Sacred: Gold

The Good
Sacred Gold contains Sacred as well as it’s expansion Sacred: Underworld. And it packs a lot of gameplay, maybe not the 100 hours claimed but a lot. Probably around 50-60.

In Sacred, an evil mage has summoned an ancient evil in hopes of controlling it, but his plans go bad and the demon escapes, now you must journey across the world to stop this beast from consuming the land. You can play as a Gladiator, Vampiress, Battle Mage, Wood Elf, Dark Elf, Seraphim, and two newcomers, Daemon and Dwarf. The amount of characters is one of the game’s strong points, as there is a character type, suited for just about every player type. And aside from the Daemon and Dwarf you can mount a horse and make your trek across Ancaria faster. In the game you end up traveling to the ends of Ancaria, to find runes, to help you in your fight against evil.

The Graphics in Sacred Gold are very good. The characters and creatures are 3D polygons, while the world is pre-rendered and looks great. Each area of Ancaria is unique, from grasslands, to ice covered tundra’s, swamplands, and even a desert. New weapons and armor show on your character, and you can zoom in with the mouse wheel, to get a closer look.

The Sound and Music, is a mixed bag. The Music it self is very good. But the sound effects particularly the voice samples can be corny and are too repetitive.

The Gameplay is solid, with few bugs, all of the major game killing bugs are gone in Sacred Gold, some minor ones still remain however. It also packs in the hours, aside from playing the story quests there are hundreds of side-quests. The range from finding a missing person, to hunting down fugitives. You will be playing this one for a while, it took me about six months to play through with regular play.

The Bad
The Bad, well there are still some bugs, now hoping for a bug less PC is a pipe dream but it still could have had fewer bugs. The Dwarf and Daemon should have some way to travel fast, it is unfair that the cannot ride a horse or something. The expansion is weak.

The Bottom Line
Overall PC RPG fans will find a lot to like with Scared Gold, and it will keep them, busy awhile.