Sacred 2: Fallen Angel Preview

Angels in the architecture.

This forthcoming console sequel to Sacred—PC Gamer’s 2004 RPG Game of the Year—will offer console gamers a huge, free-roaming, Diablo-inspired, action/RPG fantasy world populated by some of the biggest, baddest boss-monsters you’ll see this side of a big-budget motion picture.

Sacred 2’s sprawling world of Ancaria spans some 22 square miles of game-space plains, desert, forests, swamps, oceans, and islands—more, if you count dungeons.

The official estimate goes something like this: If you were make your way on foot from one edge of the Ancarian map to the other—not stopping to smell or kill the roses, just walking—it would take you on the order of six hours. Yikes.

It seems the Seraphim have entrusted the High Elves with the "sacred" T-Energy, and the arrangement has blown up in their heavenly faces like a bad science experiment. A wave of mutations, monstrosities, and wastelands forms as a result, and players are set loose in this world with the choice of Light or Dark paths. Players will be able to take up to six character types into about a hundred central campaign quests (not to mention several hundred side-missions). Sacred 2 boasts a main-path experience of around 20-25 hours.

A customizable interface will let players set up to 12 hotkeys for weapons and spells. Race-specific visual touches abound in the game, from the airy design of elven houses (lots of glass and interior visibility) to subtle texture changes - both armor and skin get soaked in occasional rain showers.

Sacred 2 will be available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 later this year.