Those who know me are undoubtedly aware of what a huge European CRPG nerd I am. Heck, I even have a club on Steam that celebrates them. Having enjoyed the European CRPG renaissance of the 2000-2005 time period, it made me giddy as a schoolboy when the second Sacred game hit Steam in 2009. Unfortunately, it was so “Un-sacred” that fans of the first one didn’t much care for it, and poor sales eventually resulted in the bankruptcy of its developer, Ascaron, and an abandonment of the Sacred series.
That is, until recently when the new copyright holders unleashed a casual sidescrolling action game that bore its name. As if that wasn’t enough to alienate hardcore fans of the original European sleeper hit, Deep Silver then announced a third Sacred game to much fanfare and applause.
As a fan, me and many of those I know on steam were very disappointed. Ascaron deserved another shot, but no one was going to give it to them…
Until it was recently revealed that Ascaron will be using Paypal donations to fund a true sequel, humorously called Unsacred.
Though there isn’t any artwork yet and the site is available only in German, there is some hope that fans of the original game’s “Morrowind-meets-Diablo” gameplay will see a reappearance.
A rough translation of the main page goes something like this:
Welcome to unsacred (working title).
We are pleased that you, from wherever you come from, you have found us. We are the ones who eventually made SACRED. Those who have registered significantly our concerns to SACRED 2 and did not want to hear – or could. That is past. Not always glorious, not always honorable. But the vision is never died. And in the years that have passed since then, we have a never lost sight of: a common idea. We call unsacred (working title) and it will be the game that we want to make and will make. For this we need your help. Live the dream with us, help us to let him become a reality. It may be that many of the sounds that we tell you about here, for one or the other almost fantastic. But to be honest: When we have taken SACRED attack, the voices sounded very similar. Prepare yourself your own to figure it out and come back. You will find at this point constant updates.
The Team
At this point, imagine our team members in the course of our project and tell you a little of what their responsibilities are in unsacred (working title). Our current development team is a mix of “old warriors” and new faces, which are connected by a common goal. Friends, companions, faithful fans of the first hour. We cover the entire development history of SACRED rich and thereby to the early beginnings of ARMALION, the game (the older ones among you will remember), from which then eventually became SACRED. From this age eg Franz Stradal, Marc Oberhäuser, Ralph Roder and Norbert Becker is one of the party. Peter Hann, whose graphics capabilities many of you are still likely to know from Sacred 2, is also included with. As consultants, we are old SACRED greats like Michael Bhatty to the side that will ensure that our new universe which is what you want as a player and fans and what we dream of for years. Everything will be fine!
Those fluent in German may be able to squeeze more info from the main site. Hopefully this isn’t some ill-timed joke.
