JUST a few more weeks of polish. Would that have been too much to ask for?

Risen 2 is an infuriating piece of software in that it’s not far off being a little cracker. It’s a romping, stomping pirate yarn with a reasonably open-world approach and swags of stuff to do.

But the frequent auto-saves cause huge jarring in gameplay, the dialogue – although well written – is stilted in delivery and grotesquely out of sync (the characters hilariously throwing their arms about during delivery) with the choose-your-answer method of chatting easily confused.

However, if you can get past all this – and granted, it’s one hell of a mountain to climb – you will find yourself dipping your toes in Dark Waters for a lot longer than initial impressions would have suggested.

At best it’s Long John Skyrim, at worst Urgh Jim Lad.