Risen 2: Dark Waters

Deep Silver, PS3 (also Xbox, PC) **

Blame Pirates of the Caribbean for giving us unrealistic expectations of what a pirate’s life should be. In Risen 2: Dark Waters, it’s less about rum and comedic japes, and more about foul-mouthed pirates and saving the human race, though there is plenty of hidden treasure and the odd ghost ship. The action-RPG picks up years after the original Risen left off, but now sea monsters are terrorising humanity. The (nameless) hero must carry out quests with the ultimate goal of defeating the creatures and restoring supply routes to the islands. Each challenge has different approaches, which means that your choices ultimately determine the game’s progress, what paths unlock and so on. And there are plenty of items to collect. While it sounds like it should be fun, there are a few flaws in Risen 2 that make it a little difficult to get on with. Combat is clunky and, while its predecessor was open world, Risen 2 feels a bit more restricted. The flipside to that is that the game is a bit more approachable for newcomers. There are some good elements to this game, but unfortunately, Risen 2 falls a bit flat.