Way back in 2004 Ascaron release a game called Sacred that made gamers feel like it was 1997 all over again and they were playing a high-resolution version of the classic Diablo. However, when it was released the game was a complete mess, and there was a general sense of negativity regarding this game in specific and the state of PC gaming in general. Then something amazing happened – Ascaron worked tirelessly to patch the game to the point where it became a favorite online hack & slash experience. They also released the ‘Plus Pack’ that was planned as a for-sale add-on for free – earning more good-will along the way.
Fast-forward four years and it feels like history is repeating itself: Ascaron releases Sacred 2 in Europe in the Fall to a general feeling that there is a good game hidden somewhere in all of the bugs. The reviews fell in the range of mediocre to average, and there was a general sense of disappointment that we were going through it all again. Two patches have arrived since that release – massive patches totalling more than a gigabyte in size! Patching problems have also been reported far and wide, particularly related to security / DRM changes that block the patch if they detect certain file changes in an attempt to prevent piracy … but as is the case so many times, they simply end up penalizing legal customers.
The DRM & patch issues warrant further examination: the game has a ‘one install active at a time’ policy. That seems strict, but in reality it is more reasonable than the ‘5 and done’ system used by EA. First off, if you install the game and don’t activate it, you are essentially getting a 24-hour full-featured demo. This is a great compromise, since it lets you have a full feel for the game, and since you cannot nearly complete the campaign in 24 hours anyway it really does work as a demo. Once you choose to activate, the game is locked to that particular PC, meaning that you need to uninstall to ‘revoke’ the activation before installing on another PC or selling/trading the game. Patching the game has proven interesting – I pretty much lost a weekend of potential gaming to the process. After downloading ~1.2GB of files, I had to wait hours while they authenticated everything, then a while longer for the actual patching process to complete. Then I had to repeat it for the second patch. So after installing the game on a Friday and downloading the patches on Saturday morning, I would visit my PC occasionally on Saturday and Sunday until I got everything patched up before finally starting. I can only imagine how I would feel if there had been problems!
At this point you are probably wondering how I manage to start things this way and end up with a ‘Buy It’ recommendation! Well, read on and see …
Sacred 2 tells the story of Ancaria two millennia prior to the events of the original Sacred. There is a power struggle at hand based on the mysterious T-energy that is the source of all life and magic. Originally the Seraphim controlled the energy and used it for good, but over time they allowed a share of that power to go to the High Elves … who in time used it to become the dominant race in Ancaria. Of course, the High Elves begin to quarrel amongst themselves over the use of the T-energy, allowing other races to join the struggle for control of the T-energy and therefore become the dominant force. As this is going on, something happens that causes the T-energy flow to become increasingly destructive, mutating creatures and causing hostility and chaos to spread across the realms. Being this is a fantasy RPG, that is the point at which you get to enter the story!
There are two campaigns – Light and Shadow – and you choose which one to pursue from the beginning. Well, that is only partly true – you choose from a cast of six potential characters, one of whom represent ‘good’ and therefore take you down the Light path (Seraphim) and another who represents ‘evil’ and forces you on the Shadow path (Inquisitor). With the other four you can choose Light or Shadow, depending on whether you want to heal the land or further the forces of chaos. Either way you’ll engage in a constant stream of killing loads of things interrupted by occasionally talking to folks to get new reasons to kill specific things. You also get to specify your deity, but not much else.
Let me be clear – Sacred 2 won’t be winning any originality contests. It is a straight action-RPG in the grand tradition of Diablo, whose lineage includes games such as Diablo II, the original Sacred, and Titan Quest. Sacred 2 has taken elements from all of those games and improved upon its predecessor in nearly every way. The game is still played from an isometric perspective, but the engine is fully 3D and as such you get much more control over the view. You can zoom in and out, rotate, tilt and so on.
Sacred 2 is a huge game – in terms of content as well as size. The world is open and you can go anywhere — just like in the original — and the size is estimated at 22 square miles. The main quest reportedly contains over a hundred quests, with hundreds of side-quests available to any character, as well as character-specific quests and quests related to the chosen deity. While I did not go through and count them all, the sheer volume of quests listed in my log gave me no reason to debate these numbers. Generally the quests are simple and straight-forward – go there, get this, kill that – but occasionally there are multi-stage quests. The range of types and difficulty of quests is also very satisfying. I can’t over-state that, because in a game that is all about the kill-loot-quest-advance cycle, it is easy to slide into boredom. Fortunately the quests and the NPCs handing them out are varied and keep you engaged.
Character development is also done much as it was in the original, but the interface has been streamlined – but in a good way. Skills are spelled out more completely and the skill tree works very nicely. Weapons are slotted in the same way as the original, which allows you to improve them with items you find along the way. New skills and spells are learned using runes you will find as you adventure, and finding multiples will allow you to gain more levels. Everything is specific to your character – so if you are playing a Seraphim and find a rune for an Inquisitor, you can simply sell it off. This sets a fairly tight box around the way you gain active skills, but given the limitations to how you can advance and learn passive skills it actually works quite well.
As I said, the core elements of the game are very similar to the original – you have a left-click attack and a right-click skill which can also be an attack. As you advance in levels you gain more active slot areas to swap between, making it easier to access different ways to defeat enemies – which will be needed as you progress! You will learn which enemies are resistant to certain types of attacks and learn what works. As you progress your enemies will also advance – but this is done in the ‘right’ way, unlike Oblivion.
Of course, for many fans of the action-RPG genre, the single player mode is like a tutorial, while the multiplayer is what will keep them going for years. The original game is still actively played by many (as is Diablo 2 for that matter!), and Ascaron has delivered an excellent online experience that will keep folks playing for quite a while. There were some initial issues with the lobby system, ping and matchmaking, but the patches seem to have worked most of those out. Featuring up to 16 players, the online mode allows you to gather up with a bunch of people to complete quests – it is not on the scale of MMO’s, but it definitely delivers a fun time for a group of like-minded gamers.
I cannot stress enough just how much fun this game is – so long as you enter with your eyes open. This is not The Witcher – don’t be looking for writing or dialogue or a plot of epic scope. There is plenty of stuff to do, humor throughout, some interesting things to uncover, but mostly it is about taking on a huge amount of quests with nearly unlimited freedom as to how you approach them, and killing all sorts of enemies along the way. It is a blast, and I highly recommend it!
Pros:
+ Looks great
+ Huge area to explore
+ An absolute blast to play
+ 16-player multiplayer is huge
Cons:
– Not enough playable characters / customization
– Patching process is extremely frustrating
– Still too much bugginess
Game Info:
Platform: PC
Publisher: cdv Software Entertainment USA
Developer: Ascaron Entertainment
Release Date: 11/11/08
Genre: Action-RPG
ESRB Rating: Mature
Players: 1-16
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives! 
Mike, thanks for the review. I’m glad Sacred 2 is as good as the original since that was one of my favorite games. But PLEASE stop saying Sacred was a Diablo-type game. It was not. I absolutely HATE Diablo 2, Dungeon Seige 2, and Titan Quest and could not stand to play more than about 20% of each of those games. But I played Sacred to completion FIVE times! I loved it. I recall that even on the box they had comment saying something like “this game is not like Diablo!” They were right. The main difference is that it is copmpletely open, which I practically insist upon in a RPG, while the Diablo-type games are terribly geographically linear, which I hate. Also they have that stupid incremental item system that I also hate. And the story-lines are just boring. Sacred had its faults, but it was a million times better in every way than any Diablo-type game. I can’t wait to play Sacred 2, but with those impossibly huge patch downloads (and I have dial-up!) I will probably wait for them to hopefully publish a completely patched “gold” edition. They did for the original.
I am no fan of Diablo – in fact, my wife gave it to me in ’96 when it was released, after having been a FPS-only guy for years (and not having played a RPG since the early 80’s Apple ][+ stuff). I hated it enough that the next RPG I bought was the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights in summer of 2003. But I cannot see that there is any way to dispute that Sacred falls in the direct lineage of Diablo – action-RPG with lite RPG elements, lite quests, focus on loot, and so on. But at the same time I agree – I went back replayed the Diablo games in 2006 and *still* didn’t like them, but liked Sacred quite a bit!
I also like Titan Quest and Dungeon Siege 2 – which has much better RPG elements and story than any of the games we’ve mentioned. Dungeon Siege 1, however, is only good for playing Ultima V Lazarus.
I’m with Mike on this one. Sacred 2 is clearly a game in the Diablo lineage and don’t see how anyone can dispute the similarities. All modern action-RPGs are modeled after Diablo in some form. That said, there are subtle differences, and I agree, Sacred 2 is better than the Diablo games mainly because the world is so open. Frankly, the Diablo series is one of the most overrated in all of gaming in my opinion. It deserves respect for putting the genre on the map, but many of the games it inspired are far better and I sorta think it gets treated so favorably because it’s a Blizzard game. Maybe the third time will be the charm when Diablo 3 comes out, it certainly looks great so far.
But anyways, back to Sacred 2- dead on review, Mike. I love action-RPGs like this to mix things up between more demanding, story-driven RPGs. Sometimes I just want to sit down, hack up some monsters and collect loot without getting bogged down in lengthy exposition, and this type of game is perfect for that. The story is crap, but the gameplay is just good ol’ mindless hack-n-slash fun. I’ll definitely be sinking more into it once the console versions arrive.
And hey, while we’re on the topic of these action-RPG clickfests, how’d you guys like Loki? That’s been one of my favs in recent memory, more of the sleeper of the bunch. Not up with Sacred 2, but I’d probably put it in the next tier with the likes of Titan Quest.
I did play Loki, but didn’t think as much of it – my review is here (http://www.gamingwithchildren.com/2008-03-16/review-loki-heroes-of-mythology-pc/) and I gave it 2.5 / 5, which would translate into a ‘Skip It’.
Titan Quest, on the other hand, I liked quite a bit.
Yikes, harsh review there lol. Definitely fair though. It is one grinding game and that plodding style certainly isn’t for everyone. I enjoyed the challenge of it all though and liked the blending of the different mythologies. But you are correct, it does seem to just keep dragging on and on.
I agree with Mike as well.
I just started playing WoW and it has 1.8 gb of patches too, so big patches seem to be the norm nowadays.
I have been playing this game for a while now and to be honest I was really surprised by it. I’ve played Titan Quest and Diablo I/II for a short period and have dropped all three of those titles about 20 % through the game.
Sacred 2 has that element of fun that IMHO has been missing from a number of games.
I can’t wait until this comes out on the 360!!
Problem today is any RPG that is isometric seems to be reviewed as a game that has just copied Diablo, and then lists all the way it is different! Diablo truly was a hack’n’slash game, meaning it also had a shallow story, little in the way of NPC’s and no real side quests to talk of. Sacred 1 and 2 are real-time, isometric RPG’s plain and simple.
I truly believe if Fallout 1 was released this year it would be called a Diablo clone or a game that has copied Diablo. It would also be called an action-RPG. I do not know how deep an isometric cRPG would have to be in terms of stats and side quests and exploration, etc for reviewers not to mention Diablo!
This review is old, but I am going to post anyway. The review really only covers the single player aspect. There is no multiplayer for most of us as I have seen thousands of posts complaining that when attempting to play multiplayer they get “invalid activation code” errors. I get the same thing. That alone ruins the game for me as I bought it because I had so much fun playing Sacred in multiplayer. Therefore, I, along with many others will sink this game below it’s meager 7.0 average rating on as many game sites as we can.