Sacred 3 Reviews
Sacred 3 is a mildly fulfilling hack and slash game that, while fun in limited doses, isn't a patch on previous entries, and does very little to stand out within the genre in which it wishes to now be housed.
Nope. Just nope. Go elsewhere. Sacred 3 offers nothing worth seeing.
Sacred 3 is certainly bug free, but it's also free of the core mechanics that made the previous games fun to play.
Considering the scope of its predecessors and how far the genre has come since the series' inception a decade ago, that's as unnecessary as it is unwelcome. Still, there's potential here and approached with the right mindset and a group of friends there's some fun to be had. Streamline your expectations, in other words, and you're more likely to view Sacred 3 as slick rather than shallow.
Sadly on the whole Sacred 3 does a lot more wrong than it does right. The spirit of a good game is in here somewhere, amid all the lumpen, hackneyed nonsense. The resounding consensus from fans of the series seems to be that this latest installment is a pale shadow of the previous games at best and an outright betrayal at worst, more River City Ransom than RPG. From this newcomer's perspective, Sacred 3 is a cheesy, flawed B-movie of an arcade brawler that you might get a few evenings' entertainment out of before consigning it to the very depths of your games pile, never to infirm. I mean, return.
If ARPGs, particularly co-op ones, are your thing then Sacred 3 should definitely be on your to-buy list, but don't expect it to take over your life the way other games in this genre have a tendency to do.
If you're a fan of the genre and looking for a new game, I'd say it's worth a play. The player is spoonfed with the simplicity of the depth. If that speaks to your desires, this is the game for you.
Sacred 3, as you can establish from this review, is a game that has moved away from its predecessor's roots to become more of a brawler with light RPG elements.
In the end, I don't think Sacred 3 knew what its own genre was. If it was self-aware that this was nothing more than a hack and slash dungeon crawler, it could have gone the extra mile and given it a refreshing arcade feel, like Dragon's Crown did. However, Sacred 3 thinks it's a serious ARPG, and as a serious ARPG it simply falls up short.
If the sort of effort that went into the visual and audio design of Sacred 3, went into the story and the characters, this is a game that could have been a game of the year contender. Unfortunately, these two areas were not enough to save Sacred 3 from mediocrity.
Overall, Sacred 3 is a fun and rather addictive game to play, even with its slightly repetitive nature. Although it is nothing new and brings nothing particularly mind-blowing or innovative to the table, it still lives up to the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
There’s fun to be had in the hectic brawls the game throws you into, but what else is there? Some pleasant changes of scenery? I genuinely had fun at the game’s outset, but Sacred 3 failed to entice me into coming back. There was potential, but it was fumbled at almost every turn.
If you enjoy hack 'n slash titles and are able to drown out dialogue with some loud upbeat music then Sacred 3 will fill your boots nicely - otherwise, you'll end up facepalming so hard you may inhale your open palm.
If you're bored out of your mind and you need an RPG fast, well, then stay bored. You don't want to be even more bored. It's probably best to return to games like Diablo 3 and Divinity: Original Sin, both of which offer ten times the content and ten times the fun.
If you can endure the game's sense of humour, there is fun to be had here with a few friends, for a while at least, but it's hard to shake the feeling that Sacred 3 is ultimately a derivative and tedious experience.
There is no point in comparing Sacred 3 to either of the two previous games in the series, as it unfortunately shares nothing with them. It just feels like a scam meant to chip some money from careless nostalgic gamers, much like shoving dirt into a jar and labeling it "grandma's peach jam."
Take no note of the name, it's not an RPG, it's a fairly mindless brawler, and a mediocre one at that.
There is something as too much of a good thing and Sacred 3 beats that notion to death. Priorities are all over the place; it just doesn’t know what to do with itself.
It’s an action RPG at its most basic, with little to make it worth recommending.
Sacred 3 is a surprisingly fun hack-and-slash game. It offers little to no personal customization or investment, but you can't deny that conquering waves of demons is satisfying