Risen is an action role-playing game[1] developed by the German company Piranha Bytes and published by Deep Silver.

The game tells the narrative of an unnamed player character's adventures in Faranga, a mountainous fictitious island ruled by the ruthless High Inquisitor Mendoza.

Risen received mostly positive reviews, with acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and voice acting, but criticism for the poor Xbox 360 port.

On Faranga island, ancient temple ruins spontaneously rise from the ground, providing access to a network of interconnected underground areas such as catacombs and dungeons.

Believing Faranga holds the secret to defeat the Titans, High Inquisitor Mendoza leads the Warriors of the Order to the island.

Mendoza rules the island with an iron fist, forbidding unauthorized people to enter or leave Harbor Town.

After the player has gathered five Crystal Disks, which activate the mechanism to open the entrance, the Inquisition enters the temple.

After the credits roll, dialogue between the main character and Patty, the daughter of infamous pirate Gregorius Emmanuel Steelbeard, suggests that the two will travel to the mainland to fight the Titans.

However, the paths leading further into the island are almost always blocked by numerous wild creatures that can easily overwhelm and kill a beginner character.

The game features a simple crafting system, where players with enough skills in smithing and alchemy can combine raw material into useful equipment or potions.

Spells are mostly non-combat and have a wide variety of usage, either to solve puzzle (like levitation, telekinesis) or provide buffs (speed, strength or armor).

[6] The Xbox 360 port was outsourced to an experienced external console team under the close supervision of Piranha Bytes.

According to the game's Australian distributor, Madman Interactive, the OFLC cited[10] "sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards" as the reason for the refusal.

[23] IGN gave the PC version an 8.6/10, praising for its hard yet rewarding gameplay, impressive graphics and solid voice acting, yet still pointed to the combat mechanics being messy while fighting hordes but mentioned "...you'll get better at it as you bump up your skill with a preferred weapon type and unlock new moves, making the experience even easier, though it never quite feels as natural as it should.

[19] GameZone's Steven Hopper gave the Xbox 360 version 7/10, saying "Risen is a solid game brought down by a shoddy port to consoles.

While there's still a lot of fun to be had with the deep missions that foster exploration, the game's technical presentation is subpar and there are some gameplay issues as a result of the move to the Xbox 360.

"[21] Xbox Evolved's Michael Ogunnubi gave the Xbox 360 version of the game 8 out of 10, saying "I highly recommend Risen to players who enjoyed the heck out of somewhat obscure titles like Gothic 1 and 2, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, and Avernum, or to those who enjoyed Bethesda's brief experiment in 3D adventure gaming known as Redguard, or finally to those who grew up addicted to highly interactive classics like Ultima VII.

"[24] Risen 2: Dark Waters was released for Microsoft Windows in Europe and United States at the end of April 2012 and for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms in July/August 2012.