The first Risen surprised the hell out of a lot of people, becoming a cult favorite RPG despite its numerous problems. It's unclear if the second one addresses the many quirks of the original, but either way it should please the more hardcore out there looking for an experience ripe with options.

We want to tell the story like a book, which makes it necessary to define the character in advance. This enables us to describe the character's development and inter-personal relationships better.