Review: Sacred 2 Fallen Angel

Initially, the premise of action-RPGs seems like a recipe for success. Create a character, customize him or her, begin an epic quest, slaughter hordes of enemies, level up and find better equipment. On paper, there’s something for everyone. Sacred 2 is one such action-RPG from German developer Ascaron. The first game managed to garner a certain degree of success and the sequel was originally released on PC last year. Since then, Sacred 2 has been redesigned for next-gen consoles and attempts to recreate the same hack-n-slash experience for PS3 and X360.

Right from the outset, the impression is clear that this is a game that looks promising on the surface, but lacks polish and attention to detail. Character creation presents several different character classes, but no part of the selection screen informs you as to how the play style differs between them. The only clue provided to you is a vocal introduction from each individual which explains their role in the vaguest of terms. Things do not really improve after you have made your selection as the only customisation choices are two different hair styles and a handful of different hair colours. Even this seems pointless when you begin the game as the choices you made revert to the default stock for the intro cut scene.

If you start the game solo, it quickly becomes clear that you've done something wrong. This game was meant to be played with friends. If you came looking for engaging quest lines or interesting NPCs, you’ve chosen the wrong game. The aforementioned quests for the most part are not compelling and, at worst, broken. At one juncture my druid was asked by a pair of hardy woodsmen to help hunt down a stag. Since there is no visible way to turn down a quest once offered, I complied, tracking down the stag with hunters in tow. Upon finding the beast, my hunting companions announced they were ready to bring down the animal, whereupon it promptly disappeared.

While I was puzzling over this occurrence my once friendly entourage began to beat me to death with swords. Confused, I fended them off, to be rewarded with a short dialogue about how killing wildlife is evil and they promised to change their ways in future. After some thought I could see what the design team were getting at here, despite the bizarre execution, but this moral lesson was thrown out the window after I walked ten feet down the road and promptly slaughtered fifty wolves. Unfortunately, several of the early quests follow this bewildering structure and at times it is genuinely difficult to keep track of what you are meant to be doing.

There is some hope yet however. The open world setting presented here serves to relieve some of the apathy that the humdrum quest lines instil. Opening the map for the first time, you cannot help but be impressed by the sheer size of the world around you. The game area spans on for miles and zooming in allows you to plan routes to the farthest reaches of Ancaria. The game world itself is visually impressive, with rippling water and lush forests surrounding your starting area, although this is let down by a chugging frame rate and a rather abrupt clipping fog that has not been seen since the early Turok games.

Sacred 2 is meant to be played with friends, and it is in its local co-op and online modes where the game really comes in to its own. Most of the flaws that make the game hard to like in Single Player are washed away when you’re brutalizing the landscape with a trusted friend or two. All your characters persist between games and can even share equipment, meaning that if you find a rare item which your main character can’t use, you can save it for an alter ego to wield. However, even here in co-op mode there are design decisions that seem baffling. Loot drop assignment seems random and unequal, and if you are playing with a friend on the same console, it’s impossible to trade items. This leads to some awkward moments after the druid picks up her third piece of heavy armour and apologetically shoves it into her backpack while the Shadow Warrior stands shivering in his starting gear.

Sacred 2 is an experience that gives a good first impression but falls apart under scrutiny. There are too many flaws to really recommend it and the only redeeming feature I could draw your attention to is that there exists comparatively few action RPGs for next gen consoles at the moment. As a multiplayer game, it can provide some entertaining moments with some like-minded friends. As a single player RPG, it is deeply flawed.