Risen Preview

IGN spent some hands-on time with Piranha Bytes’ Risen at GamesCom, and has used the opportunity to whip up a quick preview.

After getting some hands-on time with the game, I can say Risen feels very Gothic-like, from the presentation of the dialogue scene to the character movement to the general style of the world. Though all the text was in German so I couldn’t really make out what was said by NPCs, I’ll relate what transpired during the session. The main character starts out wrecked on a beach, and when he comes to there’s a pretty lady standing nearby waiting to talk to him. From around the beach can be collected an assortment of odds and ends, including gold coins, potions, pieces of sturdy driftwood, a ring, and some random plants.

The only way out from the beach was a single path, so I followed it until I came across a large birdlike creature that could be described as the offspring of a vulture and an ostrich. At this point I equipped the larger of the two pieces of driftwood on the beach, and hacked away at the vulture thing until it lay motionless on the ground. The combat system here felt similar to Gothic, with the protagonist being able to chain a few swings together with deliberate, arcing motions. Creatures would occasionally skitter backwards and avoid the swings, then dart in for an attack. To block, since I didn’t have a shield, it was possible to set the weapon in a defensive position.