Risen 2: Dark Waters - PC

While the first Risen packed in plenty of action, adventure and depth, there's always room for improvement, isn't there? The sequel, Dark Waters, offers up plenty of new elements for players to get stuck into.

Across the board, things are much more colourful, for starters. The sequel is inspired by the Caribbean and the life of pirates, so the game world as a result is a lot more tropical. Vibrant greens, reds and blues counter the “three distinct tones of brown” (Piranha’s words) of Risen 1.

To make things more interesting, the characters - particularly the NPCs - have had a graphical and technical improvement. Whereas before characters consisted of a simple head piece and body piece, Risen 2 uses modulised parts with different clothing features so that you’re not likely to see the same character twice.

Speaking of characters, what has become of your own? The hero of Risen 1 returns in this pirate-heavy land, only ten years older and disillusioned with the world. As a result, he’s become a bit rusty with the powers that you once acquired, finding no need to ever use them again. After all you did try to save the world, only to find that it was all in vain as another titan destroys an island.

In fact, the world is now riddled with these beasts, with new monsters having risen from the depths. It's your job to track down pirates, who are the only ones still able to sail the seven seas with a modicum of safety.

Whereas the last game allowed you to get medieval on an enemy’s posterior, here you’re living the life of the seven seas. So no shield for you, and an extravagant pirate sword for your chopping pleasure. This gives you a free hand in Risen 2, which Piranha is taking advantage of by allowing players to customise exactly what goes in it. A second sword, a pistol, even a parrot that can be deployed to distract enemies... plenty of possibilities there.

You can take command of your own ship as well, which is rather fitting of a buccaneer such as yourself. As you sail between locations, you can speak to the crew on your ship and find out their morale and abilities. When disembarking to accomplish various missions, you can choose a couple of crewmen to assist you on your adventures.

All of these improvements must sound like heaven for those who played the first Risen game. They don’t come at a compromise to the game’s depth - 40-60 hours have been promised in the final version, along with legendary items to collect and a tweaked difficulty curve that isn’t as harsh as the one in the first game. more