist newspaper Die Welt published a detailed report in its online edition. What all previews had in common was concern for the quality of the game, as Gothic 3 had previously been praised in advance, but was criticized for its lack of errors after it was released. The concerns turned out to be unfounded, however, Risen is considered a largely error-free and very stable computer game, especially in the RPG genre.

A few weeks before the release, the publisher Deep Silver decided, in intensive communication with fans and customers, to forego online copy protection.

The soundtrack for the game was composed by Kai Rosenkranz , who was already responsible for the background music for the Gothic series.

technology

Piranha Bytes developed its own game engine for Risen . Porting the game to Xbox 360 was not done by Piranha Bytes itself, but by Studio Wizarbox .

Risen but supports the platforms PC and Xbox 360, the PC only operating systems of Microsoft Windows series. In addition, the game uses multi-core processors with up to four cores, the programming language used is C ++ . The world is represented by Seamless World Streaming , loading times when entering certain sections of the game world do not occur in Risen because the world is loaded seamlessly and permanently. Tagès was originally used as copy protection , but without digital rights management . In later versions the copy protection was omitted and a patch to remove the copy protection was also delivered.

The graphics engine uses HDRR with adaptive tone mapping and deferred shading . The engine dispenses with anti-aliasing in favor of complex games of light and shadow in real time . The graphics should achieve a photo-like, but not a photo-realistic effect. The engine also uses depth of field . As with Gothic 3 , SpeedTree is used to display trees .

Relationship to the Gothic series

Since the rights to the Gothic series lay not only with Piranha Bytes, but also with JoWooD, the developers could not take over the protected characters, music, monsters and gods. Due to the fact that Piranha Bytes developed both games, there are certain parallels and allusions to the Gothic series. However, these are not officially intended.

According to a statement by Piranha Bytes itself, the rights to the Gothic brand reverted to them in 2012, as they were only given to Jowood for a limited time.

There is also a concept video that shows a possible transition from Gothic 3 to Risen. In it, Xardas and the nameless hero leave the world after the divine artifacts have been destroyed and the avatars of Innos and Beliar killed, so that the influence of the gods is ended. However, this is not canonical .

Frames

A Collector's Edition of Risen was also released parallel to the game . In addition to the game, this included a map of Faranga Island , the soundtrack composed by Kai Rosenkranz, a making-of DVD with developer interviews , a poster in A1 format, an access code for the beta test of the next Piranha Bytes game ( Risen 2: Dark Waters ), an art booklet and a sticker set .

reception

reviews
publication Rating
Windows Xbox 360
4players 74% 64%
Games current k. A. 86%
GameStar 87% k. A.
GamingXP 88% k. A.
PC action 86% k. A.
PC Games 86% k. A.
Spieletipps.de 83% k. A.
Meta-ratings
Metacritic 77% 60%

According to the review aggregator Metacritic , the PC version of Risen received mostly positive ratings, while the Xbox 360 port received mostly mediocre review scores. The specialist magazine GameStar particularly praises the winding, well thought-out and atmospheric game world. According to the GameStar test, Risen's combat system works precisely and comprehensibly, but the plot leads to an unsatisfactory ending. All in all, the game is a "return to Gothic 2 ".

"Risen is exactly the PC role-playing game that you could expect: very old-fashioned, very German, very good."

- Christian Schmid : GameStar

According to PC Games , the game is technically flawless. On the other hand, it is criticized that the story of the different factions is too similar towards the end and that in later acts of the game you “mainly rush through dark temple ruins”. Here, too, however, the game world is highlighted very positively and the credible character development via teachers is also mentioned as a positive aspect.

The online portal 4Players advises avoiding the Xbox 360 version, as this is technically much weaker than the version for PC.

"The game of Piranha Bytes is still fascinating, entertaining in its twistedness, familiar as always, but increasingly irrelevant in its persistent standstill."

- Robert Glashüttner : FM4

In Australia, the game was denied classification, and thus the sale was prevented. The reasons given were sexual content and the possibility of drug use.

Awards and sales success

Risen received the German Developer Award 2009 in the Best RPG category .

In the first three weeks, the role-playing game topped the sales charts in Germany. According to publisher Deep Silver , all versions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland had sold almost 100,000 times by October 21, 2009. Deep Silver was delighted with this success. After ten weeks, the PC version of Risen had sold more than 100,000 times in Germany in December 2009 and received the Gold Award from the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software . It was also the most successful role-playing game in Germany in 2009.

successor

Risen 2: Dark Waters

On February 21, 2011, Deep Silver officially presented the successor Risen 2: Dark Waters . At the presentation, the exact name of the game as well as details about the graphics and plot were announced. The latter follows on from the predecessor and takes place on several islands, all of which are subject to the Caribbean flair and introduce the pirate faction in addition to the inquisitors. Other changes compared to the predecessor include: a. the introduction of firearms (e.g. muzzle-loading pistols ), the replacement of the system of the previous complete armor with various, combinable individual parts (shirts, hats, boots, pants, etc.) and a better graphics engine , whereby v. a. the focus was on body animation. Risen 2: Dark Waters was released on April 27, 2012 in Europe and on April 24 in the USA and Canada. The PlayStation and Xbox 360 versions were released on July 31, 2012 (US) and August 3, 2012 (Europe), respectively.

Risen 3: Titan Lords

Risen 3: Titan Lords was released on August 14, 2014 for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The world has been forsaken by its gods and suffers from the Titan Wars when a new threat arises from the underground. A young warrior is invaded by shadows and robbed of his soul. He embarks on a journey to regain his soul - and has to discover that the shadow is also spreading in the world. The exiled magicians might be powerful enough to bring back the hero's stolen soul - he must track them down to get help. After the Inquisition's witch hunt, those who use magic find refuge on Taranis, also popularly known as Thunder Island. In the mines there, they dig for crystals that are charged with magical energy. They are protected by their guards, who defend the magicians with sword and magic. The player can join the guardians and support the goals of the mages. Or he can pursue a completely different career and ally himself with one of the other guilds in the game. Piranha Bytes will release the Risen 3: Titan Lords - Enhanced Edition on August 21, 2015 and with it their first game on PlayStation 4. The other two factions are the voodo pirates already known from the second part and the demon hunters from the druid Eldric are listed. All factions have knowledge of magic, which can be exchanged for certain objects from teachers. Alternatively, you can fight with a sword or musket.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Boll: Risen: Community patch released . gbase.ch. April 11, 2011. Retrieved August 4, 2011: " A fan named PowerGamer recently released an unofficial patch for Risen that fixes tons of bugs that Piranha Bytes and Deep Silver have not addressed to this day [...] "
  2. ↑ Julian Freudenhammer: Risen - Unofficial Patch v1.2 and complaint to developers . GameStar . September 2, 2011. Accessed on February 10, 2012: “ The community has taken on Risen and is delivering detailed improvements for the role-playing game with the unofficial patch 1.2. The fan developers are disappointed with the official support from Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes. "
  3. ^ A b Christian Schmidt: Risen im Test - An old-fashioned, but very good role-playing game. In: GameStar. October 2, 2009, accessed July 4, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Copy protection patch for Risen 1. In: World of Risen. February 11, 2014, accessed July 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Sebastian Thor: Risen: The release date is fixed. In: Gameswelt . June 22, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .
  6. ^ History of Risen ( Memento from December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamona.de
  7. ^ Press conference GC 2008 - Structure of the game. In: World of Risen. August 20, 2008. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Joachim Hesse: Risen - played and listened to. In: Eurogamer.de . July 28, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Joachim Hesse: Risens Björn Pankratz. In: Eurogamer.de . July 9, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Collection of facts about the game world ( Memento from December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamona.de
  11. ↑ Information on the game world ( Memento from June 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Ingame.de . April 3, 2009.
  12. ^ Andreas Philipp: Preview - Risen: A little bit of hope. In: Gameswelt . July 10, 2009, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Collection of facts on the parliamentary groups ( Memento of December 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamona.de
  14. ↑ a b List of facts from Foruminfos. In: World of Risen. June 2, 2008, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Information on the character system ( Memento from February 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: gamona.de
  16. ↑ Julian Dasgupta: Piranha Bytes: New Project. Announcement of Risen. In: 4Players . May 25, 2007, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Risen News - All the news about the game. In: GameStar . Retrieved October 2, 2019 .
  18. ↑ "Risen" leads the "Gothic" makers to new shores. In: Welt Online. June 23, 2009, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Benjamin Braun: Risen 2 (360 / PS3) Test - With pirates, without wooden legs. In: Gamers Global. July 31, 2012, accessed September 22, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Marc Sauter: Risen: First PCGH's own screenshots, technical information plus performance assessment. In: PC Games Hardware . August 10, 2009, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Risen copy protection FAQ. In: World of Risen. July 18, 2009, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  22. ↑ foobars BBQ report. Report with information about the graphic solutions used. July 26, 2009, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Robert Purchese: Why Gothic dev Piranha dumped JoWooD - And what happens next for the Gothic IP. In: Eurogamer. May 5, 2011, accessed on December 17, 2012 (English): “ Currently, JoWooD has no more rights on developing any further Gothic titles, so the rights are back - they will be back I think next year. I don't have the contract here. Very soon the contract runs out and we will get the rights back. And we knew that from the start. "
  24. ↑ Video on Youtube
  25. ↑ Sebastian Thöing: Risen: Contents of the Collector's Edition for the role-playing game revealed. In: PC Games . August 20, 2009, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Daniel Frick: Test Risen: Phoenix from the Gothic 3 ashes. In: Spieletipps.de . October 2, 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Games Aktuell, issue 10/2009
  28. ↑ PC Games, issue, 11/2009
  29. ↑ GameStar, issue 11/2009
  30. ↑ a b c Jörg Luibl: Risen - test, role play, PC, Xbox 360 - conclusion. In: 4Players . October 2, 2009, accessed July 2, 2019 .
  31. ^ Stefan Hohenwarter: Risen PC Review ( Memento from November 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: GamingXP . September 30, 2009, accessed July 13, 2019.
  32. ↑ PC Action, issue 12/2009
  33. ↑ a b Risen for PC Reviews. Based on 32 reviews. In: Metacritic . Retrieved September 25, 2019 .
  34. ↑ a b Risen for Xbox 360 Reviews. Based on 37 reviews. In: Metacritic . Retrieved September 25, 2019 .
  35. ^ A b Christian Schmid: Risen im Test - An old-fashioned, but very good role-playing game. In: GameStar . October 2, 2009, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  36. ↑ Sebastian Weber: Risen Test: Can Piranha Bytes make you forget the Gothic 3 disgrace? Risen Test: Can Piranha Bytes make you forget the Gothic 3 disgrace? In: PC Games . October 2, 2009, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  37. ^ Robert Glashüttner: Developed according to a German secret recipe. In: fm4.orf.at . October 16, 2009, accessed December 1, 2017 .
  38. ↑ Michael Mingers: Risen: Banned in Australia + tons of new screens. In: gamesaktuell.de. August 11, 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2019 .
  39. ↑ RISEN. In: German Developer Award . Retrieved August 20, 2019 .
  40. ↑ Michael Sosinka: Risen: Deep Silver pleased with sales figures. In: GameZone. October 21, 2009, accessed August 20, 2019 .
  41. ^ Frank Maier: Risen - Most successful role-playing game of the year. In: GameStar . December 9, 2009, accessed August 20, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Michael Bonke: Risen: BIU Award for 100,000 copies sold. In: PC Games . December 9, 2009, accessed August 20, 2019 .
  43. ↑ Andreas Frischholz: Teaser website and first information about Risen 2. In: ComputerBase . February 21, 2011, accessed September 28, 2019 .
  44. ↑ Risen 2 - cover story in PCG 03/11 - facts. Forum entry. In: World of Risen. February 19, 2011, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  45. ↑ Christian Fritz Schneider: Risen 2: Dark Waters - Release date for the role-playing game sequel. In: GameStar . December 14, 2011, accessed September 27, 2019 .
  46. ↑ Risen 2 - Dark Waters: Console versions are coming later. In: Computerbild.de . April 24, 2012, archived from the original ; accessed on September 27, 2019 .