A Tepid Trip Down a Polygon-Filled Memory Lane
Maybe I’m becoming increasingly cynical in my old age, but just recently it seems that creativity has taken something of a nosedive in the games industry. If it isn’t the umpteenth sequel in a series, it is a remaster of some game from the past.
Which leads me neatly to the subject of today’s review – Sacred 2 Remaster. A remake of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, and coming from Jumpgate and THQ Nordic, this promises to be an update of the “beloved action RPG”. I have to say, on the list of games I’d like to see remastered (Dino Crisis is at the top of that list, in case CAPCOM are reading this) the Sacred series of games are somewhat further down the list.
Yet given that my memories of the original are not that great, can a tickle with a HD brush make things any better?
Now, let’s start with that HD brush – has the game been tickled to within an inch of its life? Well, yes and no. I’d say that the new graphics do look a bit shinier, but not overly so: it still looks like an Xbox 360 game, just one where the textures have been tidied up a bit. The overall colour palette is still on the brown side, and the landscapes have an endearing, almost polygonal architecture to them.
The enemies we face off against are largely clones of each other, and even the wolves look like they came off a production line, with not a single hair’s difference to be seen. The animation of our character is also equally wooden, and the combat styles that are supposed to be different, all seem to boil down to the same kind of motion as we stand next to a foe and see who falls over first. Still, the world of Sacred 2 is a suitably big place, with a lot of things to find, and various quests to carry out, so the news isn’t all bad.
Muffled Mumbles
The sound is equally stuck in the past, with the odd phrase uttered as we defeat a foe, or a kind of groan occasionally coming from our vanquished enemies. Weirdly, the characters we meet sometimes have subtitles, and sometimes don’t. Luckily, quest givers do usually have them, so we know what we are signing up for. However, the rest of the random people we meet mumble a few words and I’m none the wiser as to what they wanted. The combat sounds are minimal and somewhat dull too, and the music isn’t much better. All in all, I think we can say the presentation is a bit of a mixed bag, and that seems to be the theme for this remaster.
Looking through that presentation and there’s a smattering of story kicking around; but it’s a bit thin, to be charitable. Apparently we are in the world of Ancaria, and T-Energy, a power that made things better in the past, is now on the brink of destroying the world. And guess who has to save the day? Yep, it’s you!
A Chocolate Teapot
Gameplay is again a case of swings and roundabouts, with some things added and some things taken away. One of the oddest things to be omitted is the whole multiplayer side of the game. Yes, Sacred 2 on Xbox is now a single player only game. You can still play multiplayer on the PC, and the developers have said that it may be added to consoles later, but for now, the single player is the only game in town. So, given this restriction, how is the gameplay?
Well, dull, to be brutally honest. The worst sin is the map that we are given. When we have been given a mission, it is marked on the map and we can make our way across there. However, there is no way to drop a pin to see where we need to go, and that means no way of highlighting a particular quest to follow, and no way of knowing if we are anywhere near where we need to be in order to fulfil our mission.
As an example, an early mission sees us tasked with retrieving some amulets and taking them to some lumberjacks. Maybe they need to look good while they are chopping trees down? Anyway, having stumbled across said amulets entirely by chance, I was then left to find said lumberjacks and frankly, I had not a scooby where to go. The map is as much use as a chocolate teapot, and to be honest it was around then when I started to lose patience with Sacred 2 Remaster.
Numb Combat but Decent Exploration
Combat and exploration are the key factors in this game, and to be honest, the latter of those two facets actually is pretty fun. Running about with complete freedom is quite engaging, and while you can get yourself in a mess, the more you fight, the more gear you gather and the more you level up, making you stronger.
Each of the six starter classes in the game does seem to play a bit differently too, but the common factor is the combat. Sadly, this is numb and devoid of any feeling: the only way you know you are losing is when a heart beat starts to become audible and the screen starts to flash red. By then you’re nearly dead, and getting away from enemies allows you to either heal or your health to replenish on its own; moving outside their aggro window is like flipping a switch in this regard. Honestly, combat devolves very quickly into waving your sword about and seeing what happens. I don’t think I need to explain how this is a major let down.
An Era That Has Passed
It all means Sacred 2 Remaster is a game that is hard to recommend. The visual tart up isn’t striking, and the gameplay loop gets very dull very quickly: run, fight, try not to die, do it again. There are many games that do this a whole lot better.
Sacred 2 is very much a game of its era, and I’d say that era has passed. Unless you are a rabid fan, you’ll not miss much if you skip this remaster.
Important Links
Forge Your Legend in Sacred 2 Remaster – https://www.thexboxhub.com/forge-your-legend-in-sacred-2-remaster/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/sacred-2-remaster/9pl5djcqq4n0
