Sacred 2 Remaster was offered by THQ Nordic for assessment. Thanks!
The Sacred collection takes me again. These had been an oddball trilogy of fantasy RPG titles similar to the Diablo franchise, and the primary two titles had been numerous enjoyable to play again within the day. We don’t speak about Sacred 3’s launch in 2014. That could be a sport, I feel, we’re higher off scrubbing from our reminiscence. The primary two video games are gratifying sufficient romps that favored type over substance, packing huge open worlds to discover, some humorous dialogue, and easy fight methods. Whereas they by no means struck any emotional chords with me, they had been gratifying sufficient video games in a junk meals means.
Sacred 2 Remaster is the primary revival of the collection, so to talk, with THQ Nordic and Sparklingbit behind this one. Whereas the remaster is undoubtedly welcome, it made me surprise why they began with the second sport within the collection. Why not the primary? Whereas a weird selection, it was attention-grabbing to see how issues form up with this refresh. In the end, whereas I discovered Sacred 2 Remaster a combined bag, it is nonetheless a welcome return for the collection to the 2020s. Nonetheless, since I haven’t performed the Sacred collection in so lengthy, please think about this assessment as a contemporary take a look at the sport somewhat than a comparability.
Sacred 2 gives quite a few methods to customise your character, and the remaster is designed to convey it into the trendy age. Full controller assist, a plethora of accessibility and graphical choices, and all the unique content material are the main focus of the remaster, together with a slight visible uplift.
It isn’t a large remaster when all issues are mentioned and finished, not on the extent of video games like Age of Mythology: Retold, anyway. The visuals are good, though I wouldn’t count on a big improve. It’s extra of an evolution into the 2010s period, however the environments are properly detailed, and I really like a few of the sound design. Listening to the clanking of armored troopers as they moved and the bustle of a village market helped me turn out to be immersed.
It has been a few years since I performed a Sacred sport, so it took some time to get into issues. I selected a metallic Anubis avatar as my character as a result of I appreciated his sarcastic voice, favoring shut fight and blasts from his power gun. Issues took a while to get used to as a result of the mouse was notably delicate when utilizing that perform for navigation. I began my playthrough on the laptop whereas ready for it to put in on the Deck.
It’s a must to be very particular about what you click on on, and I had a behavior of by chance clicking on one thing simply outdoors an enemy’s hitbox. That bought annoying in a short time when my Anubis dude ran in the direction of a pack of bandits or wolves like a child to a van marked ‘Free Sweets’. Enemies hit fairly laborious even with out this important failure of my character to assault enemies again, so I died 4 occasions within the first twenty minutes of gameplay.
It’s a higher expertise with the brand new controller assist, which is nice information for us handheld followers, and I used to be quickly capable of get into the swing of issues. At its coronary heart, Sacred 2 Remaster performs like a loot and improve motion RPG. Areas supply quests and NPCS to work together with, with a ton of expertise and objects to equipment out characters. I wouldn’t name a lot of the story or writing notably compelling by any stretch, however there’s a sure attraction to it, and a few elements made me snigger. One of many funniest moments was after I paused the sport, solely to have my very own Sacred embodiment insulting me for not giving it instructions.
Sacred 2 is a treasure trove of slapstick moments, with voice performing that leans closely into the comedic aspect. It is a uncommon deal with to seek out an RPG that locations as a lot emphasis on humor because the Sacred collection does, and Sacred 2 does not disappoint. The sport doesn’t take itself too critically, and it is this attraction that retains you coming again for extra.
The remaster consists of some good quality-of-life options, however my favourite addition is the auto-loot choice. Having the ability to press a button and acquire all objects round you with out fidgeting with irritating mouse clicks is a godsend. The interface additionally seems nice, with all the mandatory data simply accessible and visually interesting.
That does lead me to my present emotions on the sport, and that’s, who is that this sport for? It’s a wierd time to launch a remaster of a Sacred match, and the second within the trilogy at that. Then once more, with video games incessantly receiving remasters and remakes, I’m not terribly shocked we bought one both. I’ve had loads of enjoyable regardless of having some gripes. The fastened digital camera turned irritating, particularly when coming into buildings, and NPCs have a behavior of strolling into partitions or standing nonetheless, so the AI may most likely use slightly polish.
Baffling decisions apart, that is nonetheless Sacred 2 at its core, with a contemporary coat of paint. Whereas I encountered just a few bugs right here and there, this remaster is a strong method to expertise Sacred 2 within the fashionable period.
Steam Deck Efficiency
Sacred 2 will get the fundamentals proper on the Steam Deck. It helps controllers effectively, and it additionally helps the Steam Deck’s native 1280×800 decision, permitting us to keep away from any black borders.
Relating to efficiency, it is sadly a bit combined. The GPU handles the sport effectively, so we are able to run with excessive graphical settings, which the sport defaults to (mainly all percentages set to 100%), and it seems good. Nonetheless, the Sacred 2 Remaster is fairly closely depending on single-thread CPU efficiency, which is not the Steam Deck’s robust swimsuit.
Consequently, the sport’s body price can fluctuate considerably between 30 and 60 FPS, notably when the participant character is in movement. I’d suggest locking the body price to 40 FPS, as that retains the body price locked 90% of the time. Nonetheless, if drops like these trouble you, you will must lock it to 30 FPS, I am afraid.
Energy draw is round 13-16W, however can spike from time to time. Anticipate a battery life of roughly 3.5 hours on a Steam Deck OLED and round 2.5 hours on a Steam Deck LCD.
Accessibility
Sacred 2 Remaster is out there in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Total, a wide array of accessibility features is out there. Gamers can regulate the zoom stage and angle, toggle shadows, and freely regulate gamma ranges, vignette, and chromatic aberration. Moreover, blur may be toggled. On the gameplay aspect, all quality-of-life options, together with auto-loot, auto-equip, gore, auto-cast, and injury particulars, may be toggled on or off at will.
Though the sport gives quite a few choices, it lacks some important options, together with Vsync, colorblind assist, and UI scaling. You additionally can not activate subtitles for miscellaneous NPC dialogue, though it is a minor nitpick if anything.
Conclusion
Whereas there are just a few missteps on this model, Sacred 2 Remaster is a strong re-imagining of the outdated basic RPG. The additional gameplay additions and interface overhauls are welcome, and the sport nonetheless carries the identical attraction it had from the originals. Supplied the parents at Sparklingbit and THQ Nordic work on smoothing out a few of the tough edges from this remaster, there ought to be sufficient success to think about a return to the one which began all of it.
Our assessment is predicated on the PC model of this sport.
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