Risen 2: Dark Waters Previews

We’re just one week away from the PC release of Risen 2: Dark Waters and we have rounded up a couple more previews for those interested in the pirate-y Piranha Bytes open-world action-RPG.

Hooked Gamers:

The best suggestion I can give is to talk to everyone. NPCs are your lifeblood in the game, not only will they provide you with information pertaining to your quests and character improvements, but items like island maps that allow you to fast travel between locations as well. There are multiple approaches to every mission, and how you respond to NPCs will affect the world around you by opening or closing side missions and changing how characters will react to you. There is a morality system in place, but it’s not so black and white since you can do things that are considered wrong that improve your pirate status. However, you may say something wrong to Steelbeard that lowers his opinion of you. If this happens, you will have to slog through the swamps instead of taking a better route to board the ship.

In true RPG fashion, some characters will teach you skills for a sum of gold, but not all of the skills are ones that you may expect. Along with the usual abilities like alchemy, lockpicking and pickpocketing, you must also pay to be taught how to perform actions like kicking and crouching. You may be the hero from the first game, but you have apparently lost all recollection of what you once knew, including muscle memory. Through a detailed quest line involving a (primitive) tribe, revealing your true intentions and summoning an ancestor, you can also learn the art of voodoo in order to make dolls and conjure up black magic.

You can also create your own fighting style, though your options are a little limited. In the first Risen you were given a sword and shield combination. In Risen 2 you have the option of dual wielding a sword and a flintlock pistol. You can also fit yourself into a few different battle types such as a sniper or a thief if you want to mix and match a bit.

While GameTrailers offers a video preview and informs us that the website will be streaming the first hour on the title on Monday.