Risen 3: Titan Lords (PlayStation 3)

Having defeated a fearsome Titan, the brave pirate captain sails together with Patty, the daughter of the famed Steelbeard, in search of riches and adventure. Despite a menacing dream that keeps haunting the hero, the two head to Crab Coast, where they explore an abandoned temple. Suddenly, a ghostly creature appears and kills the captain. Stricken by grief, Patty buries him and departs; however, shortly afterwards a strange man named Bones revives the hero and tells him of a few possible ways to restore his full humanity and avert a great danger threatening the region.

Risen 3: Titan Lords is a direct sequel to Risen 2: Dark Waters, continuing the story of the same protagonist and being set in the same world – a fantasy archipelago somewhat reminiscent of real-world eighteenth-century Caribbean region with a flavor of sea piracy. Design-wise it combines elements from the previous two games. Unlike in its immediate predecessor, where the exploration was often limited to one island at a time, the player gains access to almost the entire archipelago right after the short prologue mission and can explore any island in any order. Also more in line with the first Risen and preceding Gothic games, alliance with different factions plays an important role, making the main plot more freely structured.

There are three factions in the game: Demon Hunters, Voodoo Pirates, and Guardians. These factions are less rigidly defined in their combat specialization than in the earlier games. Accessing all the quests of all the factions is possible only with multiple playthroughs; however, the game still features a vast amount of faction-unrelated side quests scattered across the world. The protagonist also commands his own crew and may choose one of the companions that eventually join the hero to aid in combat during land exploration.

Combat has been slightly upgraded from the previous installments by introducing more special moves. Dodging is now more prominent, and powerful charged melee attacks can be executed. The player character may also learn other moves (e.g. Riposte) if he finds the corresponding trainer. Like before, experience points are manually allocated into main attributes, while trainers have to be paid for their work. Besides a few changes, character growth system follows that of Risen 2, with the social skills (Silver Tongue, Intimidation, etc.) it introduced. Magic system has been enhanced, with special abilities (such as morphing into a parrot) as well as the more traditional crystal-based spells making a return.