Key events
14th August 2014
25th February 2014
Gothic/Risen dev reveals "edgy" new post-apoc open-world RPG ELEX
A huge, seamless game world for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Piranha Bytes and Nordic Games have announced an "edgy, dark, uncompromising [and] complex" open-world role-playing game called ELEX for PC and "current gen consoles". It's due out winter 2016/2017.
Risen 3: Enhanced Edition announced for PlayStation 4
Comparable to "ultra" settings on PC... and then some.
Of all the games to be tarted up for a next-gen release I didn't expect one to be Piranha Bytes' largely glossed over role-playing game Risen 3. But it is, this August, and only for PlayStation 4.
Risen 3: Titan Lords came out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in August last year. It was OK - hampered by its combat but "a commendably deep and full role-playing game" underneath.
This PS4 Enhanced Edition offers graphics comparable to "ultra" settings on PC, "and even surpasses the original visuals in a number of areas". It has higher-resolution textures, post processing effects such as "bokeh" depth-of-field (when points of light become out of focus and become large circles), HDR bloom and volumetric clouds.
Almost there.
Risen 3 is almost a really good game. It's certainly the first in the role-playing series that I've more or less enjoyed right from the start. It's just that, much like Risen 2, the minor advances in design and function are in service of a goal so characterless and bland that it's hard to muster the passion needed to turn mild enjoyment into outright devotion.
Picking up years after the conclusion of Risen 2, we're introduced to the son and daughter of Captain Steelbeard, the ludicrously named pirate legend from that game. Sadly, in the first of several disappointments, you get no choice over who will be the main character of the game. It's Steelbeard's son, yet another vanilla video game hero voiced by an actor whose range only stretches from "surly growl" to "angry sarcasm". You get no input into what he looks like and that remains true for the majority of the game. Much like the previous games in the series, Risen 3 hands out new kit grudgingly, so unless you've got the Adventurer's Gear DLC that grants you a change of clothes, the amount of control you have over your character is minimal and drip-fed. It's an RPG with very little in the way of RP.
Steelbeard's daughter, for what its worth, looks like she's wearing a Halloween costume from eBay called "Sexy Pirate" and promptly disappears after the opening tutorial sequence.
Risen 3: Titan Lords dated for August
New CG trailer shows monsters, spells.
Piranha Bytes' upcoming open-world fantasy adventure Risen 3: Titan Lords is now set for a 15th August release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Risen 3: Titan Lords screenshots
Piranha Bytes again.
Piranha Bytes again.
Risen 3 announced for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, due August
Near Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3.
Not everyone's jumping on the next-gen bandwagon: just announced RPG threequel Risen 3, due August, will be a PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 game.
Developer Piranha Bytes is promising freedom in exploration and a hand-crafted world.
The game's full name is Risen 3: Titan Lords, and it spins the story of a world abandoned by the gods, where a young warrior is attacked from the shadows and loses his soul. His quest to retrieve it will also be yours.
