Risen Teaser Trailer #2

Hey wait... shouldn't this one actually be Teaser Trailer # 1, given the content and "Coming in 5 days" tease at the end? Oops. Well, watch both trailers in reverse order, then. Sorry 'bout that!

Risen is in stores NOW for PC. The 360 version is coming in 2010.

Risen Teaser Trailer #1

Here's a thrilling, nicely edited ad that has parts of the opening cinema. Makes you want to run out and buy this, huh? Trailer # 2 gets posted on Thursday, by the way. Risen ships out to retail shortly for an October 2, 2009 release. The Xbox 360 version is coming early next year and nope, there is no PS3 version as far as I've heard (unless that's the reason for the delay... but I doubt it).

As Far As I Know (OR: Some Answers To Your Lijit Searches)...

1) Muramasa: the Demon Blade is NOT coming to any other console - It's currently a Wii exclusive. The same goes for games such as Cursed Mountain, Darkest of Days, Risen and a few other titles exclusive to certain platforms. If you've got a decent gaming PC, two of the above games are recommended while the other two aren't coming to PC (as far as I know)...

1a) Is Demon's Souls coming to the Xbox 360? Most likely nope. The game was initially contracted by/for Sony's Japan Studios, so it's sort of like asking if Halo or a new Mario game will appear on another platform. Go buy a PS3 if you can afford to - the game is indeed worth it. Besides, there are a bunch of cool first and third party exclusives for the PS3 released this year and coming in the future will keep you more than pleased you finally made the plunge.

2) I'm still waiting for my review copies of Muramasa and a few other games to arrive. Ignition was swamped with requests from other editor-types, so I may not end up with one unless I truck it on over to GameStop and buy a copy. Yes, I absolutely support my favorite developers and publishers when need be! Heck, I paid full price for The Conduit and enjoyed it immensely.

2a) Speaking of reviewables yes, I'm working on getting a reviewable of Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection for either the 360 or PS3. Crave's website hasn't been updated for a while with new games, so I thought this one didn't even exist until about two weeks ago (Thanks, Kate!). Fossil Fighters didn't show up (yet), so it looks as if I'll need to buy that one at some point. Between the stuff I have coming in and the previews and reviews I need to get done, FF is sort of a slightly lower priority until I free up some quality time for it.

3) I don't do game tips/cheats/codes here, sorry! If, on the other hand, a developer or publisher supplies me with a tip/trick/code I can release to you guys, I'll gladly share it! If you're really hopelessly stuck in a game, definitely hit up a site such as Gamefaqs for those tricky boss or other game-related problems.

4) Shin Megami Tensei Persona PSP voice cast? I'm not sure, as I'm more interested in the game as a whole package... but this may help.

Um.. I think that's it - got any more questions? Ask away!

Risen Box Art, Voice Cast Unearthed

Did someone ask "Hey, where's the Risen cover art? Well, here you go - in tasty Xbox 360 and PC flavors! Very nice indeed. Looks like Deep Silver's big RPG is also getting some major talent in terms of vocal performances. I'm wiped out from spending all day at the Konami event, so here's the beefy part of the press release all set for your reading pleasure:

Deep Silver Inc., a publisher of interactive entertainment software and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Media, today confirms the A-list voice talent featuring in forthcoming RPG Risen.

One of the busiest actors today, Andy Serkis takes the role of The Inquisitor. Serkis, who has had a long and varied acting career, is best known for his CG character representations Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong in the movie of the same name. Veteran British actor, John Rhys Davies, who has starred in countless blockbuster movies such as Indiana Jones and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, performs as Don Esteban. Movie actress Lena Headey, who played Sarah Connor in Terminator TV spin-off Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles take the role of Patty.

"The quality of the voice casting reflects the quality of the game" stated Paul Nicholls, Sales and Marketing Director, Koch Media UK "with such an amazing lineup of talent from movies and TV, there is a voice everyone will recognize; we will attract a new generation of RPG players to the genre."

Serkis, Rhys-Davies and Headey are joined by a lineup of some of the most recognizable British TV actors; Fincher is played by Torchwood actor Burn Gorman, Larkrise to Candleford star Brendan Coyle takes the role of Commandant Carlos, Damian O'Hare who starred in medical drama The Royal plays Olf. I'm Alan Partridge regular and Star Stories narrator Simon Greenall plays Luis. Oscar is played by Grange Hill actor Donald McCorkindale while fellow Grange Hill actor and Secret Diaries of a Call Girl star Stuart Organ plays Brogar. The Archers actresss, Louiza Patikas represents Sara and Timothy Watson who has starred in countless TV dramas from Eastenders to Casualty takes the role of Romanov.

All the actors were cast and recorded by award winning London agency Side, with voice direction carried out by Andrew S. Walsh.

In addition, here's a batch of great new screens from the game:

Risen is set to hit retail on October 2, 2009 for the PC and Xbox 360. We'll have more updates on the game as they come in.

Risen Hands-On (PC/Xbox 360)

At Deep Silver's recent press event, the second big game shown was Risen, a great looking third-person Action/RPG by Piranha Bytes, creators of the Gothic series. Kai Rosenkranz, the game's composer (and Jack of All Trades) was on hand with playable PC and Xbox 360 builds of the game, presented in side by side format for comparison's sake. While the PC version was running on a higher resolution monitor, both versions looked exactly the same in terms of details small and large. This was an impressive beginning to the presentation and it only got better.

The gorgeous medieval "Mediterranean" island setting makes for a nice change of pace from more familiar fantasy locales found in other open world RPGs, but Risen also mixes in intriguing elements such as an active volcano, strange temples rising from the earth, a menagerie of menacing monsters and a good deal more. Although the game's four chapters take place on a "small" island, there's a whole lot more to do than you'd think (and the island isn't as small as you'd think once you get exploring). Over 100 separate quests await, as well as the ability to join up with different factions, allowing for the use of certain class-based skills and magic as well plenty of character customization options. So, what's the game experience like? Well, read on for a few details of the first 45 minutes or so of gameplay.

Our avatar woke up on a beach where there's been a shipwreck and he seems to be the only survivor. From the opening moments of looking out into the dense jungle foliage or turning to face the raging sea you washed in on, there's a great sense of place as well as a nice sense of dread, thanks to the dynamic storm raging behind you. Searching around for items (shown as floating onscreen text lest they be lost among the amazingly detailed environment) we eventually find another survivor, a woman named Sarah. After a bit of exposition, she sent up off to look for some sort of weapon. Finding a nearby stick from the ship's wreckage, Sarah then asks us to find some sort of shelter.

Heading through the jungle, we met up with our first enemy, a tall white & black "vulture" that looked like an angry ostrich with a Mohawk. Since speaking softly probably won't do much good, that big stick we found came in handy in terms of beating Big Bird to death. Once that was done, we examined the corpse for a chunk of raw meat, which more than likely meant we'd need to find some way to prepare it for consumption. Moving onward, we soon crossed paths with a big porcupine-like creature that did a diner dash straight at our guy as soon as we spotted it. One direct hit knocked our HP down considerably, but after getting some quick swings in, the beast keeled over. Not too far away was a big, bad wolf to kill or avoid (we went for killing it) and soon enough, the game's first structure appeared in a clearing.

In this rather dilapidated cottage, a bunch of scattered goodies lay about for some easy pickings. There was a frying pan (where you can cook any meat you've taken from the dead animals on a handy fire outside) , a few gold coins, a bed to restore HP, a barrel of rainwater outside and a lot of other items. At this early stage in the game, it's impossible to know if any of the more unusual items are even useful, but the dev team smartly took into consideration the pack rat players out there. Your inventory is unlimited, so grabbing brooms, big rocks and anything else that's not nailed down is up to you. This allows players who want to lug stuff around have that kind of crazy freedom and not worry about finding stashes or how they'll going to carry that big ol' bastard sword they've been eyeballing in the Harbor Town shop. You can play as you wish, so if you like a small inventory that's easier to manage, it's up to you.

With the house located, Sarah can be retrieved and as she's not the fighting type, she decided to stay at the house while we explored some more. Behind the house, there's a pathway that leads uphill where a few more vultures await. While engaging the birds is an obvious way to deal with them, enemy AI tends to be quite fierce once alerted. Running past an alerted creature has it angrily following you as long as possible until you or someone/something else kills it. Not wanting to run into more birdies or baddies, we took them down on an uphill slope and moved on. At the top of one hill, a ruined crypt-like structure at a nice tilted angle looked mighty inviting, yet more than a little creepy. Could this be the game's first dungeon? Well, dear reader.... let's get inside and find out.

Down the dark stone stairs into the blackness we went and and yep, it's a dungeon. A rather small dungeon, at that. Taking a step or two in and we quickly find out that careless spelunking can lead to a great fall. That pit trap we carelessly stepped on drops our guy into a darker hole with a barred door and a big, mean flying moth-thing at the bottom. with almost no room to maneuver, the moth needed to be killed as quickly as possible, as it can whack off about a chunk of HP with a single strike. After beating down the bug, we noticed three chests in the room that were unlocked and looted in quick succession. Heading through the doorway and up a staircase, we came into what we thought was a new room. However, a step or two into the room, yes, sent our man back down the same trap (ouch) into the previously cleared treasure room.

The next time up the stairs, jumping over the trap definitely helped out in leaving the crypt. After heading back outside we decided to explore the area around the structure. Rosenkranz noted that the game world is seamless with no loading screens while traveling, even when entering and exiting buildings. Stronger enemies lurk off the beaten path to keep low-level characters from wandering too far, but again. players can do as they wish. We did find a locked chest tucked away on a ledge that required a quick mini-game to unlock. Pressing the arrow keys or directional buttons simulate turning a combination wheel. Success in this gessing game nets you your goodies while failure has you try again 'til you open the box.

We noticed that In the builds no falling damage was in place, but can't yet comment on how far players can drop without taking damage. We jumped of a small cliff (about 10-15 feet) and suffered not a scratch, but happened to land near a few of those big vultures, which did our poor hero in rather quickly. After reloading and fending off a few more creatures, we decided to go back to the cottage and past it to explore more of the game world. Picking up a few plants on the trek travels (mint, mushrooms, healing herbs and such), we discovered another beat-up house to explore.No sooner had we set foot inside, a cut scene took over introducing a new character and what looked like was going to be a showdown of sorts.

Nope - it's just a guy who asks a few questions about who your anre and such, before noting that this is a really dangerous area (for a few key plot reasons) and to look around and find another weapon in the house. Once that's done (there's a sword upstairs), we found him sitting outside and after some more dialog, he'll escort you to a farm area nearby . Here you can either take on quite a few quests for the different farmers (shades of the first hour of Gothic II) from picking herbs to exterminating a pack of pig-eating wolves to a couple of fetch-quests and the like. Everyone has something interesting to say if you ask, or you can ignore them all and try to make it on your own to Harbor Town. In the farm area, enemies tend to travel in packs (save for a stray boar or wolf near the farmlands), and that sword you just got really won't cut it for long, as we discovered while being killed a few times by giant moths and those annoying vultures.

On the PC version, we got to see a few of the later areas, a lot of magic spells (you learn them as the game progresses should you choose to), a monster menagerie area (which probably won't be in the final build - it was just a map where Rosenkranz showed off some monsters and spells) and even some cool transformations (a big, powerful ape-like brute, and an over-sized floating nautilus, for example). There were other gameplay elements hinted at from blacksmithing to disguising your guy as a town guard or other important person, but we were a bit busy fending off a pack of wolves to take notes. We did hear that yes, there will be a number of Gothic-related references in the game (you'll need to hunt them down, naturally) and a lot more cool stuff, but we decided not to press for more details. Sometimes it's great to be surprised, no?

Speaking of surprising, the graphics in the game are phenomnenal all around. The human and creature character models are stylized (in the manner of the Gothic games) while the island is beautifully and realistically laid out with many varieties of hand-placed plants and other natural objects that bring it to stunning life. There's a day/night cycle, lovely lighting everywhere, plenty of weather effects and you can almost feel the wind in your face when you're in an open field or atop a hill. Villagers and townspeople go about their business whether or not you're in the vicinity and beware if you get some guard-types mad enough to start chasing you. Creature design is an inspired range of familiar animals beefed up to larger sizes and some truly unique fantasy beasties you'll encounter as the game goes on.

As we only got a short amount of playtime, the overall story was only starting to unfold, but that's also part of the game's draw. While there is an overall story path, you'll have the freedom to explore and adventure at will. The game tracks everything and you'll be able to check your journal in case you're lost in terms of what to do next. On the control front, Here's a peek at the Xbox 360 version's controller mapping:

Left stick: Move character (press in to jump)
Right stick: Turn character/turn camera
LB: Draw/sheathe weapons
A: Attack/pick up object/select or use inventory item/interact
B: Block/speed up dialog portions/cancel
X:Dodge
Y: Parry

D-Pad
Up: Inventory
Down: Map
Left: Journal
Right: Character Screen

Start: pause menu/options
Back: Quest menu/stats/other info (with L + R triggers)

With this pick up and play setup, Both PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game should appeal to hardcore or novice players. While PC gamers get the luxury of hotkeys (and more keys in general), the 360 version controls just as well. Naturally, as both builds weren't complete, there were a few minor graphics hiccups in some tight spots when turning as well as some minor clipping we were assured would be cleaned up for the retail version. The English lip synching also needed to be completed, but the voices in the game we heard were excellent all around. We did see a bit of the German version's synch from that more completed build and it's nicely done, so we're not worried about anything on that front.

In fact, we're not worried about much regarding Risen other than whether or not the final version of this epic will live up to the brief time we were able to spend in this small but busy game world. Open world games are ambitious undertakings to say the least and it's quite clear here that Piranha Bytes has certainly learned lessons from the good and bad points in the Gothic series. If they've managed to craft a truly memorable experience with their fourth title, the best game they've made will be the one RPG fans flock to once word gets out. Risen is scheduled for an October 2, 2009 release - we'll have more updates on the game as they come in... stay tuned.

Deep Silver Press Event Impressions

Deep Silver dropped into New York City for a day with playable versions of five upcoming games that included an innovative horror adventure for the Wii, an open-world RPG set on a gorgeous yet deadly island, a PSP strategy game mech fans will love and two Nintendo DS games that should appeal to brainy players of all stripes. I'll be writing up longer hands-on previews for the two home console and PSP titles over the coming days, but in the meantime, here's a super quick rundown on what was shown:


Cursed Mountain (8/25/2009) - The star of the show and one of the most innovative Mature-rated games on the Wii to date, Deep Silver Vienna's disturbing ghost story blends well-researched Buddhist elements into a survival horror setting that's simultaneously beautiful and bleak in equal measures. Players will hop into the boots of Eric Simmons as he searches a huge haunted hill for his missing brother, Frank. The game's stunning vistas, unsettling enemy design, chilling score and "prayer" based combat should absolutely make this a go-to game for genre fans or anyone else wondering "Where's the beef" in terms of core games on the console. Just about everything clicks here, from the overall atmosphere to the unique battles that take place in the Bardo, the mystical space between earthly life and Nirvana where restless spirits prowl, intent on munching your bones to powder.

Risen (10/2/2009) - Piranha Bytes (creators of the fan favorite Gothic series) is set to make waves with their upcoming PC and Xbox 360 open world action/RPG. Both versions look identically amazing and feature a lovingly detailed game world, creatively designed monsters, tons of items to collect and a much, much more. Despite the single island setting, the game never feels small thanks to loads of little details. Intuitive combat and a main character with a unique skills growth system should draw in fans of games such as Oblivion or Fallout 3 and with over 100 quests and sub-quests to complete plus different factions to join, the game should appeal to any players looking for more than just a simple chase 'n chop experience.


Mytran Wars (9/15/09) - If you're all about turn-based strategy and love mechs, this one's for you. The lengthy cool live-action/CG intro pulls you right into the game and the fun comic book cut scenes will keep you playing from mission to mission. Four campaigns with two factions spread over 30+ hours should keep you busy and the three multiplayer modes are good for getting a friend hooked. Expect a load of secrets as well, as every single player mission has a hidden objective that's often insanely tough to figure out or harder to achieve. The slick 3D engine makes for some great looking mechs and with 250 different accessories to research, you'll be whipping together quite the team of bad-ass bolt-busting brutes. fans of games such as Field Commander, Advance Wars and Front Mission should line up for this one (or at least march on down to their favorite game emporium to put in a pre-order).

The Humans (7/28/09) - I had to laugh when I saw this one at the event. Not because I'm an overly snarky S.O.B. whose eyes glaze over at anything with bright colors on the DS, but because the Sega Genesis version of the game practically ate up my life back in the day. This update features 8 stages, 80 levels and brain-melting puzzles galore as you try and get you cave dudes to make it from one stage to the next using different skills. It's sort of like Lemmings with more platforming required, so if that's your thing... go for it with gusto. Hell, I'd suggest this one to those "hardcore" gamers with beefy square chins looking for a REAL challenge. This one will break you faster than the hardest mode on any shooter, that's for damn sure...

Fritz Chess (7/13/09) - Talk about deep: a database of 2000 historical chess matches, the ability to edit your own games, four game modes, hot-seat matches... what else does a chess fan need? Simple visuals and adjustable gameplay keeps things perfect for newbies or timer-happy veterans looking for a portable version of their passion. The ease of use and intuitive controls should appeal to anyone with a DS interested in this brainy "sports game." If you don't think Chess is a sport - try watching a speed match sometime...


Overall, what was shown was very impressive for such a small lineup. Deep Silver may not be a household name in the US just yet, but with games like these coming, those gamers that pick up what's here will surely take note of what else the company has planned for in the future. More coverage on these games is coming up shortly - stay tuned...