Sacred review

Sacred is descended from a long line of hack and slash games whose lineage has included such notable title as Rogue, Diablo and Dungeon Siege – in which hitting stuff very hard for extended periods of time takes precedence over more cerebral role-playing staples such as, err… role play.

Here be Dragons

Sacred strolled into the Forest of Quiet Brooding, making his first tentative steps to capture the Cup of Power from Evil Wizard…

Sacred suffers from the effects of a spell of unoriginality. The ‘plot’ is basic fantasy tosh, whilst ‘characters’ consist of stiffly stereotyped fantasy familiars, offering only a wafer thin pretext for beastie clobbering.

In terms of bad guy populace, we’re tolkien, ahem talking, about the usual collection of orcs, dragons and assorted other giant winged/crawly things, who wander the lands of Ancaria with scant regard for standard social practice. Choosing one of six pre-packaged heroes you fight through these evil minions, completing quests, gaining experience and trading goods; as the genre demands. Occasional a non-player character or two will tag along, but for the most part it’s just you travelling from A to B with a multitude of enemies standing in the way.

Clash of Steel

Fending off attackers from all directions Sacred’s twirling blade diced the enemy with seemingly little effort…

Sacred brandishes a sword of ease of use that makes adventuring as simple as possible; apparently having learnt a lesson or two in gameplay streamlining from Dungeon Siege. For example, quests clearly marked with bright pointy arrows on the map; right clicking on an item in your inventory to automatically equip it to the correct slot; and holding down the mouse button to attack an enemy continuously. Like other games in the genre, Sacred also carries an amulet of addictiveness (+1) that sees you pressing on (or clicking on to be more precise), despite having done the same thing for hours on end.

And you will need a few hours, as Ancaria’s hugeness is of Rick Waller proportions, only with a few more magical sword stashes hidden in its darker recesses. There are plenty of locations to explore from the wooded greens of Bellevue to the barren Zhurag-Nar (developers Ascaron have clearly been using the generic fantasy naming machine), each area rolling seamless into the other – no loading screens here.

Saving Roll

Sacred now faced its biggest challenge yet, the Deadly Bogs of Slight Irritation. As it sloshed through the undulating surface, its legs became caught in the bog’s muddy grip. As Sacred struggled to get free it found something was pulling it down into the dirty abyss…

Yes, Sacred is dragged down by its heavy armour of repetition, but it still has a few tricks up its studded brace to stop it coming to a mind-numbing halt. One of these is the introduction of ‘combat arts’, special moves triggered by the right mouse button that offer different attacking and defensive capabilities and that can later be linked into combos. Combat arts become integral to the combat, offering some variety to battles that would otherwise have been basic click-fests.
Beyond this, those looking for complexity or variety are advised to go elsewhere; if continuous combat doesn’t appeal to you, Sacred will quickly grow tiresome.

Pretty Dumb Fun

After felling yet another foul beast, Sacred took time out to check out its complexion in Quite Pleasant Lake…

Graphically Sacred has benefited from a high charisma roll. Visually it has plenty of detail and character, even if it has been geared more towards functionality rather than visual wonderment. A strong score adds to the presentational polish and helps you fell suitably heroic.

Although it doesn’t offer anything new, Sacred wields a metaphorical mace of monster mash with pride and panache. This is slick action adventuring with a lack of ambition but no shortage of charm.

Sacred stabs Evil Wizard. Evil Wizard dies. The End.