[2] The Risen was developed by Richard Dansky and written by Elizabeth Ditchburn and Heather Grove, with interior artwork by John Cobb, Eric Lacombe, Brian J. LeBlanc, Andrew Ritchie, and Joshua Gabriel Timbrook, and cover art by Larry MacDougall.

[3][4] It was designed with a theme of obsession, with the titular risen so compelled by their passions that they more than any other character type in Wraith: The Oblivion are willing to take big risks.

[2] Arcane described it as inspiring, and said that the one thing keeping them from giving the book a perfect 10/10 review score was that it is not as useful in an on-going campaign, as risen are not intended to make up an entire party of player characters.

[1][8] Arcane called the book an involving read, and liked its execution of the zombie concept, with tragic and driven revenants rather than the typical mindless creatures of horror films.

[2] Cyril Pasteau, the former director of the French game magazine Backstab, found the illustrations sub-par, however, and considered the book to have too much "noise" surrounding the information that is directly usable when playing.