Every Risen game, ranked
All 3 Risen games we hold, spanning 2009 to 2014: 3 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 24,066 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Risen (GamingPickz Score 7.3), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: Risen 2: Dark Waters gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Risen games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 3 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
3 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 3 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
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.
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.
3 best Risen games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Risen
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.3GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceRisen at a glance Released 2009 Studio Piranha Bytes Player sentiment 89% positive of 10,815 Critics 77/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 5 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 89% shrinks to 88.8 on 10,815 reviews, then blends with the 77 critic aggregate, giving 7.3.
What the data supports- Small install at 5 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
Risen 2: Dark Waters
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.8GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceRisen 2: Dark Waters at a glance Released 2012 Studio Piranha Bytes Player sentiment 80% positive of 6,790 Critics 69/100 Price $9.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 80% shrinks to 80.2 on 6,790 reviews, then blends with the 69 critic aggregate, giving 6.8.
- 3
Risen 3 - Titan Lords
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.4GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceRisen 3 - Titan Lords at a glance Released 2014 Studio Piranha Bytes Player sentiment 74% positive of 6,461 Critics 65/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 8 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 74% shrinks to 74.6 on 6,461 reviews, then blends with the 65 critic aggregate, giving 6.4.
What the data supports- Small install at 8 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Risen game we can score is Risen at 7.3. The lowest is Risen 3 - Titan Lords at 6.4, a 0.9-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2009 to 2014. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Risen 2: Dark Waters at $9.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Risen 2: Dark Waters, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Risen entries on Steam:
- Playable: Risen, Risen 2: Dark Waters, Risen 3 - Titan Lords
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 Risen games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
| Xbox | 1 of 3 |
The Risen series, game by game
Every Risen game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2009
Risen
7.3Delve 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. (Steam)
- 2012
Set several years after the end of Risen, raging titans have devastated the world and pushed humanity to the brink of existence. Subsequently, monstrous creatures have risen from the watery depths of the sea and their attacks have brought all seafaring to a grinding halt. (Steam)
Plot
Setting The game is set in a fictional, fantasy-orientated region of its in-game world based on the Caribbean tropics . The world is divided into multiple locations across a fictional world map of islands or coastal areas home to jungles, caves, tribal villages, and outposts. Travel between islands is done with the player's pirate ship. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Risen 2: Dark Waters received mixed reviews. The PC version has a score of 69/100, the Xbox 360 version 60/100, and the PlayStation 3 version 47/100 on the review aggregation website Metacritic . GameSpot praised the pirate theme, noting atmosphere and non-cliché humor, jokingly concluding that Risen 2 "[offers] up a joyous and occasionally profane odyssey through humid jungles, dank caves, and imposing temples. (Wikipedia)
- 2014
The world has been abandoned by its gods and is scarred from the rampage of the Titans. Humanity is struggling to regain strength. You, however, have more pressing concerns: your own life has been shattered and you must set off to reclaim what is lost amidst the darkness spreading throughout the world. (Steam)
Risen, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Risen vs other series
How Risen stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Risen vs DARK SOULS, Risen vs Dragon Age, Risen vs DRAGON BALL, Risen vs Mass Effect, Risen vs Monster Hunter, Risen vs Mount & Blade, Risen vs Yakuza, Risen vs ARK, Risen vs Borderlands, Risen vs Deus Ex, Risen vs State of Decay, Risen vs The Witcher, Risen vs Torchlight, Risen vs Watch, Risen vs ArcheAge, Risen vs Divinity, Risen vs Dragon's Dogma, Risen vs Dungeon Siege, Risen vs ELDEN RING, Risen vs EverQuest, Risen vs God of War, Risen vs Gothic, Risen vs Hades, Risen vs Heroes of Hammerwatch, Risen vs Kingdom Come, Risen vs Kingdoms of Amalur, Risen vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, Risen vs Middle-earth, Risen vs Might & Magic, Risen vs NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, Risen vs Pathfinder, Risen vs Prototype, Risen vs South Park, Risen vs Street Fighter, Risen vs The Lord of the Rings, Risen vs The Surge, Risen vs Tom Clancy’s The Division, Risen vs Two Worlds, Risen vs Wasteland
Common questions
How many Risen games are there?
We hold 3 Risen games in the catalogue, released between 2009 and 2014. 3 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Risen game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Risen rates highest at 7.3. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Risen games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2009 to 2014. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
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