Risen 2: Dark Waters Reviews

It’s been awhile since we rounded up any reviews for Piranha Bytes’ Risen 2: Dark Waters, so I thought I’d kick off yet another batch with this scoreless critique on RPG Codex:

Ending this review, I can only ask myself one question. Just what the hell happened? Risen 2 has basically screwed up everything it could. The combat is horrid, the exploration tedious, the quest design atrocious. The 25 hours it takes to finish the game is better spent hitting your head against the wall. What was Piranha Bytes trying to do? Have they not learned their friggin lesson with the transition from Gothic 2 to Gothic 3 and then to Risen again? The saddest part is that there is actually some potential here, some interesting ideas hidden under all the piles of horrible design. It could have been a truly great game, if only they copied the mechanics from Risen 1 with some tweaks. But ideas are not substance.

Then proceed to Game Sector, where they give it a 3.5/5:

Ultimately, Risen 2 is a much better game than its predecessor, and is a decent addition to any RPG collection. But there are some design flaws that keep it from true greatness, but it is still above, if only slightly, the normal RPG’s we see.

And finish off at Player Affinity, where they give it a 7.0/10:

Risen 2 is certainly going to be fun for pirate enthusiasts, and gamers who like to poke around virtual worlds just to see what’s out there. For those so inclined, it is out now for PC, and arrives for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 later this summer. Two DLC story packs have released since launch as well.