Of all the old RPGs to get a re-release on modern consoles, I can’t say that I was expecting Piranha Bytes’ 14-year-oldRisen(the first game in a whole Risen trilogy, I’ll have you know) to be one of them.
Not that I have anything against Risen, but it’s such an unglamorous IP that I find it hard to envision anyone who owns a PS5 wanting to cough up $30 for a game where combat looks like you’re moving the limbs on action figures into position, then bashing them up against a rival plastic toy.
But, while for $30 I’d probably have wanted the whole Risen trilogy bundled in there (given that this is more of a port than a remaster), I have to say that having played it for a bit, I understand why there are some RPG enthusiasts who swear by it.
Developer Piranha Bytes holds a special place in many gamer’s hearts, particularly those who were ‘there’ during the early 2000s, when RPGs were still trying to figure out how exactly they should work in a video game format. Their original game Gothic was up there with Morrowind as an RPG pioneer of its time, though where Bethesda went on to become an RPG torchbearer, Piranha Bytes games never really evolved quite so impressively. Now I think about it, so many series once deemed ‘Eurojank’ – The Witcher, STALKER, Metro – have outgrown that label, while Piranha Bytes seem to have doubled down on and embraced it over the years.
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They’re the quintessential Eurojank developer, and–as Risen shows–that’s notnecessarilya bad thing.
Risen sees you washed up on a tropical island following a shipwreck (classic). You soon learn that the island is in the midst of a power struggle, as an Inquisition force has ousted the piratical local leader Don Esteban (I’ve always got time for a setting that fuses ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ vibes with fantasy). Meanwhile, a mysterious temple has popped up in the middle of the island, and is thought to harbour ancient creatures known as Titans.
As per Piranha Bytes tradition, you’ll be presented with a choice of three factions to align yourself with, which will greatly affect your journey through the game. Do you become a bandito hiding out in a swamp camp with a ragtag bunch of miscreants, a ruthless Inquisitor, or a wanky mage gaining mastery over spells in the monastery? It’s a three-way choice of the charmingly classical RPG variety, and to the game’s credit it actuallymattersin terms of both narrative and your own character build.
I think that’s part of Risen’s charm. Even when it came out in 2009, it already felt a bit anachronistic, a throwback to several years before. In 2023, it’s basically a full-on window into another time of RPGs, or maybe even an alternate timeline of what RPGscould’velooked like had they gone for tight reactive worlds rather than sprawling yet more rigid ones. There are no indicators to tell you how tough an enemy you’re fighting is, combat is extremely clunky, and yet somehow tight enough that if you’re willing to dodge, block and slash for 10 minutes straight, you can defeat enemies way above your level (which in turn meant you’d get your hands on overpowered items that could be used to mess with the game in myriad silly ways).
But hardcore exploiting aside, the lack of ready insight into the game’s small but nonetheless open world meant that it feels pleasingly dangerous to make your way through it. You have a map, sure, but it’s a tattered old thing with no actual place names on it, so you rely on a combination of that and in-world roadsigns (GodI love using roadsigns in games) to find your way around.
Risen’s island isn’t huge, but full of weird creatures, mysterious places, and well-voiced characters to chat to (legitimately better dialogue than Bethesda games). It’s the kind of game that forces you to take mental notes rather than just refer back to your quest log when you’re ready to return to an old task. In just my few hours with the game, for instance, I stumbled upon some dungeon containing a massive beast locked away behind a portcullis and spike-trap floor. I’ve no idea how to get to it or what it’s about, but it’s the kind thing that inspires curiosity in a world that doesn’t readily lay itself out for you.
Risen is charmingly breakable, and messing around with the game’s Levitation spell–where you’re able to hover around the world in the Lotus position, or use it to break into areas you’re not supposed to–is the kind of irreverence you rarely see in today’s more tightly structured RPGs. Not to say that today’s RPGs aren’t open in that open-world sense, but rather than they’re way more solidly designed with less clear ways to break them. And breaking things is fun.
In a way, I hope Risen is teaser of what’s to come from Piranha Bytes, and an indicator that they’re returning to the style of game on which they built their name. Their recent ELEX games are kind of in that style, but something is definitely lost in their frankly trashy post-apocalyptic setting and dreary dialogue. With a Gothic Remake in development, Risen (always seen as a spiritual successor to Gothic) could be something of a rough prototype for what’s to come. And don’t get me wrong, it really is rough at times, but it still contains some long-lost ideas about RPGs that deserve to be dug up again.
