Sacred

Well, if there’s one thing that us RPG gamers have come to get used to, it’s seeing “Diablo style gameplay” in front of every top down, ¾ perspective game that hits shelves ranging from Harbinger to Blade and Sword (yep, I made that comment in the review of both of those). Unfortunately, none of them ever really seem to live up to the addictive gameplay of Diablo, nor the overall fun level, so the impact of making that statement doesn’t really carry as much water today as it once did … you know, kind of like the boy who cried wolf. Rarely, a similar playing game will come out though that seems to capture a lot of the fun qualities referred to by making a comment like “Diablo meets …” or “if you like Diablo then … “, and Ascaron has seemed to have tapped into one with a new title that is in the works called Sacred.

Sacred mimics the popular Diablo series in overall control, layout, camera, and hacking monsters until they explode or collapse dead. Left clicking or holding down the left mouse button moves your character around the screen, picks up items, attacks enemies, or talks to NPC’s. Also, the right mouse button activates spells or items (like healing potions, which are represented as a small icon under the character’s portrait) … standard stuff that any player of these types of games should be used to and should be ready to hop right in and get rolling on quickly. In addition, the six characters are pre-generated as they were in Diablo and Diablo II, and consist of some really cool selections like the Gladiator (strong melee), Dark Elf (assassin style character), Seraphim (magic and fast combat moves), Wood Elf (ranged attacker), Battle Mage (the ultimate magic user and good melee skills), and the Vampiress (Great close combat by day, vicious beast of prey by night). From there, the rest of the game really stands out and breaks off from that typical “trying to be something that’s been done before” mode that we’re all used to seeing though, and falls in line between originality and a similar style to one of my all time favorite games … Arcanum.

For starters, Sacred contains over 30 quests to give you something to do at all times, and over 200 side quests to break storyline monotony and allow you to earn some gold and experience out on the side. These consist mostly of escort, delivery, find an item or person, or kill a monster style quests. The good news is that you have plenty to do, the even better news is that if you just don’t feel like doing quests at all you can just roam around the countryside taking out monsters, finding hidden portals and hiding places (which contain great loot, money, etc.), and just exploring a created world that really impressed me due to how unbelievably large it was. Also, this giant world that you get to explore on is about 75% accessible from the beginning, so even if you choose to just be a free spirit for a while you won’t have to worry about seeing everything in a day (or even a week for that matter).

Secondly, the inventory and level up systems were very well done and added something that definitely helps out a lot in these kinds of games … ease of use. At the bottom of the screen, there is what is best referred to as “quickslot circles” where different weapon / shield combos can be placed and easily selected both in battle and out by simply left clicking. For example, you can use a bow to hit enemies from a distance then just click the quickslot where your sword and shield are set when they move into melee range to easily keep combat flowing and not have to worry about fumbling around to find your inventory button. Spells work the same way too thankfully, so firing off a fireball at one enemy and then casting stoneskin on yourself is easy and safer than any other alternative I’ve seen so far. In addition, you can even build and set your own combo system attacks as you see fit, so pulling off a normal attack, then a special move, then another normal attack (for example) is as easy as hitting one button. Basically, Ascaron has all of their bases covered here to make combat and magic easy and fun all the way around.

Both graphics and sound are solid, even in the early beta stages of the game. The music has a nice medieval tone to it that adds to the environment, and voices or growls of monsters sounded good all the way around. The graphics for the characters and the enemies both were fluid and looked nice, and changing armor or weapons reflects on the character and changes his or her looks. The animation was also good while the character was on horseback, which can be done in Sacred, and even looked nice when fighting from horseback (oh yes, you can now literally charge into battle and stay on the horse). The environments also stay in the same “looks great” vein as well, with nicely populated little towns and farming villages or cities, dense forests, and dark and foreboding areas and caves to cautiously explore just to name a few. There were also some nice touches added in like forest creatures that will dart out of bushes as you walk by or even children who will gather and run around you in cities asking lots and lots of questions or calling you names.

Overall, I have to say that even in it’s beta stages I couldn’t tear myself away from playing Sacred even when I had some other things to do. I quickly found myself isolated from family now and then or staying up WAY later than I needed to because I just couldn’t quit playing it, but to its credit that’s the kind of game that you don’t mind paying for when it hits the store shelves. For anyone who’s looking for the next best thing in the top down RPG market, Sacred is shaping up to provide just that. It takes the simplicity and hack and slash of Diablo, the huge environment, tons of missions, and open ended play of Arcanum, adds in a bunch of its own creativity and great control layouts, shakes it up, and serves out one heck of a fun and addictive title. People play and talk about Diablo years after its release … and Sacred looks to be one of those games that will not only do the same, but be the next title that games get referred to in comparison.