Sacrifice

aka: Sacrifice: Im Auftrag Der Götter, Xisheng
Moby ID: 2861
Windows Specs
Buy on Windows
$7.99 new on Steam

Description official descriptions

In this Real Time Strategy game, the player plays a wizard who escaped his own ruined world, only to arrive to a world who has quarreling gods, each trying to become the most powerful. On each of the different levels of the game, the Wizard can choose another God to support, and according to that God you'll get new spells and creatures. After finishing the game, each player will have his own unique set of spells.

As said before, this game is a real time strategy game, but unlike the traditional Top-Down view, it features a third-person view (much like Tomb Raider or Oni), and emphasizes combat rather than resources management. The most important resource, Souls, which is used to summon creatures, can only be obtained through combat- and there's a limited number of souls on the map.

The game's multiplayer option is very similar to Blizzard's Battle.Net- you can log on to the company's chat room and find new players to play with. You can either choose a God to serve (and get all of his creatures) or load one of your Single-player wizards, so you'll have your own unique set.

Spellings

  • Жертвоприношение - Russian spelling
  • 牺牲 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Windows version)

160 People (145 developers, 15 thanks) · View all

Producer
Lead Programming
Tools/AI Programming
Lead Design
Level / Scenario Design
Art Director
Assistant Producer
Story and Game Script Writer
Voiceovers Director
Character Technology
Character Tools
Front End & Installer
Lead Character Modeler
Lead Character Animator
Primary Scenery Artist
Spell FX Artist
Character Conversion
Addition Characters and Modeling
Additional Animation
Special Thanks
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 59 ratings with 6 reviews)

A genre of it's own !

The Good
Basically, being a strategy game, this game has the weirdest build I have ever seen. For example I'll point out that it's built like a 3d-shooter game, the game will most of the time be focused on you, the player. As you roam around and cast spell, or summon creatures to aid you in defeating an opponent wizard. Storyline is well built, and also open-ended. The multiplayer is a weird experience in this game because it is mostly a resource fight.

The Bad
The game has a "scissors-stone-paper" mechanics. Each unit is good against another one, and perfection is impossible. This means you have to somehow know what creatures your opponent possesses, and act accordingly.He who first sights a hidden opponent, or he who has more resources, will win!

The Bottom Line
The weirdest game you will ever play!

Windows · by Henry Aloni (46) · 2003

An absolutely amazing game worth checking out now! (might as well, saw it for 5 bucks with some other game at CompUSA)

The Good
Well, what can I say? This is an amazing blend of elements. At its heart it's a RTS, but you control your avatar from a 3rd person perspective and do all your commanding from there. Every level you can choose which side you want to play on (there are 5 with varied abilities and units). These choices affect the storyline. The game itself is very actionny, with lots of summoning and moving around. The graphics are STILL lush and wonderful, 3 whole years after this game's release. The battles are frantic, with much bloodshed and powerful explosions. And the manual needs to be the size of a small novel to describe all the units!

The Bad
The soul-gathering for resources gets annoying after a while. Defeating the enemy is a major pain in the ass (you gotta destroy their altar), but it's not really a fault - I just really suck at RTS's. Some later maps start out instantly with no time to think - just summon lotsa units.

The Bottom Line
An action/RTS that should be on every gamer's hard-drive!

Windows · by Archagon (108) · 2003

Fantastic game not represented by its sales

The Good
- amazing engine, well used and performed magnificently. Stable.
- well presented - graphics are quirky, colourful and original
- good level building tools - people made some great levels in Sac.
- the game was non-linear and had a high replayability. I finished it 3 times over, taking different paths.


The Bad
- multiplayer suffered from drop-outs and a lack of player base
- no SDK released for modding (great opportunity here)
- once you lose your mana fountains then you basically lose the game - it's really hard to recover
- the powerful creatures dominate to the point that it's not worth creating any other


The Bottom Line
Think "magic the gathering" in real time with fantastic spells and creatures. You are in the game as the wizard, so you can attack/be attacked yourself. Summon creatures to fight for you, and rain down death with powerful magicks.

An interesting story coupled with unique presentation and great technology makes for a fantastic experience.

It's a shame that they didn't sell well enough to warrant a sacrifice 2 or an SDK for sac. It was also a shame that the multiplayer was never that popular.

Windows · by neko_ (5) · 2003

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Sacrifice appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Engine

Did you know that Sacrifice was one of the first games to ever implement a scalable engine? That means that it would look better on better computers.

References

Everybody knows Shiny's Earth Worm Jim, but nobody in our world ever heard about the Earth God James and his powerful bovine spells... Until now.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2001 (Issue #201) – Strategy Game of the Year
  • GameSpy
    • 2000 – Special Award for Best Genre Bender
  • PC Player
    • Issue 01/2001 – Most Original Game in 2000

Information also contributed by NeoMoose

Analytics

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Bengal: Game of Gods
Released 2006 on Windows
Trial of the Gods: Ariadne's Fate
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Karma: Immortal Wrath
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The Sultan's Labyrinth: A Royal Sacrifice
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Hermes: War of the Gods
Released 2019 on Windows

Related Sites +

  • Sacrifice Casts a Spell on Mac OS X
    An Apple Games article about the Macintosh version of Sacrifice, with commentary being provided by employees of MacPlay (October, 2001).
  • Sacrifice Center
    Look up news, polls, interviews, forums, and game information on this site.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2861
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

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Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Adam Baratz.

Macintosh added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: El-ad Amir, Unicorn Lynx, jaXen, Stratege, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added December 29, 2000. Last modified March 4, 2024.