Risen Preview

The editors at Destructoid are next in line to give us some hands-on impressions of Piranha Bytes’ latest RPG offering, Risen.

While I’m not a connoisseur of fantasy RPGs, especially Western-style ones, the feeling that most potently struck me was that this reminded me a bit of Guild Wars in terms of the look and feel of things. You’ve got a quickslot bar, like in most games, to equip your spells and potions, leaving your attacks to mouse/controller commands. There are a wide variety of tactics at your disposal, such as casting a “Joke” spell to disable a guard in a fit of laughter, or make people forget you’re wanted for murder because, hey, you seem like a nice guy.

One of the things I noticed about the game during the playthrough was that its environment was extremely lush, vibrant, and varied. In my mind, I was holding this up against my memories of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Rising comes across as something that’s full of color, yet not on a level that’s cartoonish or whimsical. Monster designs and all that turned out well from the limited exposure I’ve had from them.

Since I’m not very big into the Western RPG landscape, my concern is how this title is going to try and attract a larger audience than the currently existing fanbase. To me, there was no apparent draw that was especially innovative in the title. It’s well-built, and that might be what they’re looking for with the title — if that’s the case, then they’re certainly on the right track. They’ve got a solid story, a good engine around it, and something that should be a fun and enjoyable experience — but if they’re looking to draw in a new audience for the title, such as people who traditionally play J-RPGs or even non-RPG players, those elements aren’t there.