Rise And Shine, It's Risen Demo Time

Edit-edit - original download links now contain the fixed version too
Edit - fixed, faster downloads are here, here and here. (Thanks, Batolemaeus).

1.09 Gigabytes of vast, highly-anticipated-by-some, German-made roleplaying game await you just here or here. In either case, it's the earliest stages of what's a huge, free-roaming and non-didactic game, casting you as a recent shipwreckee, washed ashore on a rather nasty island. Adventures!

Risen is the spiritual sequel to the Gothic series, a trio of dense and ambitious RPGs that have an especially devoted following, yet have never quite found their way into the hearts of the UK/US mainstream. The whispers I'm hearing about Risen, which goes on sale tomorrow, suggests that particular song is likely to remain the same: adored by the devout few, ignored by the many. But, regardless, it's ma-ha-ha-hassive news in roleplaying land, and anyone with enthusiasm for the whole swords'n'monsters'numbers shebang should, at the very least, take a look at the demo.

A reader email suggests copies of Risen may have made their way to some folk early - anyone got in hand yet? Whaddaya think? Better than the (apparently) disappointing Gothic 3?

Oh, I'll be frank - in this current, incredibly busy gaming season, this gigantic thing is not looking like something any of RPS will have time to immediately gravitate towards, much as I'm sure we will get around to it in quieter times if word of mouth is all yay-woo-yeah. If you think we are rank idiotholes and should, in fact, currently be shoving other things aside in favour of Risen then don't tell us off for not talking about it - but tell us why we should be talking about it. It'd be great to have some enthusiastic, inspiring discussion generated about the game that isn't simply a case of the initiated bitterly grumbling at the uninitiated.