Sacred 2 Remaster was provided by THQ Nordic for review. Thank you!
The Sacred series takes me back. These were an oddball trilogy of fantasy RPG titles very similar to the Diablo franchise, and the first two titles were a lot of fun to play back in the day. We do not talk about Sacred 3’s release in 2014. That is a game, I think, we are better off scrubbing from our memory. The first two games are enjoyable enough romps that favored style over substance, packing big open worlds to explore, some humorous dialogue, and simple combat systems. While they never struck any emotional chords with me, they were enjoyable enough games in a junk food way.
Sacred 2 Remaster is the first revival of the series, so to speak, with THQ Nordic and Sparklingbit behind this one. While the remaster is undoubtedly welcome, it made me wonder why they started with the second game in the series. Why not the first? While a bizarre choice, it was interesting to see how things shape up with this refresh. Ultimately, while I found Sacred 2 Remaster a mixed bag, it’s still a welcome return for the series to the 2020s. However, since I haven’t played the Sacred series in so long, please consider this review as a fresh look at the game rather than a comparison.
Sacred 2 offers numerous ways to customize your character, and the remaster is designed to bring it into the modern age. Full controller support, a plethora of accessibility and graphical options, and all the original content are the focus of the remaster, along with a slight visual uplift.
It isn’t a massive remaster when all things are said and done, not on the level of games like Age of Mythology: Retold, anyway. The visuals are nice, although I wouldn’t expect a significant upgrade. It’s more of an evolution into the 2010s era, but the environments are nicely detailed, and I love some of the sound design. Listening to the clanking of armored soldiers as they moved and the bustle of a village market helped me become immersed.
It has been many years since I played a Sacred game, so it took a while to get into things. I chose a metallic Anubis avatar as my character because I liked his sarcastic voice, favoring close combat and blasts from his energy gun. Things took some time to get used to because the mouse was particularly sensitive when using that function for navigation. I started my playthrough at the computer while waiting for it to install on the Deck.
You have to be very specific about what you click on, and I had a habit of accidentally clicking on something just outside an enemy’s hitbox. That got annoying very quickly when my Anubis dude ran towards a pack of bandits or wolves like a kid to a van marked ‘Free Sweets’. Enemies hit pretty hard even without this critical failure of my character to attack enemies back, so I died four times in the first twenty minutes of gameplay.
It is a better experience with the new controller support, which is good news for us handheld fans, and I was soon able to get into the swing of things. At its heart, Sacred 2 Remaster plays like a loot and upgrade action RPG. Locations offer quests and NPCS to interact with, with a ton of skills and items to kit out characters. I wouldn’t call much of the story or writing particularly compelling by any stretch, but there’s a certain charm to it, and some parts made me laugh. One of the funniest moments was when I paused the game, only to have my own Sacred embodiment insulting me for not giving it commands.
Sacred 2 is a treasure trove of slapstick moments, with voice acting that leans heavily into the comedic side. It’s a rare treat to find an RPG that places as much emphasis on humor as the Sacred series does, and Sacred 2 doesn’t disappoint. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s this charm that keeps you coming back for more.
The remaster includes some nice quality-of-life features, but my favorite addition is the auto-loot option. Being able to press a button and collect all items around you without fiddling with irritating mouse clicks is a godsend. The interface also looks great, with all the necessary information easily accessible and visually appealing.
That does lead me to my current feelings on the game, and that is, who is this game for? It’s a strange time to release a remaster of a Sacred match, and the second one in the trilogy at that. Then again, with games frequently receiving remasters and remakes, I am not terribly surprised we got one either. I have had plenty of fun despite having some gripes. The fixed camera became irritating, especially when entering buildings, and NPCs have a habit of walking into walls or standing still, so the AI could probably use a little polish.
Baffling choices aside, this is still Sacred 2 at its core, with a fresh coat of paint. While I encountered a few bugs here and there, this remaster is a solid way to experience Sacred 2 in the modern era.
Steam Deck Performance
Sacred 2 gets the basics right on the Steam Deck. It supports controllers well, and it also supports the Steam Deck’s native 1280×800 resolution, allowing us to avoid any black borders.
When it comes to performance, it’s unfortunately a bit mixed. The GPU handles the game well, so we can run with high graphical settings, which the game defaults to (basically all percentages set to 100%), and it looks nice. However, the Sacred 2 Remaster is pretty heavily dependent on single-thread CPU performance, which isn’t the Steam Deck’s strong suit.
As a result, the game’s frame rate can fluctuate significantly between 30 and 60 FPS, particularly when the player character is in motion. I would recommend locking the frame rate to 40 FPS, as that keeps the frame rate locked 90% of the time. However, if drops like these bother you, you’ll need to lock it to 30 FPS, I’m afraid.
Power draw is around 13-16W, but can spike on occasion. Expect a battery life of approximately 3.5 hours on a Steam Deck OLED and around 2.5 hours on a Steam Deck LCD.
Accessibility
Sacred 2 Remaster is available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Overall, a wide selection of accessibility functions is available. Players can adjust the zoom level and angle, toggle shadows, and freely adjust gamma levels, vignette, and chromatic aberration. Additionally, blur can be toggled. On the gameplay side, all quality-of-life features, including auto-loot, auto-equip, gore, auto-cast, and damage details, can be toggled on or off at will.
Although the game offers numerous options, it lacks some essential features, including Vsync, colorblind support, and UI scaling. You also cannot turn on subtitles for miscellaneous NPC dialogue, although this is a minor nitpick if anything else.
Conclusion
While there are a few missteps in this version, Sacred 2 Remaster is a solid re-imagining of the old classic RPG. The extra gameplay additions and interface overhauls are welcome, and the game still carries the same charm it had from the originals. Provided the folks at Sparklingbit and THQ Nordic work on smoothing out some of the rough edges from this remaster, there should be enough success to consider a return to the one that started it all.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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