Today’s subject at hand is that of Sacred, the first RPG offering by Ascaron Entertainment, a developer more commonly known for their real-time historical mercantile simulations than anything involving goblins and swords of striking. A fantasy title in isometric presentation with a game world whose size would shame most others in the genre, six player characters with their own distinct play styles, and a robust system of combat and item customization… well, it’s a first attempt with high aspirations, by any measure. It is however an attempt that fails to realize those goals in almost every respect, leaving the player with an experience akin to opening a much wanted present on Christmas morning and finding a badly broken toy.

The player is cast in the role of a hero (or heroine) that has experienced a dramatic vision of occult magic gone wildly out of control, and feels a compulsion to set out and prevent these events from destroying the world. While you may choose from six different characters, it will have little impact on the progression of the story, and is primarily a means of determining your combat style and what powers or gear will become available to you over the course of your journey. Three male and female characters available: the gladiator, dark elf, and battle mage making up the male half, with the seraphim, wood elf and vampiress rounding out the female ranks. Choosing an “evil” character over a “good” one will not affect the plot or play experience or NPC reactions, though it does affect what sort of method the player must utilize when approaching enemies. Certain characters are far more proficient at ranged combat whereas others can wade right into the thick, so a little experimentation before committing to a character is certainly a good idea.

Each avatar can develop new moves or spells over the course of the game, via rune stones dropped by enemies or provided as rewards for quests. These moves can also be linked into combos by the Combo Master NPC found in most towns, allowing the player to craft their own devastating attacks. If the player finds runes that are not applicable to their character, they can be traded with the same NPC for those appropriate for their own class. With each level gained the player gains attribute and skill points, with these attributes determining the gear a player can wear and the damage they both deal and receive. Furthermore, new skills can be purchased every few levels, allowing the player to expand and diversify their character’s abilities.

The kingdom of Ancaria, where the story takes place, is likely the only notable feature of the game itself. A far-reaching landscape with diverse environments and scattered townships, it is only made more palatable by a complete absence of loading screens. Ancaria is an honest attempt to create a realistic world that suffers from a realistic issue: barren terrain between locales. The whole setting feels pointless at times, with monsters infesting every square foot of ground outside of the city limits and little else of note to be seen. Missions are arbitrarily assigned to regions or caves in the wilderness, but aside from this the regions between towns function solely as providing an ocean of often underpowered monsters that the player will have to slog through to get anywhere they want to go. Even after clearing an area of all life the enemies will often repopulate, despite the player character repeatedly declaring that the area is at peace. If the world seems a bit overwhelming at first, most major populated areas have teleportation gates that the player can unlock to ease the rigors of travel when backtracking. In addition horses can be purchased to increase one’s speed, although they tend to suffer greatly in combat if not quickly dismounted.

The graphics are somewhat standard for the genre, with an impressive amount of detail available in the avatar as each item of gear changes their appearance. While not attempting to break any records for poly-count or environmental animation, the world and its inhabitants are reasonably pleasing to the eye, if somewhat repetitive at times. The sound as well is neither positive nor negative but simply acceptable, in regards to effects, voice acting, and music.

In its retail release form the game is not entirely playable, by any measure. Bugs are rampant, quests are broken, and the player may be randomly shifted into an entirely different section of the game world without apparent reason. In addition, the story itself is somewhat bland and occasionally disquieting, with a surprising number of quests revolving around avenging a woman (or women) whose honor and maidenhood have been violated. Ascaron has issued a patch at the time of this writing, but player feedback from the online community has suggested that this patch may create as many problems as it solves, with reports of corrupted characters and save games. It is painfully evident that Sacred is simply not ready for a retail release, and that the industry adage of “ship now, patch later” is being liberally applied. This is perhaps an example of a developer attempting too much and accomplishing too little, with the player left to reap the end result.