Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition Review

Deep Silver and developer Piranha Bytes released their upgraded Risen 3 Titan Lords on PS4 with the aptly named Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition which comes just one year after the original. With recent offerings from The Witcher 3 providing an unprecedented level of role playing gaming, how well does Risen 3 hold up and more importantly is it worthy of your time and money. Take a look at our Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition review for the full picture.

Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition Review:

Today we’re taking a look at Piranha Bytes’ Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition which comes one year after the original game which released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The Enhanced Edition boasts a number of visual improvements such as higher resolution textures, extra post processing effects such as HDR Bloom and depth of field but also ships with the DLC extras such as Fog Island, Uprising of the Little Guys and the Adventure Garb outfit which can be equipped from the start of the game. We already reviewed the game last year on PC awarding it an 8/10 however, times have changed and expectations perhaps have risen given the arrival of another excellent action adventure role playing game earlier this year which isn’t quite a distant memory just yet.

In a nutshell, players assume the role of an unnamed pirate, who is killed by the dark force that is the Shadow Lord. He is then resurrected and sworn to reclaim his lost soul by way of defeating the Shadows and their portals. Along the way the main aim is to gather forces from a number of factions who each have their own set of challenges to overcome. It’s a far reaching affair spanning several locations making for an interesting tale drenched in copious amounts of dialogue, lots of unnecessary foul language, and a healthy dose of melee and ranged combat.

Perhaps the biggest beef we have with the Enhanced version is the fact that despite all of the added bells and whistles, the game doesn’t address any of the problems we saw a year ago which includes, dodgy combat elements where enemies gang up on our poor hero en-mass, some unresponsive actions, poor animations and getting stuck on the scenery or having ones view obscured by foliage during crucial moments. It seems this is merely a port with no expense spared in tidying the gameplay up which is a shame . There’s a real ragged edge with the combat which you’ll either work with and find enjoyment or loathe with a passion as you get pecked to death by giant birds, or chewed on by wandering alligators and such like. Naturally, players can level up their character and equip more powerful weapons and armour as well as making a number of other adjustments to tailor the character, but due to the enemy scaling with the player level means death is always never too far away. Players are advised to save frequently, but it’s easy to forget and upon death the forgetful are rewarded with replaying the same area again which is tiring no thanks to some awkward auto save points. As mentioned, there’s a lot of dialogue to wade through as well, which transform into a variety of main and side quest options, so in terms of actual content there’s quite a bit to do here which is all good. Once things get going a touch of naval combat is thrown in as well against beasts of the waters and this makes for a welcome addition to exploring the lands picking up items and performing fetch or kill quests for all and sundry.

In terms of performance, Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition fails to generate expected levels of smoothness which means with all the extra effects employed here takes its toll on the frame-rate which suffers quite a bit as players move across various themed areas. It’s very noticeable at times dipping way below the maximum 30 frames per second, but for the most part still remains playable. The game does look rather pleasant though in places with an abundance of populated jungles, open lands and tight interiors to explore making the game world quite vibrant.It’s also filled with a varied cast of characters to interact with providing many differences across each area. That said, it’s simply not as accomplished as some other games which offer similar looks making Risen 3 feel quite budget in comparison.

Audio is a mixed bag with none of the voice-over performances standing out in particular and some bordering on comical for all the wrong reasons. There’s a lot of swearing and unnecessary banter to wade through for those keen on getting on with things, although the option to quickly skip audio is there for the impatient. There’s a solid and engaging soundtrack resting in the background which offers some neat aural colour, but coupled with the dodgy voice acting its effect is thwarted somewhat unless out in the open taking it in rather than chatting with NPCs.

In terms of length, there’s enough to do here spanning many hours of play making it worth the price of entry if you can see it through to its conclusion although there’s quite a bit of repetition especially within the confines of the basic combat which offers two main forms of attack. There’s the chance to replay the story again and choose a different set of choices when talking to NPCs with some different outcomes if that’s your calling but in all the game is long enough on a first play not to warrant diving in for a second time.

Risen 3 Titan Lords Enhanced Edition is an interesting adventure which hasn’t really aged that well even though it’s just one year old. With the advent of some other more accomplished games proving that there’s some varied quality in the action role playing game genre, Risen 3 fails to make its mark with anything memorable. The game on the PS4 at least does suffer quite a bit in terms of performance which isn’t great and the core gameplay with no enhancements means it suffers as the end result is feels too basic and somewhat dated. If you like action role playing games and are itching for something new, then Risen 3 might be worth a look, but if you’re still involved with similar games that are still doing the rounds then this pales in comparison and is likely not going to sway you away, or if it does will feel quite inferior.

Score 7/10

Written by: Rob Cram

Rob Cram has hundreds of video game reviews, thousands of articles under his belt with years of experience in gaming and tech. He aims to remain fair and free from publisher/developer influence. With his extensive knowledge, feels his gaming opinions are valid and worth sharing. Agreement with his views are entirely optional. He might have a bias towards cyberpunk.