Hot of the press and a real pleasure to play. You have a choice to play as either a female/male your character plays from inside one of six origin stories. This sets the scene for the character to view the world from the personal view point of the chosen character/race. (I have chosen to play from the Human Noble origin) It also determines how the NPCs in the game react to you. for example, you may chose to play as an Elf however, Elves in the game are often looked upon as the underdog/second class citizens.

While playing through the chosen character background you are introduced to Duncan the leader of a group of warriors known as the Grey Wardens. From then on Duncan leads you to becoming a Grey Warden. This elite band of warriors have dedicated their lives to the destruction of the Darkspawn. Who are a force of demon-like creatures, living underground and have at various points in history invaded the surface world and earned the title of the Blights.

You then, with Duncan, make the journey to Ostagar in southern Ferelden. Here the intention is to join King Cailan of Ferelden to make a stand against the Darkspawn. Duncan’s senses lead him to believe the gathering of the Darkspawn is the first true Blight in 400 years and is being influenced by an Archdemon.

We are jumping the gun a little. Before you get to battle the Blight, you and other initiates need to be ordained into the Wardens by undergoing a dangerous ritual called the Joining. This ritual involves the consumption of Darkspawn blood, a powerful poison. By consuming the blood a prospective warden places their life at great risk in order to attempt to tap into the supernatural means of communication the Darkspawn use and become able to sense the presence of Darkspawn. From here on in things go from bad to worse and the order of the day is for you to put it right.

Your goal is to build a new army from a myriad of factions located in the Ferelden area who the Grey Wardens have treaties with and believe me that is not as easy as it sounds. Suffice to say your actions in this game do effect the outcome. However, at the end of the day Ferelden’s political unrest is settled and the kingdom is ready to face the Darkspawn at Denerim.

As I have not reached the end game yet I do not wish to know any-more than I have already spoke about. My advice, for what it is worth is go out and buy this game if you like the RPG genre. Enjoy it. You won’t be disappointed!

Deep Silver and developer Piranha Bytes (PB) have put together an excellent Role Play. The game starts where you survive a shipwreck and wake up lying among the dead bodies of the crew. You have been deposited on the volcanic island of Faranga which turns out to be the backdrop for this excellent RPG.

The flexibility this game offers the Hero/you is brilliant, even if you don’t know what you are supposed to be doing or for that matter why you are there. You can follow the story-line or go your own way. Hell, you could probably go from one side of the island to the other killing everything that moves and still meet the end boss.

Having said that, you would be putting aside an excellent RPG for wholesale slaughter (not my cup of tea so to speak).

Combat action can be harsh, if not dammed difficult at first, left click to use your weapon or right click to defend combo. However, with a little bit of ingenuity and using the games surroundings you don’t need to end up surrounded by three or four giant beasties/enemies.

If you like to wander then I would recommend looking around the island. Go any and everywhere. before accepting the Bandit camp or Harbour Town, the story will wait for you so explore. Collect anything and everything magic, weapons, food, plants, wolf skins, the list goes on, especially before entering Harbour Town as getting out again is another matter and some of your collected items will come in handy. Blooming lovely graphics no, excellent graphics and an excellent story-line unfolds as you move further inland.

As time goes on you will need to choose which faction you follow. The first one is the Inquisition, a clerical order that was dispatched to the island to explore the sudden appearance of monsters. The other is an outlaw faction that has been exploring dungeons and selling the artefacts within on the black market. Kai Rosenkrantz, producer at Piranha Bytes, best known for the popular Gothic series comments “You don’t really know who the bad guys are, you have to figure it out, and the more you uncover, the more you may reconsider your choice of sides”. Regardless of what you decide, there will be a large number of options available to you.

From Wild Dogs to Dwarves, Skeletons to Monsters and some of the weirdest looking creatures you just don’t mess with, until you are sure you can win. As for which faction is good or which is evil well, you tell me I am still trying to make my own mind up as to which side I’ll join. Why? well there both as bad as each other and its up to you how the story progresses and the experiences you encounter. The only down side for me was the end game boss… One screen, one giant fire god standing in the middle of a circle firing bolts of light at you, your goal kill him while the circle of magic stones you are running round on suddenly disappear underfoot, dropping you into a fiery pit. I would have liked to see the end boss being hunted down in the world of Faranga not as some one off, behind double doors, one screen idiotic god. Why O’ why do games like Risen need an end Boss. If the story line is there and you choose to bring peace or evil to the end game then use it, do not rely on a one off, one screen god to give the end game credibility… Oop’s that’s bound to upset someone…

The designers say that they’re aiming for at least sixty hours of play for each faction, meaning that there will be a large amount of re-playability for players to check out within the game. OH!… I nearly forgot don’t p**s off to many N.P.C, especially the traders. If you don’t have a joke scroll/spell you will find yourself at the point of their sword… With an in-depth dialogue system and your actions determining N.P.C reactions this game is a must for RPG Fans.