Making My Peace with Sacred 3 - A long-time fan's perspective
So, I have a dirty confession: over the holiday break, not only did I play Sacred 3, I actually enjoyed it enough to play it all the way through completion, including the DLC.
It's not that bad of a game. The only real problem with it is that it pretends to be a sequel to the Sacred franchise. Had it been released with some other name, and not used place and character names from Sacred 1, I think it would have been much better received.
I joined pretty much every other Sacred fan in existence in panning Sacred 3 as soon as trailers and game details were released. Where was my complex RPG with endless customization and nuanced character builds? Where was my huge, seamless open world with hidden secrets begging to be explored? Where was my awesome loot piñatas? Where were any of the things I wanted from a Sacred game?
Even so, it's just been sitting there in my library all these years, unplayed. So I decided to give a shot before I deleted it from my PC forever. I started a new game with the Seraphim character. And surprisingly, as each day passed, I found myself looking forward to firing it up more and more.
The gameplay is fast, slick and console-like. I needed to plug a controller into my PC to properly play it. There was lots of action, as expected from an arcade beat 'em up. You feel powerful, while also being challenged. Controls are snappy and responsive. Graphics look really good. Your character does progress, in terms of combat arts and gear, though it is incredibly shallow compared to S1 or Sacred 2.
There is something else though beyond these surface elements, that I appreciate from a fan's perspective. I really feel like the development team tried to make this game take place in Ancaria. They did some homework. This is not like Dungeon Siege III, which had a few familiar names thrown into an otherwise strange and unfamiliar world. In Sacred 3, many levels, characters, and pieces of lore call back directly to Sacred 1. They even had all the graveyard have headstones with silly inscriptions.
Sacred 1 is the only game that's referenced though. It is as if Sacred 2 never existed, but that kind of makes sense, since Sacred 2 was meant to be a prequel set in the distant past, and Sacred 3 continues on after the events of Sacred 1.
I think another reason they didn't include much from Sacred 2 is because of how those characters were directly ripped from movies: Stargate (Temple Guardian/Anubis Guard), Star Wars (Inquisitor/Palpatine), Spawn (classic Seraphim/Angela), Gladiator (Shadow Warrior/Russell Crowe in Gladiator), etc.
The big callbacks to Sacred 1 are the "Weapon Spirits." These are basically passive buffs that you unlock, that also accompany your character in the form of voiceovers that make commentary periodically. Each Weapon Spirit has a buff and penalty, and they will make comments throughout the missions for flavor.
The Sacred series was known for humor and not taking itself too seriously. Sacred 3 really embraces this but honestly takes it way too far. Everything everyone says is basically a dirty joke, a sarcastic comment, or a fourth-wall breaking gag.
So... yeah. Sacred 3 is shallow and simple, and not what you're looking for if you want more of what Sacred 1 and 2 offered. I doubt I will ever replay it with one of the other characters. It's very easy to see its referencing of past heroes and places in a totally different context as something insulting. But the game has its charms. I'm glad I played through the whole thing, if only to lay it to rest.