Risen is a very good game, but it takes a bit of play time and patience to get you to the good stuff.
You spend the beginning of the game doing somewhat boring and tedious tasks and I almost gave up after about 15 hours. I kept saying to myself, "This is the most boring game I've ever played."
Also the combat takes a bit of time to learn and is very difficult at first. You will get your behind handed to you repeatedly and it can be frustrating. Advice, save often!
And speaking of saving. I'd say my biggest gripe with this game overall is the fact that you can't remap the Quicksave adn Quickload buttons. The developers put them right next to each other (F8,F9) so occasionally you potentially can hit the wrong button. Bad decision.
Anyway the game starts really taking off after you gain the trust of the faction leader, and you get past Chapter 1. Then the game begins really drawing you in. I literally couldn't stop playing over a couple of weeks.
So with some patience, the game gets really good and rewarding.
Graphics are fine. Not the best, but it has nice effects and everything looks ok. Not ground breaking, but it does the job just fine. Performance wasn't an issue. I had no crashes. Rock solid.
Sound is just like the graphics: nothing ground breaking but just fine. I would like to comment that the voice acting is superb.
Storyline is once again very good. It is enough to keep you coming back to finish the game once you get past the First Chapter. First Chapter as stated is very boring. You must persevere through it. It is worth it!
Some of the questing and mapping is a little quirky, but you should have no problems figuring out what to do.
If the beginning of the game was a little more exciting, this game would be right up there with the best. As it is, I highly recommend this purchase. I got my version off of Steam and is well worth the price.
These are the developers that made the Gothic series and overall this game is up there with Gothic 2 which was also great. Gothic 3 was a let down, but Risen very good.
Can't wait for the sequel.
Enjoy the adventure!