Buggy, but fun experience. A worthy sequel that corrects most of the previous issues with the series but add a few...
The story begins with an eerie sense of "have I been through this before?" when the main hero (who is also nameless but has no connection to the protagonist from the Gothic games) finds himself washed ashore along with a woman. He then discovers that the inquisition is in control of the Island (divided into mages and monks), and there are also the outlaws led by "The Don" who oppose them. This essentially means that there are two factions to choose from, and each has its own plan to take control of the Island. Of course in midst of the power struggle, there is an ancient evil that has appeared on the Island through temples that suddenly have risen from the ground (hence the name of the game). So far your typical Gothic scenario.
In fact, the plot and the game play elements do not stray too far from the Gothic series standards. It seems that Pirhana Bytes has taken the traditional "two steps forward and one step backward". Gothic 3 had an enormously huge and fun sandbox world that almost reminded me of an MMORPG, with an abundance of different terrains, landscapes, cultures, cities, and quests. Unfortunately, the combat was a huge mess and the game was buggy beyond belief. Risen in contrast, has a fairly small and linear sandbox world, with only one type of terrain and roughly about 1/20th of the quests available in Gothic 3. Not that it's such a bad thing, the world map is still very big and the ability to explore for secret treasures, is very rewarding in both satisfaction and game play benefits. The combat was greatly improved and is now a lot more challenging and satisfying than in any other Gothic game before it.
You can no longer win just by pressing the attack button till everything in front of you dies, there is actual skill to outmaneuvering your opponent and waiting for the opportunity to strike when he is vulnerable, especially since shields are introduced to the formula.
There are a few balance issues that I would like to mention:
Prospecting and smithing is perhaps the only way to get a decent weapon up to about midway through the game. Merchants do not sell any worth while items up till about after you pass chapter 2. Also, prospecting is used only for the purpose of smithing. And after you crafted your desired weapon, it becomes useless again for the rest of the game (except at the very end). Sadly, Gothic 3's recipe mechanic is not present in Risen, so only one type of weapon can be crafted from a certain blank.
Scondly, there is no way to create axes with blacksmithing. So relying on my previous complaint, axes are very rare in the beginning of the game. So if you put all your points in axe skill, then you will be having a bit of trouble finding a decent weapon for a while. Same thing goes with staffs and ranged weapons.
In previous Gothic games, the hero could specialize in magic skills and sword fighting at the same time, while in Risen it depends on which faction you choose to join. For example, if you join The Don's outlaws, you will not be able to cast any sort of magic with the exception of scrolls which are very limited. Or if you choose to join the inquisition, you will not be able to max out your weapon skill, but you will be able to use magic. Maxing out a weapon skill may not sound like a big deal, but it lets you use two handed sword in one hand. So it's quite awesome if you ask me.
That reminds me, Risen doesn't have an option to duel wield. Which is a huge let down since Gothic 3 had that option and it was a ton of fun, even with a broken combat system. Can you imagine how fun it will be with a good one?
It seems that the Gothic is falling back to old habits and safe design choices. Its by no means bad, but Risen offers nothing we haven't seen before. I guess the nostalgia feel compensates for it, and it is still a lot of fun to play. Gothic fans will feel right at home with this game. It's surprisingly very addictive despite its simplicity. If you are looking for a challenging and compelling RPG experience, then you can do a hell of a lot worse than Risen.