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Risen 2: Dark Waters
Having recently seen hardcore German RPG Risen 2 running on Xbox 360, I am hopeful that playing it on console won't be a pale shadow of the PC experience as it too often is for PC-first European developers.
Risen 2 has two important things going for it on console that the first Risen didn't have: A game design that works well with gamepad control, and a publisher willing to put the necessary money into a day-one console version developed alongside the PC edition.
The graphical quality of the build I saw running on an Xbox 360 dev unit is more than acceptable for a modern RPG. I don't expect anyone to compare it to Mass Effect any time soon, but the rich foliage and detailed environments should be pleasant enough to adventure through.
The developer demonstrating the game insisted that the team will be able to keep the framerate between 25 and 30 frames per second on 360 and PS3 with the level of fidelity that I saw running (which was closer to 15 FPS in the demo). Unlike fighting and racing games, RPGs can absolutely get away with 30 frames per second without annoying players.
I'm a big fan of Risen, and I've got high hopes for Risen 2's pirate-themed open-ended adventure. If Deep Silver and Piranha Bytes deliver on their promises for the console ports, I'll be happy to see a wider audience get to know the series – even if I'll still be playing it on PC where I can turn all the graphical bells and whistles on instead of the "most" that Piranha Bytes expects to enable on console, thank you very much.
(Note: To the best of my knowledge, the screens provided by Deep Silver for use here are from the PC version. The console version looks nice, but not quite that nice.)
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