Games

The role-playing genre has undergone a pretty major shift in recent years, with the Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age franchises bringing things closer to the realm of action-adventure. Risen 3: Titan Lords continues in the same vein, but ultimately lacks the polish that made those earlier titles so popular.

Mixing together the fantasy and pirate genres, Risen 3: Titan Lords finds players exploring tropical islands while undertaking an epic journey to reunite their body with their soul (a long story involving death, resurrection and ancient evil). Naturally, this boils down to a number of quests that serve to bolster your character's stats (of which there are plenty to keep an eye on) through exploration and combat. However, unlike many of its contemporaries, the process of levelling-up here requires you to seek out specific characters to teach you new skills, which feels like nothing more than a way of extending the game's life span.

Other problems stem from slightly fussy combat and graphical glitches. But for those gamers who can overlook these niggles and embrace the game's role-playing fundamentals, Risen 3: Titan Lords can be a fairly enjoyable experience. At the very least, it should keep genre fans going until Dragon Age: Inquisition hits shelves…

Risen 3: Titan Lords, Deep Silver, Xbox360/PS3, £50 Approx
HCC VERDICT: 3/5