In the world of video games, pirates seem to have gotten the short end of the stick. There are plenty of games about soldiers and space marines, zombies and monsters, but save for a few notable standout titles like Sid Meier's Pirates and Tales from Monkey Island, you'd be hard pressed to find a heavy selection of games (at least decent ones) staring the scoundrels of the sea. Then there's Risen, the action RPG from underappreciated Piranha Bytes was a deep, and fun if not flawed pirate adventure that was sadly overlooked by the majority of gamers.

For the sequel, Piranha Bytes made the game more accessible, but at what cost? Sure, it's a lot easier to jump into, but the game also seems to be missing its depth and very few of the good ideas the game comes up with feel like they were given the attention they deserved. Still though, there are moments that will make it hard to put the game down, and though they're few and far between -- they make Risen 2 worth checking out.

"The new world is very different from the old..."

Taking place several years after the events of the first game, Risen 2 returns players to the role of the nameless main character, who's now a drunk and a shell of his former self. The world is in unsurprising peril, and there's monsters pretty much tearing it apart. Your job, get through your drunken haze, seek out the fabled new world and see if they've got answers for your predicament. The new world is very different from the old, and it's filled with lush jungles and voodoo priests; meaning that Piranha Bytes has a lot of fun with the obvious culture shock joke, and for the most part they do it well.

That's partly because the majority of voice acting in Risen 2 is done incredibly well. Sure, there are a few notable exceptions to this, but the quality of the NPCs made me want to seek out contact, which I can only imagine had a strong impact on me enjoying story . Similarly, the game's sense of exploration is made even more inviting by the sweeping vistas that tend to dot the game's worlds. There's nothing like arriving at a new island, or land that you've never experienced, and wondering what's inside it. Just don't pay attention to the strange character animations that seem to pop up whenever you engage in conversation with someone.

"...quest that will make it hard not to fall in love with Risen 2."

Exploring sure sounds fun doesn't it? Too bad it feels like a letdown more often than not. The explorable land in Risen 2 is a lot smaller than Piranha Bytes other adventure titles (with the original Risen being noticeably larger), and there's no real gripping quest. You'll swashbuckle, hunt for buried treasure and fight monsters, but it often feels so by the book and uninspired that you're bound to lose interest sooner than you'd think. To that point though, there are moments in the quest that will make it hard not to fall in love with Risen 2. There's one portion of the game where you'll find and explore a ghost pirate ship that feels so pitch perfect that I wished there were a whole game based on it. Also notable to mention is just how fun some of the interactions can be when your character is pounding down the ale. It adds a whole different dimension to the game that actually seems missing when it's not around.

Combat in Risen 2 is similarly underwhelming. The game puts a heavy emphasis on sword fighting for obvious reasons, but at the beginning it's incredibly dull. It gets more interesting as you progress, learning new moves and upgrading your fighting, but the process feels so tedious that you're bound to question whether or not you're actually upgrading. It's actually pretty curious that such a hard to navigate system was included in a game that was easily made to be more accessible than its predecessor. The voodoo system was intended to be a major part of the game, but never felt as useful as it should have.

Risen 2 drips with charm and takes its pirate setting very seriously. Unfortunately, it's also filled with weird design choices and a slew of glitches that do nothing but take you out of the game. You're going to want to love Risen 2, but it's a bit of a tough sell.