Piractical action-RPG sequel Risen 2: Dark Waters will use Steamworks for its copy protection on PC, publisher Deep Silver has announced. It'll be the only DRM used in both retail and digital copies.

Being a Steamworks games means that all copies of Risen 2 bought anywhere other than Steam, whether retail or digital, will need to be activated on a Steam account to play. After that, you won't need your discs, CD key, or anything again, as it'll be tied to that Steam account. Permanently tied. In return, you'll get auto-updating, achievements, and all Steam's other fancy features.

Deep Silver explained that it has "diligently reviewed many solutions in the last couple of years," judged by the following criteria:

• Security: The copy protection scheme in question has to be very secure for the customer as well as the publisher.

• Compatibility: The technology has to be compatible with all hardware components out there.

• Comfort: The protection has to add value to the player aside to its protective behaviour.

• Support: The technology has to provide us the means to help customers if the product is not behaving in the expected manner.

• Reliability: The scheme has to be proven stable over multiple years and many products.

Risen 2: Dark Waters is developed by Piranha Bytes, the studio which created Gothic and made the first three games in the fantasy RPG series--not ArcaniA: Gothic 4. It'll swashbuckle onto PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Keep your eyes on the horizon, as there's no sign of a release date yet.