REVIEW – Upgraded, with all of the downloadable content packed into one Risen 3 Titan Lords has been released finally on the PlayStation 4… The game was also released back in 2014 for the PC and for the PS3, and of course the Xbox 360, but now enhanced, and with all the DLC the PS4 owners can buy the Enhanced Edition.

However, does this version come with enough content to justify the price tag? Well, let’s see what we get with the new release. First of all, we finally get to play the game on the PS4 which is cool right? Then we get a bunch of new content that we already got back in 2014, although only in pieces. In this version, the DLCs are already included which were, Fog Island, Adventure Grab, Uprising of the Little Guys, that while extending the gameplay, fans have probably already completed these contents back on the older generation consoles or on the PC.

My friends! We got duped!

Those who played the game on the PC or on one of the previous generation of consoles, do not expect this version to be something expansive in terms of upgrades. Of course, they tried to enhance the graphics but there is not much of a difference between the new and the old version. The only difference is that the fight for our soul will not be fought on the old consoles but on the current generation consoles. Which is a shame as a lot of new things could have been added when porting it to the newest gen. Those who want true new content in terms of Risen will have to wait a bit, maybe a few bones will be thrown at the fanbase by the German dev team.

Story TIME!

We star as the hero’s child of Risen 2, to discover and explore the lost Island, hoping to find lots of treasures ( A good pirate has endless faith and hope). We seek the treasure in an empty temple with our brother Patty, when the gates of the underworld open, and a shadow lord strips us of our soul. After our death, we are buried, and left to rest in peace (or are we?!). An unknown person uses voodoo magic to resurrect our body. Our adventure begins, and that adventure has a really long main arc that lasts at least thirty hours!

Those who like a lot (and I mean a lot!) of content should think about getting the game, as the mentioned gameplay time is for only the main questline, and not for the sidequests. Plus there are quests that vary depending on which subclass we chose at the beginning. There is no lack of content in Risen 3, but that is also one of its weaknesses. Our Germans friends put everything into storytelling, however, they forgot one golden rule: “Sometimes less is more”.

Risen 3 would have been much shorter, and better at parts if they did not stuff it with quests in the main storyline that do not move the plot at all. They did not help us evolve, these quests are simply just there to expand the time we play the game. The missions from these NPCs after a while become dull and monotonous. Especially when the player does not even feel worth doing it since they lead to nowhere.

Looking kind of good

Of course, there are positives hiding in this program. The visuals are great, and everything is in its place. The scenery is well designed, and the success of the second game’s themes are back in the third game. The lighting and shadow effects look great, and the changing weather affects the shadow play. On the contrary, however, spells look terrible in some situations, they can look blurry or even clip into the scenery – there were even instances when they did not even appear.

Besides our eyes, our ears also receive some pleasure, as the music is really good in Risen 3. The notes that are played are very atmospheric and always adjust dynamically within the game, depending on the situation. The sound effects for some of the effects are also great, but there is one issue that the program suffers from, and that is none other than the voice acting. They are really bad, the lip syncing is also horrible, and at times the acting is way overdramatized.

The gameplay is similar to the one we got to know back in good old Risen 2. We kill, we think, then we kill again, pick up some quests, and then complete them hoping for some cash so that we can buy a few new skills. We also get to use voodoo magic, rune, and elemental magic, which can be learned from different faction’s NPCs, only of course for a price. As the melee combat was geared back in Risen 3, it is necessary to have a few powerful spells in the game. However what has been geared back did not disappear, as we can use bows, pistols, and even muskets in Risen 3.

Too many bugs on the Island

We talked about the story, the beautiful graphics, which is not so great when it comes to spells, and the lovely sounds. However, we have not talked about the core of the game, and the gameplay which is really a hit and miss in my opinion (if we do not count the padded gameplay). Let us talk about finally one of Risen 3’s greatest issue: THE BUGS!.
Now after we calmed down, let us collect all the big issues that the game suffers from:

1. The AI is really stupid and can do so many things so badly. For instances, the enemy can attack us while walking backward and simulating a retreat animation. So that the enemy will not even see us when we strike them down.

2. We can find such “mutants”, that are all over the place, their body stretched out like Richard Reed from the Fantastic 4. Well, these characters were not created on purpose, it is just that the game sometimes cannot handle loading all the in-game models.

3. Characters get stuck all the time (EVEN US!). A person would think that by 20 goddamn 15 we would not have such a problem in the video game industry. Yet here we are, a game where even us or the enemy can get stuck in objects… or even on a plain field for some reason. It makes the enemy killing quite easy for us when this happens

Of course, these will probably all be fixed, but it seems that new players to the franchise should not try it yet, or try it with caution. All in all Risen 3 is a bit better than average game from Pirhana devs, that tried to provide a lot of gameplay hours (too much..) for the fans. If they manage to fix the bugs maybe even the 7/10 can be reached, but until then it gets a goodwill of 5.2 in total from us.

-Kese-

Publisher: Deep Silver

Editor: Piranha Bytes

Genres: akció, RPG

Publication: August 15, 2014