Looking for a game like Risen

[Hoity Poyty]

I've played Risen all the way through the end like 5 times. I really like this game, but the sequels didn't get the same spirit as the original. i think Risen 2 was okay, but i didn't get past Risen 3's intro it sucked so bad.
I really liked the intricate relations of the characters in the story, that you had to learn everything because your character was dumb he couldn't even crouch. Then you work your way up and as you level you become a true hero wielding any blade and dodging everybody's attacks. I liked that when you first enter an area nobody likes you and every character is unique and eventually everyone likes you and you become someone important in the community and you have access to items or some ♥♥♥♥.
But now i know this game by heart. I know exactly what to do, what to expect, and what's going to happen. So, i'm looking for a game that looks like Risen. But not the sequels that suck.

[Carver]

Check out Gothic 3 or the upcoming ELEX. Both are from the same developer as Risen

[Oneeyed]

The closest is Gothic 1 and Gothic 2. And if you like Gothic 2 there are some mods which come very close to the spirit of the game but are only available in some languages. So it depends which languages you speak fluently.

3D-ARPGS like Risen: Arx Fatalis, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines worked for me very well. And then Nehrim was nice but it's a total conversion of Oblivion. I liked Venetica but it is very easy and isn't technologically advanced as Risen. Drakensang The Dark Eye is a party based 3D-ARPG and is still very good imho.

Fallout: New Vegas felt very similar to me but is so buggy I never could finish it (even with all the mods which are supposed to get rid of the infinite loading bug)

You can try out Thief, Deus Ex, Omikron The Nomad Soul, Anachronox, Blade Of Darkness or Mass Effect even if they are more action games then rpgs.

Saddly none of the TES games worked for me. I played Oblivion a lot but just for exploring all the dungeons. The main quest was so boring I could only close the first gate and every other gate beyond that I would have rather cut one of my fingers before I do it again. Morrowind is supposed to be a lot better but the controls are so weird. In order to pick a lock you have to put the lock pick into your right hand and then you can try to pick the lock. It infuriates me every time I have to do this.

Most of the isometric rpgs never did it for me because I hate to spend half of the game doing nothing else then inventory management. Only a few were really good: The Realms Of Arkania series and the Eschalon series. Both are really hardcore and unforgiving if you play it for the first time and before you know how to make an OP character right from the start.

Also Dragon's Dogma, Kingdoms of Amalur or Dragon Age haven't been games for me because they are to shallow imho.

The Two Worlds series which is more a beer and brezel rpg to me. You can play it for fun but it certainly isn't thrilling at all. In fact I liked Vendetta - Curse of Raven's Cry the most of the Topware RPGs but Raven's Cry is very very very goofy and still has bugs. It's not worth the official price but if you can get it for 5 bucks then I would recommend it because it makes you laugh so hard. It's like playing Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods or Gothic 4 again.

Then there is The Witcher series. I loved Witcher 2 because mostly everything was right. The controls were responsive, the story thrilling, I could loot and craft. But there is no stealing in the game because nobody gives a fu(k if you take their stuff. Witcher 1 wasn't for me because I disliked the combat systems. And I personally hate Witcher 3 because moving Geralt through the world is like moving a whale through Venice or like moving a big fu(king truck around a small parking lot. Yes there are alternative controls but they are very inexact and getting to some of the hidden places is nearly impossible with it. So you have to switch between the two controls schemes sometimes which I really hated to do. In addition it felt like all the quests are the same and there is no variety. And then the 3 choices you have to make during the course of the game which decides what ending you get. They are utterly ridiculous. You will never guess which they are unless you look it up in a walkthrough. So many other choices seem so more important but they don't change sh!t. But if you wanna play a pure story driven rpg then Witcher 3 is probably the best out there.

[kris.aalst]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

Fallout: New Vegas felt very similar to me but is so buggy I never could finish it (even with all the mods which are supposed to get rid of the infinite loading bug)

I know what you're saying. I have that bug every time I replay the game. But the solution is very simple. When you encounter the bug so loading a savegame doesn't work, start a new game and THEN load your savegame. It will load without any problems. You'll need to do this a couple of times. After that, the infinite loading bug stops and you can play the vast majority of the game without any problems.

[SolidRaz]

Gothic series was first, then devs changed their studio and made Risen. So give Gothic a try. :P

[Hoity Poyty]

Thanks for your replies, i tried gothic 1 a while ago and i couldn't hold on to it because it was SO OLD. I don't know if the graphics were any good compared to the standards of the time, but the controls wera awful too. I died to the first enemy, i think it was a couple of wolves, but not because it was too great an enemy for me, they slowly bit me to death because i couldn't attack properly. i got them after like 10 deaths, then i got into the first town and i don't remember what finished me but something disappointed me even further and i quit the game and never came back.

But thanks for the suggestions, i'm gonna look up those games you mentioned, i hope to find something good.

[SolidRaz]

Gothic 1 is really old and the mechanics are out dated sadly, I agree with you. If you didnt play it back in the day, it's really hard now to replay it even for a veteran fan. However if you use the HD mod for gothic 2 you might enjoy it, since the controls are more modernised. However 2 makes a lot of references to 1 and it has many surprises.

[GanksThor]

gothic 1 + Gothic 2 + Addon with dx 11 mod

[JETFADIL]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

You can try out Thief, Deus Ex, Omikron The Nomad Soul, Anachronox, Blade Of Darkness or Mass Effect even if they are more action games then rpgs.

WHY ARE YOU MAKING ALL THESE MEMORIES OF BLADE OF DARKNESS COME BACK I SWEAR IT HAS BEEN YEARS AND STILL WE HAVENT SEEN BETTER

[Grand Admiral Brador]

Gothic 2, maybe Gothic 1, never played the first one. Gothic 3 is just OK, but it sucks compared to the second one. Arcania: Gothic 4 is not woth a minute of your time. It's like the devs took Gothic 2, chewed it for a few months and spit out and put it up for sale. It's TERRIBLE. You can't swim or climb, yet there are a lot of rivers and lakes, voice acting is TERRIBLE, the story is almost nonexistant and not even remotely connected to previous Gothic games except in that it takes place in the same uiverse and inexplicably has a couple of the original characters with no explanation as to why they are there. The combat is clunky, there are serious FPS drops for no reason, even on serious hardware.....just save yourself the pain and play Gothic 2.

[Grand Admiral Brador]

Risen is actually in many ways a Gothic 2 clone. It's made by the same devs. A lot of the mechanics and even design are VERY similar. They both take place on an island, they both have a "fire mage" monastary in the mountains, they both have the a town you have to worm your way into, they both have ancient ruins that are being unearthed with powerful enemies within, etc, etc.

[stevo808]

Two Worlds 2, Divinity II, Gothic 3, Arcania and Demonicon are my recommendations here for similar games

[Stoowox]

Divinity II: Developer's Cut

[Mom]

Exoplanet: First Contact

[lionhart]

Even though Gothic 1 is very dated now, it is worth playing through at least the first chapter. The world, characters, and quest lines are unlike anything I have experienced in any other game. If you get to the second chapter and it still hasn't grabbed you, then it's okay to quit because the rest of the game is much more linear and combat intensive. But the first chapter alone is worth it.

[silenthero]

@Kaporalhart: Fully agree on Risen 2 (not tried 3 yet). Dumped 150 hours into R1 so far, and I yet have to play the mage.

As others already mentioned, Gothic 2 is pretty close to Risen in terms of atmosphere and controls and stuff. Played the hell out of this game and still have the DVD box standing around here. Tried some HD textures pack some years ago, but it didn't work for me. Maybe there are better ones out now, so you might give it a try, but I never ever tried again.

Currently I'm playing "Two Worlds Epic Edition" (close to 200 hours by now, on GOG), which looks and plays like a younger brother of Risen. Huge world, tons of quests and a megaton of items. As in Risen, monsters don't level with the char, so it really plays similar. I have TW2 also in my catalogue, but there's just so much left to do in TW1... ;-)