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Risen (video Game)
''Risen'' is an action role-playing game developed by the German company Piranha Bytes and published by Deep Silver. The first title in the ''Risen'' series, it was released internationally for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in October 2009, with a North American release for Xbox 360 in February 2010. Ports for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were released in January 2023. The game tells the narrative of an unnamed player character's adventures in Faranga, a mountainous fictitious island ruled by the ruthless High Inquisitor Mendoza. Mendoza knows about a temple that leads to the interior of an erupting volcano dominating the island, and the player character follows Mendoza's instructions to get entry to it. The temple is home to ancient beings known as Titans, which Mendoza attempts to control in order to strengthen himself. ''Risen'' received mostly positive reviews, with acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and voice acting, but criticism for the poor Xbox 360 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piranha Bytes
Piranha Bytes GmbH is a German video game developer based in Essen. Founded in 1997, it is best known for their ''Gothic'' and '' Risen'' series of role-playing video games. The studio is a subsidiary of THQ Nordic and, as of August 2021, employs 33 people. History Alex Brüggemann, Michael "Mike" Hoge, Stefan Nyul, and Tom Putzki founded Piranha Bytes in Bochum in 1997, incorporating it as Piranha Bytes Software GmbH. In 1999, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of the German publisher Phenomedia. Piranha Bytes' first game, ''Gothic'', was released in 2001. Shortly thereafter, Brüggemann left the company to work on smaller game projects, eventually designing '' The Settlers: Rise of an Empire''. He died on 19 January 2013 after a long illness. Following a financial scandal at Phenomedia, the parent company filed for insolvency in May 2002. Piranha Bytes' management performed a management buyout, concluded in September that year, and transferred the studio's trade ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catacombs
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred to as ''catacombs'' was the system of underground tombs between the 2nd and 3rd milestones of the Appian Way in Rome, where the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul, among others, were said to have been buried. The name of that place in Late Latin was L.L. fem. nom. pl. n. ''catacumbas'' (sing. ''catacumba'') a word of obscure origin, possibly deriving from a proper name or a derivation of the Latin phrase ''catatumbas'', "among the tombs". The word referred originally only to the Roman catacombs, but was extended by 1836 to refer to any subterranean receptacle of the dead, as in the 18th-century Paris catacombs. The ancient Christians carved the first catacombs from soft tufa rock. (ref)" (World Book Encyclopedia, page 296) All Roman ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spell (paranormal)
An incantation, a spell, a charm, an enchantment or a bewitchery, is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial rituals or prayers. In the world of magic, wizards, witches, and fairies allegedly perform incantations. In medieval literature, folklore, fairy tales, and modern fantasy fiction, enchantments are charms or spells. This has led to the terms "enchanter" and "enchantress" for those who use enchantments. The English language borrowed the term "incantation" from Old French in the late 14th century; the corresponding Old English term was ''gealdor'' or '' galdor'', "song, spell", cognate to ON galdr. The weakened sense "delight" (compare the same development of "charm") is modern, first attested in 1593 (OED). Words of incantation are often spoken with inflection and emphasis on the words being said. The tone and rhyme of how the word ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.Principe, Lawrence M. The secrets of alchemy'. University of Chicago Press, 2012, pp. 9–14. Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical ''magnum opus'' ("Great Work"). The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithing
A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a hammer (forging) is the archetypical component of smithing. Often the hammering is done while the metal is hot, having been heated in a forge. Smithing can also involve the other aspects of metalworking, such as refining metals from their ores (traditionally done by smelting), casting it into shapes (founding), and filing to shape and size. The prevalence of metalworking in the culture of recent centuries has led ''Smith'' and its equivalents in various languages to be a common occupational surname (German Schmidt or Schmied, Portuguese Ferreiro, Ferreira, French Lefèvre, Spanish Herrero, Italian Fabbri, Ferrari, Ferrero, Ukrainian Koval etc.). As a suffix, ''-smith'' connotes a meaning of a specialized craftsperson—for example, ''w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lock Picking
Lock picking is the practice of unlocking a lock by manipulating the components of the lock device without the original key. Although lock-picking can be associated with criminal intent, it is an essential skill for the legitimate profession of locksmithing, and is also pursued by law-abiding citizens as a useful skill to learn, or simply as a hobby (locksport). In some countries, such as Japan, lock-picking tools are illegal for most people to possess, but in many others, they are available and legal to own as long as there is no intent to use them for criminal purposes. History Locks by definition secure or fasten something with the intention that access is possible only with the matching key. Despite this, criminal lock picking likely started with the first locks. Famed locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs said in the mid-1800s: Professional and recreational lock picking also has a long history. King Louis XVI of France (1754–1793) was a keen designer, picker, and man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pickpocketing
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for Misdirection (magic), misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket. As an occupation Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply distraction, such as asking a question or bumping into the victim. These distractions sometimes require sleight of hand, speed, misdirection and other types of skills. Pickpockets may be found in any crowded place around the world. However, Barcelona and Rome were recently singled out as being particularly dangerous pickpocket havens. Thieves have been known to operate in high traffic areas such as mass transit stations, even boarding subway trains so they can use the distractions of crowds and sudden stop-and-go movements from the train to steal from others. As soon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Easter Egg (media)
File:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg, 250px, An image that reveals an Easter egg when the hedgehog is clicked or tapped. Another Easter egg can be found in a tooltip when a mouse pointer is hovered over the hedgehog. rect 455 383 550 434 I am a hedgehog, NOT an egg! desc none An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or another, usually electronic, medium. The term used in this manner was coined around 1979 by Steve Wright, the then-Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game ''Adventure'', in reference to an Easter egg hunt. The earliest known video game Easter egg is in '' Moonlander'' (1973), in which the player tries to land a Lunar module on the moon; if the player opts to fly the module horizontally through several of the game's screens, they encounter a McDonald's restaurant, and if they land next to it the astronaut will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Credits Roll
Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a work. A full set of credits can include the cast and crew, but also production sponsors, distribution companies, works of music licensed or written for the work, various legal disclaimers, such as copyright and more. Typically, the closing credits appear in white lettering on a solid black background, often with a musical background. Credits are either a series of static frames, or a single list that scrolls from the bottom of the screen to the top. Occasionally closing credits will divert from this standard form to scroll in another direction, include illustrations, extra scenes, bloopers, joke credits, or post-credits scenes. The use of closing credits in film to list complete production crew and the cast was not firmly established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by supernatural means, technology, or disease. In some cases (for example in Dungeons & Dragons) the term also includes incorporeal forms of the dead, such as ghosts. The undead are featured in the belief systems of most cultures, and appear in many works of fantasy and horror fiction. The term is also occasionally used for real-life attempts to resurrect the dead with science and technology, from early experiments like Robert E. Cornish's to future sciences such as "chemical brain preservation" and "cryonics." History Bram Stoker considered using the title, ''The Un-Dead'', for his novel '' Dracula'' (1897), and use of the term in the novel is mostly responsible for the modern sense of the word. The word does appear in English before Stoker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curse
A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, "curse" may refer to such a wish or pronouncement made effective by a supernatural or spiritual power, such as a god or gods, a spirit, or a natural force, or else as a kind of spell by magic (usually black magic) or witchcraft; in the latter sense, a curse can also be called a hex or a jinx. In many belief systems, the curse itself (or accompanying ritual) is considered to have some causative force in the result. To reverse or eliminate a curse is sometimes called "removal" or "breaking", as the spell has to be dispelled, and often requires elaborate rituals or prayers. Types The study of the forms of curses comprises a significant proportion of the study of both folk religion and folklore. The deliberate attempt to levy curses is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, also known as an enchanter/enchantress, mage, magic-user, archmage, sorcerer/sorceress, spell-caster, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games, and enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore. Character archetypes In medieval chivalric romance, the wizard often appears as a wise old man and acts as a mentor, with Merlin from the ''King Arthur'' stories being a prime example. Wizards such as Gandalf in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and Albus Dumbledore from ''Harry Potter'' are also featured as mentors, and Merlin remains prominent as both an educative force and mentor in modern works of Arthuriana. Other magicians, such as Saruman from ''The Lord of the Rings'' or Lord Voldemort from ''Harry Potter'', can appear as hostile villains. Villainous sorcerers were so crucial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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