Such an awesome game, can be super unforgiving and janky but don't let that turn you away. It has an amazing handcrafted world with tons of charm and lots of secrets to uncover (all with no loading screens) which is impressive considering when this came out. it can be very rewarding in the way it dishes out loot the way you get past enemy encounters with skill. its not a perfect game by any means but well worth your time if you like action RPG's

---PROS---
-cool mid 2000's visuals, kinda reminds me of oblivion or two worlds in a way
-great albeit limited soundtrack which is strangely reminiscent of fallout 3
-climbing( a feature that i think almost every game needs ) also no invisible walls to halt climbing endeavors
- skill based combat, i hated it at first and this is where most of the games jank comes on but once it clicks it can be fun and rewarding
-save anywhere / quicksaving ( you're gonna need it )

---CONS---
-camera position resets any time you interact with something which can be annoying
-tend to get stuck on level geometry a lot when jumping and sneaking, although 9 times out of ten it will work itself out so you dont have to reload a save.
-character movement can be pretty stiff most of the time, you get used to it though

---SIDE NOTE--
i HIGHLY recommend you get the mod to turn the walking feature into sprint, it makes the speed scroll obsolete but you are gonna be running around A LOT for the first half of the game so it cuts down on the tedium https://www.nexusmods.com/risen/mods/23

It is an ok open world. The very definition of a 6/10. Good, not great, worth getting on a sale

This game released over a decade ago, and in my mind, it still holds up today -- provided you like janky old-school RPGs in the vein of the Gothic series. I'm too lazy to structure this like one of my normal reviews, and besides, there are probably 500 amazing YouTube videos on this game that you'd be better off watching. So I'll just make a bulleted list of some of the highlights.

The TL;DR, though? This is a damn good game if you like the Gothic series or Elex, and it recently got an update (enable the 'publicbeta' branch in the game's Steam settings -> Betas) that makes it work properly on modern systems.

Here's what I like about Risen:

- The game, even all these years later -- it was first released in 2009 (!) -- has impeccable atmosphere. The world feels dark, brooding, and moody. Rain and thunderstorms buffet the island on a daily basis, lending an oppressive, dangerous feel to your journeys.
- Exploration is awesome. You never know what's around the next corner; what's hiding in the next cave.
- Gear progression is simple and handcrafted. By this I mean every single piece of gear in the game has been manually placed throughout the world; there aren't RNG chances to get them, no varying quality levels, just simple, straightforward "You get this piece, you do this to get the next, better version" and so on.
- A real 'zero to hero' journey. As is the case with many PB games, you start out as a castaway; washed up on a remote island after you happened to stow away on a passing ship. You have no way of leaving the island due to the storms that terrorize it, and you have no money or equipment. Even an overgrown chicken or hedgehog can (and will) tear you to shreds. But, by the end of the game, you are overpowering all the foes that stand in your way (you'll still die; the game does not pull its punches in the damage department) and challenging the most powerful enemies in the realm with your weapon of choice. Personally, I favored 2H axes and crossbows, but swords and shields are fun, too.
- Surprisingly good english voice acting. I remember not liking it, for some reason, 10 years ago, but now...? Everyone honestly sounds really on-point and thematic for the world. Sometimes the delivery doesn't fit the tone of the situation, but just the quality, accents, etc. of the characters is very solid.
- Quests and reactivity. The quests in this game really rely on you to use your head. While they will occasionally mark things on your map (if they didn't, you'd never find certain key objects), they don't give you any quest arrows, and the marked locations aren't always exact -- sometimes it only points to the ENTRANCE to an area, and it's on you to figure things out from there. You'll also find that many quest-like sources of experience aren't even listed in your quest journal. Did you save somebody or find some item that you think could help someone you've met? Go talk to them -- there's a damn good chance they'll agree, and give you some unique dialogue, XP, and gold for it. You can also follow-up certain quests by returning to their quest-givers later, or going and tracking down people associated with it that may have moved around in the world. Usually the rewards for this are minor; just some minor XP or gold, but it's still cool to have so much unique dialogue.

That's about it. Hope this was helpful.