Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Review

Are you desperate for a RPG fix? Can’t wait for Dragon Age: Origins or Diablo III to hit the shelves? Then Sacred 2: Fallen Angels might just be the game you’ve been waiting for. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s most definitely quite an evolutionary step up from the original Sacred from Asacaron, which was quite successful with over 1.8 million copies sold. Being a role playing game (RPG) fan myself, I could not leave this game untouched and unreviewed; god knows my gaming addiction began with Diablo, one of the best RPGs ever made. Chances are that if you liked Sacred, you’re going to also like Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. The biggest differences between them are the vastly improved graphics and an even bigger playing map this time around.

Unlike most FPS’s you can’t just dive into an RPG, because there’s something called character creation. In Sacred 2 there are six different characters and whichever you choose will greatly affect your playing experience. One person may prefer to get up close and personal with his enemies while another likes to lean back and shoot all kinds of long range destruction at their opponents through the use of magic. To each their own, and Sacred 2 does a pretty good job at providing distinctly different classes. Only the Seraphim class has made its reappearance from Sacred; the other five characters are all brand new. Of course there are ranged characters, melee characters and the regular mage class. Each character will introduce itself, which can give you a good feel about how your character will behave in the game. For example, the Mage class is a high-elf female who is quite arrogant, which will show ingame. She will make derogatory comments about humans or people who are in need of aid. Characters will not only make comments regarding quests or NPCs, they will also comment on your level progress or the value of an item you pick up. Once you have picked your character it’s time to pick the campaign you want to play, the evil or the good campaign. Two characters, the Seraphim and the Inquisitor, are dedicated to good and evil respectively. So those two can only choose one of the campaigns. Last but not least, you have to choose a god which will grant you a special power.

Now it’s time to dive in and start playing. Each character will start at a slightly different place, but all of them will soon end up in the same town to kick off the mainquest. The singleplayer campaign basically has you run from one boss to the next one, trying to stem the tide of T-energy that is flowing into the world freely. The T-energy is responsible for all kinds of mutations and bad situations, and you have to save the day, of course. If you’re playing the evil campaign, on the other hand, you have to make sure the situation escalates so evil can triumph. For most RPG veterans there isn’t anything new, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As in many RPGs you gain experience and find new loot to improve your character, but in Sacred 2 things work slightly different though. There are still skills you can learn, but the real skills – called combat-arts – like a fireball or a special sword move, can only be learned through the use of runes, which can be used independent of your character’s level.