Sacred 3 – Review

Fans of the Sacred series can now get their hands on Sacred 3 which is an action RPG similar to the previous two games. It has a top down view which some casual gamers may find annoying but for me it was fine. You choose from one of four characters and begin on a button mashing romp through some decent looking levels. I fear the repetitive nature of the game will not be for all but give it a chance as there is some good combat here with nice combos. There are weapons to upgrade and abilities to unlock aplenty but the actual skill trees are lacking and overall a feeling of “rigidity” is felt thought-out.

The plot tells a tale of the ruler of the land, Lord Zane turning to the evil side and opening gates into the underworld to capture the Heart of Ancaria. Heroes are called to defend and defeat this tyrant, you choose between one of four classes of heroes. You can choose from Vajra the Khukuri Archer, Claire the Seraphim Paladin, Alithea the Ancarian Lancer and Marak the Safiri Warrior. They all have different stories which are a nice touch and each have their own motivations for getting in the fight.

Sadly each of the characters has similar attacks and don’t really feel that much different from each other. They all have melee attacks, shield breaking attacks and two special attacks which can be altered and upgraded. Using these special attacks uses up your yellow energy levels, but when you beat the enemies they drop yellow orbs and green orbs so your never actually without energy to perform attacks. There is also a dodge move that lets you move around avoiding enemies. This is primarily a button masher however and the depth that was present before has been watered down sadly.

Characters level up slowly but the rewards they get are not really worth it and the money you collect doesn’t really buy a whole lot of stuff. There is a weapon sprite however which is pretty cool. These sprites are freed from random enemies when you kill them and they are then infused to your weapon and gives you stat buffs. This is a good idea but the implementation is not as good as it should have been. The enemies are varied, some are small, some have shields and some are much bigger. The way they move is slightly differently from each other, whilst the bosses are huge. These are really fun encounters and using the dodge move is perfect to move away from their attacks.

Graphics here are nice, not mind blowing but not ugly. There is a depth felt in the level design which is not real as the levels are rigid and not open world. The best aspect of this game is the drop in and outs, any player can drop in, play with you and help you past a certain boss. This feature is seamlessly done, the multiplayer is the best way to get the most fun out of this game, be it online or offline.

This is a decent game but sadly it is highly repetitive with levels throwing out enemies which you kill. You then face a mini boss, get a key and move on to the big level boss. The weapons and upgrades don’t really feel like anything special. The story and narration is really a non-event. There are some jokes in there but the writing is pretty poor. There is also a narrative voice of our guide which is constantly in the background trying to make jokes. Her jokes are not funny and actually they are more annoying than humorous. Even the weapon sprite has a voice but thanks to their very limited script they keep repeating the same phrases each time. This adds further negative marks to the whole experience.

It’s sad that the previous Sacred games were not used for inspiration as Sacred 3 could really have been a great title. All the ingredients are here but the formula used seems a bit unbalanced and the whole thing feels rushed. If you are after a game with hack and slash and a few different classes to use then this is your game. If you want a deep RPG I would look elsewhere.