In case you don’t follow the drama that is the European CRPG scene, the latest chapter of the cult-hit Sacred series came out on August 5th and was soundly beaten down in reviews both professional and fan-based. It eschewed the large open world gameplay and deep character combo systems in favor for what was essentially an arcade gauntlet clone. Naturally, people were not pleased. Though I knew what the game was and urged devoted fans of the game to instead follow the game the original Sacred developers were making, many still fell into the trap of buying the new one and regretted it immensely.

Which brings us to today’s news which apparently points the finger at publisher Deep Silver.

Sascha Wagentrotz, a designer who worked on the title, claims in a post on the Steam Community forums, that publisher Deep Silver forced them to change the direction of the game so as to move it away from its less-approachable hardcore roots. Throughout the thread, Wagentrotz replies to posters with more and more bits of information; all seeming to point to obvious interference from the publisher and a concerted effort on their part to alter the original planned design.

This does make sense, since Sacred Citadel was their (failed) first attempt at re-branding the Sacred series, and it doesn’t shock me that they’d try again with Sacred 3. With European publishers well known for harassing developers and forcing them to make gameplay concessions as well as “playing dirty”, it’s not exactly difficult to believe Wagentrotz.

In perhaps the most damaging move he could make, however, the disgruntled developer gave out his Steam key to the forum. Though considering the state of the game, I’m not sure if that’s so much a gesture of goodwill as it is a punishment.