The game takes place on a volcanic island where recently some of the ancient temples have risen from the ground. These temples, that have turned into ruins over time, were once occupied by warriors and are now unleashing monsters on the island.
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In Risen you can climb up on ledges, roofs and rocks. Unfortunately you cannot swim.
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When asked what in Risen is better compared to the previous Gothics the answer was exploration. They've put much detail into the game and almost everything has been created by hand: every item, chest, contents of that chest, monster, plant, tree etc. There is more emphasis on exploring in the game, like levitating, puzzles, a telekinesis spell with which you can pull levers from a distance or collect items with and a spell that transforms you into a small creature so you can go through small holes.
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As mentioned before, Risen is an open world where you can talk to anyone - but also attack anyone you want - even the friendly people. You can attack a guard, but he will call other guards who will join the fight. If you run away, they will stop chasing you after some time while calling you a coward. If you return within a short time - like 30 seconds - the guard starts attacking you again; if you come back in 5 minutes or so he won't attack again. But if you want to talk to him you'll find out he doesn't want to speak to you anymore. It stays like that unless you have a Joke spell. If you cast this spell on the guard you previously attacked he will laugh at your joke and becomes friendly again. To balance this they've made the 'Joke' spells a rare item and very expensive to buy.​