Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Preview
Thursday, September 18, 2008 – by Ryan Newcomb, Staff Writer

I recently got the opportunity to take a sneak peak at the upcoming title Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. The preview disk that Ascaron and CDV put together was rather impressive. After playing through the game’s single player mode, I can say with confidence that Sacred 2 has the potential to make a splash in the Action RPG community.

Other Action RPG games will look pale in comparison to Sacred 2’s stunning graphics and designs. The visuals are wonderfully complemented by a rich soundtrack that adds depth and beauty to the fantastical world of Ancaria. The detailed environments and landscapes the game’s characters inhabit will give players a romantic sense of Europe at the tip of a dark age. All of this, combined with a compelling story that centers on the races of Ancaria struggling with finding ways to resolve a worldwide energy crisis, shows us that the guys and gals at Ascaron have found a way to successfully mesh real life issues with video games to produce a title should be looked forward to with delightful anticipation.

Preview Highlights

From what I have gathered from playing the game, the storyline seems to reflect our own world’s current energy crisis. A powerful force known as T-Energy, a mysterious substance that can grant long life and extraordinary power, is at the center of everything. This mysterious energy has caused great destruction and many wars between the world’s different races, which are all vying for control of it when the game begins. World war looms like a shadow over Arcadia, and it is in this setting that players will attempt to gain control of T-Energy to either save the world or conquer it.

Fans of Blizzard’s Diablo series will feel right at home playing Sacred 2, and for those who have never played an Action RPG there shouldn’t be too much of a learning curve. Beginners will appreciate the simple point-and-click controls and veterans will find that the options presented in the game’s character development system to be nearly limitless.

In fact, Sacred 2 offers the most advanced system for character development and leveling that I’ve ever encountered. Each character has fifteen combat arts that are available (by purchasing, trading, or finding runes) from the moment the game starts. Each combat art is customizable by using the skills that a character develops during the game. The following is an example given by the developers:

"The High Elf may call down a meteor shower. At its initial level of specialization, a few meteors for light damage to multiple enemies are summoned. The meteor shower may be modified, however, so that fewer but more powerful meteors impact a limited number of enemies, or so that many small meteors do damage across a wide area to many opponents at once.”

This is done through a skill tree that is unique to every move, spell, and buff. It may seem a little complicated at first, but once it starts to make sense the possibilities to uniquely specialize your character are, well… fantastic. Speaking of characters, Sacred 2 offers six to choose from, each with a unique back-story and specialty. In addition, four of the characters may choose to either be good or evil (the other two represent pure good and pure evil, and may only play the proper campaign) and every character can choose from a variety of deities to follow that will offer unique benefits and side quests. Of the six characters, three are male and three are female.

Ladies first. The Seraphim is from an angelic warrior race that watches over the world of Ancaria. Being as such, players using her will only be able to play the good campaign. Don’t let her great stomach and striking eyes fool you: she is capable of curb stomping even the most powerful of demons while still sporting her high heels. She seems to be a fairly powerful character, combining speed with advanced technology and divine power to sustain a high damage per second rate. She also has cute wings.

The robust and arrogant High Elf character hails from an aristocratic background and is bent on maintaining her place in society. It’s refreshing to see that someone has finally taken a different approach to elves. Sacred 2’s High Elves resemble nothing out of a J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy cookbook, and they aren’t making toys in Santa’s workshop either. The High Elf race is surprisingly Greco-Roman. The High Elf character herself seems to be a “paladin-style” character. She balances spell casting elements with the melee talents of a warrior.

The Dryad character is from the same race, but part of a breakaway group that resembles certain aspects of Native American culture. Ranged attacks seem to be her chief strategy as blowguns are her weapons of choice, and she can call upon an array of nature spells, poisons, and powerful combat arts.

All three of the female characters seem to be relatively balanced, leaving a lot of room for skill tree customization. The male creatures might not look as hot as their counterparts, but they do bring a lot more raw power to the table. They seem to be more geared for certain roles than the ladies, so they probably aren’t as flexible in specialization as the gals.

The Inquisitor is the embodiment of evil, and will only be able to take part in the evil campaign. With his black hooded robe, greenish tinted skin, and glowing eyes he resembles the evil Emperor from Star Wars. Expect him to be the game’s most powerful spell caster.

The Shadow Warrior is an undead High Elf who was summoned back to Ancaria against his will. He relies on his superior melee combat skills and heavy armor, so for those who enjoy tanking, he is your dead-man.

Last but not least is the Temple Guardian, an Egyptian looking cyborg that was designed by the game’s gods to… you guessed it, guard temples. He is a little more balanced than his male companions, and utilizes advanced weapons and armor (such as his Mega Man blaster) and powerful energy attacks to defeat his adversaries.

There are several types of monsters and bosses in the game. I mostly encountered pirates and goblin-like creatures that harass the High Elf countryside. When the game hits the shelves, the developers promise a variety of enemies, including “wild life, reptiles, insects and arachnids, elementals, undead, lycanthropes, demons, dragons, and a broad range of humanoids and mutated forms thereof.” There will also be a boss to defeat at the end of each segment of the game’s main quest.

This game has a lot going for it, and with its release date not too far down the road, I hope to pick it up. The hints of the game’s storyline have been interesting, and I can’t wait to follow it while playing through the complete game. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to play the game online, but it will offer four different multiplayer modes when it comes out. There will of course be a Campaign Mode, where players can cooperatively follow the game’s story together. Free Mode, another cooperative option, is accordingly designed for power-leveling: players can roam the entire world unencumbered by the main storyline. There will also two Arena modes that will pit players against waves of enemies as well as each other to earn reputation points and bragging rights. Overall I think Sacred 2: Fallen Angel will go over well with Action RPG fans and anyone who has an interest in fantasy games, but nothing is certain until the finished product hits the shelves.