Piranha Byte's latest single-player action RPG Risen hits store shelves this week, with the PC version dropping in North America on October 2nd, and the Xbox 360 scheduled for sometime in the beginning of next year. The title refers to a series of ancient ruins that have recently risen from beneath the tropical island where your character finds himself washed up following a nasty shipwreck. You know, as opposed to those pleasant shipwrecks. with all the candy.

Risen will be available on Steam Friday for $44.99.

No stranger to portraying digital creations, Andy "Gollum" Serkis will be portraying someone named The Inquisitor in Risen, which sounds fairly ominous and perhaps a bit dire. Meanwhile, John "Gimli" Rhys Davies will be stepping into the shoes of Don Esteban, a role he's prepared for by appearing in everything from Sliders to the Indiana Jones franchise. Joining the two Lord of the Rings stars is Lena Headey - Sarah Connor of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - as Patty.

Perhaps publisher Deep Silver could have provided a bit more background information on the characters along with this announcement, as we really have no idea who The Inquisitor, Don Esteban, and Patty are. They seem to think we should be excited, so woo!

Rather than go over the rest of the cast one by one, I'll go ahead and post the paragraph from the official release below. It's mainly British television actors, and aside from the guy who plays Owen in Torchwood I find myself at a complete loss.

Serkis, Rhys-Davies and Headey are joined by a lineup of some of the most recognizable British TV actors; Fincher is played by Torchwood actor Burn Gorman, Larkrise to Candleford star Brendan Coyle takes the role of Commandant Carlos, Damian O'Hare who starred in medical drama The Royal plays Olf. I'm Alan Partridge regular and Star Stories narrator Simon Greenall plays Luis. Oscar is played by Grange Hill actor Donald McCorkindale while fellow Grange Hill actor and Secret Diaries of a Call Girl star Stuart Organ plays Brogar. The Archers actress, Louiza Patikas represents Sara and Timothy Watson who has starred in countless TV dramas from Eastenders to Casualty takes the role of Romanov.

I'm sure there's a large symphonic/gothic metal band scene that I am completely unaware of. In fact, the comments section could potentially fill up with arguments on which of those bands is the most successful, but as far as Deep Silver is concerned, Nightwish here is the end all and be all. Listening to it a few times, my definition of symphonic/gothic metal has transformed from 'huh?' to 'music most likely to be included in future Twilight movies to try and make them appeal more to the poor boyfriends who get dragged along to the theater. This is sure to make me a pariah among the symphonic/gothic metal purists out there.

Announced less than a year ago, Risen sees the player washed up on a mysterious volcanic Mediterranean island, after which they will be caught up in an epic tale involving inventory management and combat of some kind. If you want more details they have a website. The point here is the game is now scheduled for release on October 2nd, and I find the fact that they've come so far so fast is either extremely heartening or extremely worrisome.

"We're excited to be able to announce the release date for Risen this far in advance," said Cathy Tische, VP Sales and Marketing for Deep Silver. "We've been in beta for a few weeks now and are focusing on stamping out the remaining bugs and optimizing gameplay."

Well, they certainly do seem confident. Here's hoping for a great RPG epic to help pass the time during the slow holiday season. *gulp*

First they set the mood with the more wild areas of the volcanic island on which Risen takes place, and now the developers take us into the more populated areas. Children play and adults go about their business in a stone city that looks like something straight out of Bethesda's Oblivion. That's not a bad thing, of course. If your game is going to be reminiscent of another, it might as well be reminiscent of one of the best.

Risen takes place on a volcanic tropical island, which explains why one could easily confuse the opening of this "Mood" trailer with an old Far Cry video. The similarities soon end, however, as Far Cry didn't have those birds they keep showing off or those mutant porcupine things. It certainly didn't have little goblin creatures sitting around a campfire. Do you think they timed that one little critter's standing up to coincide with the whispering of the word "Risen", or was that just a happy coincidence for dorks like myself to giggle at?

Piranha Byte's Risen was revealed last August before the Leipzig Games Festival in German, and since then...well, we hadn't heard much. So far we know that the game takes place on a volcanic island filled with mysterious ruins and bizarre creatures, with the player character shipwrecked and forbidden to leave.

I suppose we know a bit more now that we've seen these screens. For instance, judging by the top picture, it looks like Piranha Byte's signature humor is intact, and a series of same shot, different time of day screens tell us that there will indeed be a day and night cycle. And trees. And a little blacksmithing.

Check out the full gallery below to get a better feel for Risen, rising on the 360 and PC sometime later this year.

″Piranha Bytes have already proven their enormous talent for creating both enthralling and profound role-playing worlds. With Risen, the team presents a new exciting scenario providing a great variety of adventures, which will keep players glued in front of their monitors.″ says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, Managing Director of Koch Media.

Right now the official site for the game features everyone's favorite suspense generator the countdown clock, ticking off the seconds until the game's really revealing reveal at the Games Convention in Leipzig. We'll let you know how that turns out.

Risen: The new video game by Piranha Bytes

Deep Silver announces game title

Deep Silver, the video game label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, and the Piranha Bytes team announce the name of their joint role-play project: Risen.

With Risen, Piranha Bytes introduces a fresh, new setting. The game’s protagonist is shipwrecked after a storm and finds himself on a mysterious island. An active volcano dominates the scene. Ancient temple ruins have recently risen from the ground, and bizarre creatures infest the island.

″Piranha Bytes have already proven their enormous talent for creating both enthralling and profound role-playing worlds. With Risen, the team presents a new exciting scenario providing a great variety of adventures, which will keep players glued in front of their monitors.″ says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, Managing Director of Koch Media.

Further information about Risen will be presented at the Games Convention.

The new teaser site provides a close up of the glowing volcano. A newsletter provides readers with the latest news. The website is located at: http:\\risen.deepsilver.com

The working title of Risen has been ″Project RPB″.

Esoteric interface aside, which felt like piloting an advanced NASA Tolkein simulator, we preferred Gothic 2 to Morrowind, and we'll probably like Gothic 3 a hell of a lot more than Oblivion. Coming from JoWood and Piranha Bytes in Q4 2006.