In 2008, developer Ascaron released one of its most ambitious games. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was a prequel to the original Sacred, which was itself a hidden gem in 2004. For the prequel, the developers went bigger and better, giving fans even more action RPG content to dive into. Today, publisher THQ Nordic, which acquired the Sacred IP several years ago, has launched a remastered version of Sacred 2. And if early reports are to be believed, this might not be the last we see of the Sacred series.
What is Sacred 2 Remaster?
Players who didn’t experience the original game may not be familiar with Sacred 2. The prequel was set 2,000 years before the events of the first Sacred. Players dove into one of two campaigns as one of the seven classes for online, local multiplayer, or single-player action.
Sacred 2 isn’t an exact copy of Diablo 2, but it’s definitely in that mold. It has similar action RPG combat, but its story is closer to something like World of Warcraft, using fantasy classes like the High Elf and Dryad. The large open world features minimal loading and several dungeons to explore.
For the most part, the Sacred 2 Remaster includes much of that. However, a few things are missing. It’s not immediately clear why the new developers chose to axe a few features, though it is worth noting that this remaster project was dealing with an incomplete codebase and a lack of some source files from the original release.
Either way, the remaster of Sacred 2‘s multiplayer offerings is very limited. Multiplayer is only available on PC, meaning no couch co-op on consoles. Even further, the remaster doesn’t support free-for-all or PvP modes, only campaign co-op. They’ve also removed the ability to trade, given players fewer slots for weapons, skills, and inventory, and a host of other limitations that make the Sacred 2 Remaster feel a bit disappointing.
There is some good news for fans. This remaster features updated graphics, full controller support, and refined combat. Plus, anyone who buys the remaster will get a copy of the original Sacred 2 Gold, letting you jump into the original version whenever you want. Even better, it sounds like this is only the beginning for the Sacred series.
What’s The Future of Sacred?
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Recently, THQ Nordic released a developer diary for Sacred 2 Remaster featuring Franz Stradal, one of the original creators of the Sacred series. In the video, Stradal says, “Sacred is now back, but it’s not the end, it’s just the beginning…there are so many things we have planned for Ancaria’s future, and we have so many stories to tell.”
As of this writing, THQ Nordic and its partners have not said anything concrete about the future of the series. There was a third Sacred game made by Keen Games, which made the series into a hack-and-slash brawler. Publisher Deep Silver also released a side-scrolling action brawler called Sacred Citadel to build up hype before Sacred 3‘s launch.
THQ might revisit those games, but it seems unlikely. Stradal wasn’t involved with either of those projects, and you’d expect he’d have his own plans for the future of the series as one of the creators. What seems more likely, assuming Sacred 2 Remaster meets its sales goals, is that Stradal and his team will work on a new Sacred 3 that sticks closer to the series’s roots as an action RPG. It’s also possible we’ll get a full remake of the first Sacred, which would likely be a much more ambitious project than this remake. That said, both of those are probably pretty far off.
Unfortunately, the early Steam reviews for Sacred 2 Remaster are mostly negative. Many players are having issues with bugs and crashes, which could be fixed with patches and updates from the developers. Hopefully, the team is given enough time to get the remaster in a better place to give the series a chance for a revival. The first two games have a ton of fans, so hopefully, they’ll at least get a good version of Sacred 2 for modern platforms, even if the future is less rosy than they might hope.
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