Unconsecrated

The original Sacred was a great game that, although not exactly groundbreaking, it offered many hours of hack'n'slash-action/RPG fun. What is more, its publisher had the good sense to price it reasonably from the start and thus fight piracy in the most effective way possible. Apparently its common sense run out.

SACRED II: Fallen Angel, although enjoys more demanding environmental graphics and spell effects, is just another victim of clueless gaming industry executives. Instead of learning from the history of their own game, they'd rather idiotically jump on the "SecuROM/Limited Activations" bandwagon. After all, if they can hide behind the "everyone is doing it" excuse, who can blame them when the game does poorly? 

They are obviously under the illusion that selling at full price a game that is actually rented will fail to be...noticed! Respect is a two way street - and underestimating gamers' intelligence is not a good start.

There were no reviews for this edition (obviously most gamers have been ignoring this game) yet I was informed by the only discussion thread that it still sported the same DRM scheme. Nevertheless, the price had dropped so much it was irresistible. Unfortunately, it was not even worth the bargain-bin price.

The graphics have improved since the first Sacred of course, but they look dated and limited (especially for a game that takes up...12GB of HDD space!); and yet the animations still seem amateurish and stiff.

There are no new ideas, it is hack'n'slash by numbers. Inventory, LogBook, potions, loot...There are all there and yet there is no flavor. And what is with not being able to change the gender and the race of the classes? Who says that a Seraphim cannot be male, a Shadow Warrior female or an inquisitor African?

Now, the game also comes in a (supposedly) "Gold" edition. And I say supposedly because when a commercially flopped, 2-years old game is released in a "Gold" edition, one would expect to include not only its expansion but also all of its its patches. It does come with an auto-patching utility that informed me I have "the latest version" - which disappointingly did not include the Elite Graphics Pack.

Since it is a (extra!) 9GB archive and most PCs are now more than able to handle them, I see no reason why the improved graphics should only be available with the (obsolete) Collector's edition and not the "Gold" edition released years later!

DEEP SILVER could learn a thing or two on how to support and market one's games by the people who published The Witcher.

It is a shame that SACRED II got shot in the foot by its own publisher. Now, instead of being another success, it will simply be another game sacrificed on the alter of corporate Greed and marketing incompetency.