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Risen 3 Benchmarked

David versus Goliath. While most RPGs have more than a 100 people in the development team, Risen 3 is produced by a very small studio. This shows in the gameplay of the game. Find out more about this game with our in-depth benchmarks.
Risen 3 Logo

For the original German article, see here.

Game Engine

It was clear even before the release, that the graphics of Risen 3 would not be on par with that of competitors like The Witcher 2. Although the Piranha Bytes studio has improved the Genome Engine significantly since Gothic 3, they still need to do some work in a few areas: whether it is the texture quality or polygon count. For a game released this year, Risen 3 looks very old.

However, Piranha Bytes has managed to alleviate some issues: unlike the dull Gothic series, the colors in this game are much stronger which helps make the Caribbean Pirate atmosphere seem authentic. Furthermore, the natural landscape and lush wildlife provide an enjoyable immersion. We really liked the realistic transition from day to night and the water looks great.

Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3

Sadly, the game is plagued by a lot of flaws which should not be found in a modern game. The stiff (face) animation and clumsy combat system, which is based on luck and not skill or character attributes. The AI and pathing should also be improved. The familiar story comes across as staged and boring. Other games (like Mass Effect) present the world in a more exciting way.

However, Risen 3 deserves a play, especially due to the character system. Each character can be customized in multiple different ways and the RPG offers many different options when interacting with NPCs. Overall, the world of Risen 3 offers a lot to explore and discover.

Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3

We like the graphics menu as, although it offers a mere 10 settings, user to adjust the visuals in-game. We were sad to find out that there was no decent Anti-Aliasing available. The rough borders hint at FXAA which is not very demanding on the hardware.

The four graphics presets (Low, Medium, High, Ultra) allow the user to optimize the graphics and gameplay to suit their system. Medium settings look decent and the user should avoid the Low settings, as at this level, the shadows, textures and visibility are negatively affected. The graphics quality at High are decent as long as you don't get too close to objects. Ultra details do not change the graphics or hardware performance by much but are not available for each setting.

Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3
Risen 3

As expected of a Piranha Bytes game, Risen 3 is a little buggy (do not worry, it is nowhere near as buggy as Gothic 3). The following is a summary of the bugs we found in our test:

  • Notebooks with a dual-core CPU can have rare performance issues and stutters.
  • Powerful graphics cards stay stuck at 50 fps in some areas.
  • At medium details, sometimes a grid appears on the screen.
  • At times, High-End GPUs run the game more fluidly at max settings than at lower settings. With the GeForce GTX 780 Ti this resulted in a drastic difference (57 fps @ Minimum, 90 fps @ Ultra).
  • On the Radeon R9 M290X Risen 3 causes massive errors (Catalyst 14.7 RC1 and RC3 tested). As this is a notebook with switchable graphics, it could be that the Beta driver of the HD Graphics 4600 was responsible for these errors.
Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings
Low Settings
Low Settings
Medium Settings
Medium Settings
High Settings
High Settings
Ultra Settings
Ultra Settings

Benchmark

For our benchmarks we use the island of Antigua. The test starts at the west coast and moves along the beach to the main city. The benchmark ends at the villa of Admiral Alvarez after 50 seconds of gameplay (see video).

Results

Despite the mediocre game engine, Risen 3 requires significant graphics power. Entry-level models with a HD Graphics 4600 can only run the game at low resolution and settings (~42 fps @ Core i7-4700MQ). For Medium settings at 1,366 x 768 pixels we require a graphics card from the multimedia section. Even a GeForce GT 740M has to fight to get a good frame rate (~29 fps). 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and the High settings require a graphics card on par with the GeForce GTX 765M (~32 fps) or above. Modern high-end laptops, which have at least a GeForce GTX 860M, can run the game at Ultra details.

Risen 3: Titan Lords
    1920x1080 Ultra/High, On AF:16x     1920x1080 High, On AF:8x     1366x768 Medium, Off     1024x768 Low, Off
GeForce GTX 780 Ti, 3770K
Desktop-PC
90 (49min) fps ∼85%
78.4 (49min) fps ∼98%
67.3 (49min) fps ∼71%
57.1 (49min) fps ∼58%
Radeon R9 290X, 2600K, Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB MZ7PD256HAFV-0Z000
Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X Desktop
63 (57min) fps ∼60%
64 (60min) fps ∼80%
65 (60min) fps ∼69%
65 (59min) fps ∼66%
GeForce GTX 760, 3770K
Desktop-PC
59.2 (38min) fps ∼56%
63.1 (49min) fps ∼79%
66.4 (49min) fps ∼70%
56.7 (49min) fps ∼57%
Radeon R9 280X, 3770K
Desktop-PC
56.4 (47min) fps ∼53%
50.4 (49min) fps ∼63%
94.7 (59min) fps ∼100%
77.9 (50min) fps ∼79%
GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
54.9 (45min) fps ∼52%
52.7 (48min) fps ∼66%
92.9 (50min) fps ∼98%
89.7 (63min) fps ∼91%
GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
52.3 (43min) fps ∼50%
53.9 (49min) fps ∼68%
87.1 (49min) fps ∼92%
94.8 (49min) fps ∼96%
GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
45.4 (36min) fps ∼43%
55.1 (46min) fps ∼69%
71.8 (48min) fps ∼76%
99 (91min) fps ∼100%
Radeon R9 M290X, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
39.7 (33min) fps ∼38%
49.3 (42min) fps ∼62%
58.1 (48min) fps ∼61%
97.6 (82min) fps ∼99%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti, 3770K
Desktop-PC
37.4 (26min) fps ∼35%
46 (40min) fps ∼58%
67.2 (48min) fps ∼71%
57 (49min) fps ∼58%
GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
36.4 (29min) fps ∼34%
44.4 (38min) fps ∼56%
50.2 (48min) fps ∼53%
98.8 (91min) fps ∼100%
GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ
Schenker W504
32.4 (26min) fps ∼31%
41 (33min) fps ∼51%
51.4 (48min) fps ∼54%
98.2 (72min) fps ∼99%
GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
26.5 (20min) fps ∼25%
32.4 (27min) fps ∼41%
52.7 (47min) fps ∼56%
85.1 (49min) fps ∼86%
GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M
Schenker M504
21.8 (14min) fps ∼21%
25.9 (21min) fps ∼32%
47.3 (38min) fps ∼50%
75.9 (42min) fps ∼77%
GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ
Schenker M503
15.4 (11min) fps ∼15%
18.5 (14min) fps ∼23%
40.2 (29min) fps ∼42%
51.8 (48min) fps ∼52%
Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3
SCHENKER S413
11.9 (9min) fps ∼11%
15.3 (13min) fps ∼19%
38 (29min) fps ∼40%
52 (39min) fps ∼53%
GeForce GT 640M, 2637M, Lite-On LMT-256M3M
Acer Aspire M3-581TG
11 (8min) fps ∼10%
13.1 (9min) fps ∼16%
27.7 (17min) fps ∼29%
49 (34min) fps ∼49%
Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop), A10-7850K, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU
A10-7850K Asus A88-XM-PLUS
9.9 (7min) fps ∼9%
12.5 (10min) fps ∼16%
28.5 (19min) fps ∼30%
49 (37min) fps ∼49%
GeForce GT 740M, 4200M
HP Envy 15-j011sg
9.8 (7min) fps ∼9%
11.8 (9min) fps ∼15%
28.8 (21min) fps ∼30%
52.2 (39min) fps ∼53%
Radeon HD 8650G, A10-5750M, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU
Pumori Test Platform (A10-5750M)
9.9 (7min) fps ∼12%
24.3 (15min) fps ∼26%
42.6 (28min) fps ∼43%
GeForce GT 630M, 3720QM, Seagate Momentus 7200.5 ST9750420AS
Asus N56VM
7.9 (5min) fps ∼7%
9.5 (7min) fps ∼12%
26.4 (17min) fps ∼28%
47 (35min) fps ∼47%
GeForce GT 720M, 4200M, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPVX-22JC3T0
MSI CX61-i572M
8.1 (0min) fps ∼10%
19.3 (0min) fps ∼20%
27.2 (0min) fps ∼27%
HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ
Schenker W503
6.4 (5min) fps ∼6%
8.3 (7min) fps ∼10%
23.8 (19min) fps ∼25%
41.8 (35min) fps ∼42%
HD Graphics 4000, 3720QM
Asus N56VM
7.2 (5min) fps ∼9%
17.6 (9min) fps ∼19%
36.4 (24min) fps ∼37%
HD Graphics 3000, 2637M, Lite-On LMT-256M3M
Acer Aspire M3-581TG
3.4 (0min) fps ∼3%
4.3 (0min) fps ∼5%
9.5 (6min) fps ∼10%
17 (13min) fps ∼17%

Test Systems

Four of our test models came from Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

  • W504 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 860M, GTX 870M, GTX 880M, Radeon R9 M290X)
  • W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M)
  • M504 (Core i5-4340M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 850M)
  • M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M)

These laptops ran with Windows 7 64 bit on a 480 GB Crucial M500, provided by Micron.

A further model, provided by Nvidia, was used:

  • HP Envy 15-j011sg (Core i5-4200M, 12 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 740M)

GPU driver: Nvidia 340.52, AMD 14.7 RC3 Beta, Intel 10.18.10.3652 Beta

We also ran benchmarks on other notebooks which may use different drivers.

Overview

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 Risen 3: Titan Lords (2014)
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Low, Off
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Qualcomm Adreno 304
AMD Radeon Pro 560
Qualcomm Adreno 302
AMD Radeon HD 6850M
AMD Radeon HD 6830M
AMD Radeon HD 6310
AMD Radeon HD 6320
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low med. high ultra
AMD Radeon 760M
AMD Radeon 680M
AMD Radeon HD 6775G2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
35.25n2
35.2n3
35n3
41.3n3
NVIDIA RTX A5500 Laptop GPU
AMD Radeon Pro 455
AMD Radeon Pro 555X
AMD Radeon HD 6650M
AMD Radeon Pro 5500M
AMD Radeon Pro 5300M
AMD Radeon HD 6680G2
AMD Radeon HD 6690G2
AMD Radeon HD 6480G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6250
AMD FirePro W5130M
AMD Radeon HD 7430M
AMD Radeon HD 7350M
AMD Radeon HD 7370M
AMD Radeon HD 7340
AMD Radeon HD 7290
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Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 SLI (Laptop)
Intel UHD Graphics 64EUs (Alder Lake 12th Gen)
NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
Nvidia RTX 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
Intel UHD Graphics 630
NVIDIA GeForce 920M
46.8
26.4
11
9.1
Intel HD Graphics 2500
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX
NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT SLI
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6250
NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA RTX 3000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA Quadro T2000 Max-Q
NVIDIA Quadro T1000 (Laptop)
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PowerVR SGX543MP3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M SLI
PowerVR SGX535
NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation Laptop GPU
NVIDIA Titan RTX
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AMD Radeon HD 6730M
Qualcomm Adreno 225
AMD Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
AMD Radeon HD 6480G
AMD Radeon Graphics (Ryzen 7000)
AMD Radeon 780M
AMD Radeon 630
AMD Radeon 625
AMD FirePro M8900
AMD FirePro W5170M
AMD Radeon 520
AMD Radeon HD 6630M
AMD Radeon HD 7500G
AMD Radeon HD 6450M
AMD Radeon HD 6290
AMD Radeon 740M
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AMD FirePro W4190M
AMD Radeon 540X
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
43.05n2
49.05n2
27.6n2
21.35n2
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M
AMD Radeon Pro 460
AMD Radeon HD 6540G2
AMD Radeon HD 6545G2
AMD Radeon HD 6870M
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AMD Radeon HD 6530M
AMD Radeon HD 7640G
AMD Radeon HD 6950M
AMD Radeon HD 7640G + HD 7610M Dual Graphics
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AMD Radeon HD 6550M
NVIDIA T600 Laptop GPU
NVIDIA GeForce 920MX
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q
NVIDIA Quadro P4200
AMD Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6520G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon HD 6550D
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AMD Radeon Pro 555
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GT
AMD Radeon Pro 5600M
AMD Radeon Pro 560X
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20
AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100
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AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
NVIDIA GeForce GT 445M
AMD Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire
AMD Radeon HD 6990M
AMD Radeon HD 6970M
AMD Radeon HD 6970
AMD Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire
ATI Radeon HD 5570
AMD Radeon HD 7660G + HD 7670M Dual Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon X800
ATI Radeon IGP 340M
ATI Mobility Radeon X700
ATI Radeon IGP 320M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 435M
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NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G
NVIDIA GeForce 830M
50
28.1
12.4
10.6
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 320M
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation
NVIDIA GeForce 825M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 420M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 415M
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
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NVIDIA GeForce GT 625M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
52.2
28.8
11.8
9.8
NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 735M
NVIDIA Quadro P5000
NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M
27.2
19.3
8.1
NVIDIA Quadro P3200
AMD Radeon HD 6720G2
AMD Radeon HD 6515G2
AMD Radeon HD 6510G2
PowerVR GE8300
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 (Laptop)
Qualcomm Adreno 205
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q
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NVIDIA Titan X Pascal
NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 Max-Q
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PowerVR GXA6850
PowerVR GX6450
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PowerVR GM9446
PowerVR GE8322 / IMG8322
PowerVR SGX544
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AMD Radeon R5 M420
AMD Radeon HD 6520G
AMD Radeon HD 6470M
AMD Radeon HD 6750M
AMD Radeon HD 6490M
AMD Radeon 660M
AMD FirePro W4170M
AMD FirePro W2100
AMD Radeon HD 6370M
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AMD Radeon HD 6350M
AMD Radeon HD 6330M
AMD Radeon 620
AMD Radeon 610
AMD Radeon 610M
AMD FirePro W4100
AMD FirePro M5950
AMD FirePro M4000
AMD FirePro M6100
AMD FirePro M3900
AMD FirePro M4100
AMD Radeon 530
AMD FirePro M2000
AMD Radeon HD 6770M
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AMD Radeon HD 6790
AMD FirePro M6000
AMD Radeon Pro W6800
NVIDIA RTX A4500 Laptop GPU
AMD FirePro M5100
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI
35.2
35.2
35
37.6
AMD Radeon HD 6645G2
AMD Radeon HD 6760G2
NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
ATI Radeon HD 5850
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop)
NVIDIA Quadro P3000 Max-Q
AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
57.6
68.1
79.7
90.2
AMD Radeon HD 6870
40.7
32
AMD FirePro W7170M
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AMD Radeon HD 6430M
AMD Radeon HD 6380G
AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri)
AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)
AMD Radeon HD 7310
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
AMD Radeon HD 6620G + HD 7450M Dual Graphics
AMD Radeon R5 M335
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AMD Radeon PRO W6600M
AMD Radeon R5 M430
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 150M
AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
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PowerVR SGX545
AMD Radeon HD 8970M
AMD Radeon HD 6640G2
AMD Radeon Pro 450
AMD Radeon HD 6620G
Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580
(-) * Smaller values are better. / n123 Number of benchmarks for this median value / * Approximate position

 

Legend
5Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.
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Florian Glaser, 2014-08-25 (Update: 2021-05-18)