Did anyone know about this game development/release/how awesome it is? It's a CRPG called <span class="bold">Risen</span>.
First Piranha Bytes gave us Gothic and Gothic 2 which I loved for their great atmosphere and elaborate combat system. Then I think development was handed to a different company for Gothic 3 (although I'm pretty sure Piranha Bytes was involved too), much larger and with a disappointing click-faster-to-win combat system. Certainly the combat system for Gothic 3 didn't look like Piranha Bytes.
I think Risen is another Piranha Bytes classic. Extremely hard in the beginning, the same old combat system from the early Gothics, great dark ages atmosphere, it's all there. I agree graphics seem a little aged to me, which scares away many gamers, but look beneath the surface. If you liked Gothic at all, you won't be disappointed. And if you love free-roaming open-ended RPGs like Gothic or Elder Scrolls, I don't see why you wouldn't like Risen.

Yeah, there was a thread discussing the game a while back when the demo was released. I picked the game up, but never finished it, as Dragon Age came out before I got around to completing Risen and I'd been waiting for DA:O for some time. Going to have to get back to it someday soon. From the little I played of it, I found it was enjoyable.

Risen is incredible.

Risen is an awesome game. Currently at Chapter 3, going back to finish it too since Dragon Age came out before I could finish it like mentioned above.

It's essentially Gothic 4. There was a legal battle of some sort and JoWood retained the rights to the name I do believe. So they had to go with a different name.
It'll be a real win to have it here one day.

All I know is that Risen is RC (effectively banned) here in Aus. Enjoyed Gothic 1 and I'm enjoying Gothic 2 (half way through), but I haven't gotten around to seeing where I can import a copy of Risen.

Definitely worth it.
Though you get someone to gift it to you digitally.

I played Risen back in January, and it's an awesome, awesome game. In my opinion it manages to stand right alongside Gothic 1&2, just with far fewer bugs and much, much prettier.

Did anyone notice that Steam no longer sell Risen outside of Poland (and perhaps other East European countries)?

Great game. Just don't buy the butchered X360 version (yes, there is one). Although it's fun to see the average console tard try to get a hold of such a complex game. Take a look at this "review":
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/aj/ajsreview/19331-risen-xbox-360

I was wondering about that. They still have the demo available, but it lacks any information about the game, including the system requirements.

Great game, good graphics and i love the music. Well worth buying if you can get it.

Bought this one on day one from steam. And reading this topic I had go and check if I can see the risen page on steam-client. There it was 49.99...
Then went to store.steampowered with opera and again there it was. HMM, time to hidemyass.com. Now it doesn't show up. I think it's licencing issue or something about grumbleweed...
Btw. I live in finland witch is northern Europa so here you can still get this great game.
btw 2: Don't know if cogadh neede them but provided anyway:
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP™ (with Service Pack 3)
Processor: 2 GHz Intel® Pentium™ 4 Single-core Processor
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB DirectX™ 9.0c compatible graphics card (nVidia® GeForce® 7900/ATI Radeon™ X1800 or better)
DirectX®: DirectX™ 9.0c compatible graphic card driver
Hard Drive: 2.5 GB free Hard Drive space
Sound: 100% DirectX™ 9.0c compatible sound card
Controller Support: Keyboard, Mouse

Well if any one does still want it and prefer a digital copy, GamersGate are still selling it at $39.95 -- which is pretty much the price they have always sold it at.