GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Might & Magic: Heroes VI vs Risen

Might & Magic: Heroes VI is an RPG strategy game from Blackhole (2011) while Risen is an action-RPG open-world game from Piranha Bytes (2009).

Quick answer: Risen rates higher, 7.3 to 5.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and Might & Magic: Heroes VI is the cheaper at $9.99.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI

2011 · Blackhole

5.4GamingPickz Score

$9.99

Steam: Mixed

Risen

2009 · Piranha Bytes

7.3GamingPickz Score

$14.99

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Might & Magic: Heroes VI is filed under RPG and Strategy. In contrast, Risen under Action-RPG and Open-World.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI

Heroes VI is a fast-paced epic story where Angels plot to end -- once and for all -- an unfinished war with their ancient rivals, the Faceless.

Description from its Steam store page

Risen

Delve into a gritty, raw and atmospheric fantasy world in which every action has a consequence. In the epic world of Risen, filled with mysterious earthquakes, fearsome monsters and unimaginable treasures, forge your path with the sword, learn the art of staff fighting or become a powerful mage.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Might & Magic: Heroes VI
Plot

Setting Heroes VI takes place on the continent of Thallan in the fictional world of Ashan, a setting developed by Ubisoft between 2004 and 2008 for use in all of its Might and Magic -related projects, starting with Heroes of Might and Magic V in 2006. Ashan is populated by approximately eleven factions inspired by those appearing in previous Heroes games and real-life cultures, five of which are showcased in Heroes VI . Many of those factions have… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Might Magic Heroes VI Might Magic Heroes VI Initially, the game was plagued with numerous in-game crashes, lock-ups, errors, and bugs; poor artificial intelligence; significant faction/hero/creature imbalance; and the usage of DRM. The game has been updated with several patches, bringing the version to 2. 1. (Wikipedia)

Risen

No Wikipedia detail on file.

At a glance

Might & Magic: Heroes VIRisen
GamingPickz Score5.4/107.3/10
Steam ratingMixed (48%, 9,256)Very Positive (89%, 10,815)
Critic aggregate77/10077/100
Price$9.99$14.99
Install size5 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20112009
DeveloperBlackholePiranha Bytes

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI vs Risen, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Might & Magic: Heroes VIRPG strategy game
    RisenAction-RPG open-world game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Might & Magic: Heroes VIStrategy, Turn-Based Strategy, RPG
    RisenRPG, Open World, Gothic

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Might & Magic: Heroes VIScore 5.4 · 48% on Steam · 77 critic
    RisenScore 7.3 · 89% on Steam · 77 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Might & Magic: Heroes VI9,256 reviews
    Risen10,815 reviews · 1 add-on · 5 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Might & Magic: Heroes VI$9.99
    Risen$14.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Might & Magic: Heroes VIPlayable
    RisenPlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Might & Magic: Heroes VI and Risen on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularityMight & Magic: Heroes VI

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC
  • Xbox

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Risen (GamingPickz Score 7.3)
  • The cheaper right now: Might & Magic: Heroes VI ($9.99)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

RPGFantasySingleplayerMagicAdventure

Where they differ

Might & Magic: Heroes VI is also

StrategyTurn-Based StrategyTurn-BasedMultiplayerTacticalBase-Building

Risen is also

Open WorldGothicAtmosphericThird PersonExplorationAction

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Might & Magic: Heroes VI is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Risen is demanding, for players who want a challenge.

System requirements, side by side

Might & Magic: Heroes VIRisen
Minimum GPU512 MB
Minimum CPUIntel Pentium Core 2 Duo E4400 @ 2.0 Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 5000+ @ 2.6 Ghz
Minimum RAM1 GB
Install size5 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Might & Magic: Heroes VI · Risen.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Might & Magic: Heroes VI and 1 for Risen. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Might & Magic: Heroes VI and Risen in scope?

Might & Magic: Heroes VI has drawn 9,256 Steam reviews. Risen has drawn 10,815 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 5 GB.

Is Might & Magic: Heroes VI or Risen better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Risen rates higher (7.3 to 5.4). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Might & Magic: Heroes VI or Risen?

Might & Magic: Heroes VI is cheaper right now at $9.99, against $14.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Should I get Might & Magic: Heroes VI or Risen?

Risen rates higher, 7.3 to 5.4 on the GamingPickz Score, and Might & Magic: Heroes VI is the cheaper at $9.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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