Sacred (video game)

Sacred is a 2004 action role-playing game developed by the German company Ascaron and published by Take 2 Interactive. It is set on the magical continent of Ancaria, with characters of various races (dark elf, vampiress, dwarf, etc.) each with their own missions. Two expansion packs were released for the game in 2004 and 2005. In 2008, Linux Game Publishing announced that they would port the game to the Linux operating system.

Sacred was a commercial hit, with sales above 2 million units worldwide by 2009. It spawned the Sacred video game franchise, and was followed by the sequels Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, Sacred Citadel, and Sacred 3.

Upon beginning the game, players are given a choice to start with one of six different character types: Gladiator, Dark Elf, Wood Elf, Vampiress, Battle-Mage and Seraphim. The Daemon and Dwarf were additional characters added in the expansion Sacred Underworld and included in Sacred Gold.

Each character begins in a different part of the area around a town in Ancaria (the continent that Sacred takes place within), and with a different starting quest. For example, the Gladiator starts in a colosseum, enslaved by his master, while the Seraphim starts in a church. The Dark Elf starts on a cliff with a Wood Elf companion. Throughout the game, the characters all receive different sub-quests.

Each character class is also restricted to a certain set of items, and has a different set of skills. To increase these skill levels, characters must find runes that correspond to those skills, a rather novel system in contrast to the more mainstream model of skill points. Some character classes have identical skills, but the runes from one class cannot be used to advance skills in another class. Runes may be traded and used for crafting.

Sacred features a vast array of items that can be obtained from shops, various containers (chests, barrels, graves...), dead monsters or "magical hiding places" in many of the rocks and bushes throughout Ancaria, which are indicated by a yellow sparkle. Many of the items can be only equipped by one type of character, like wings, which can only be equipped by a Seraphim.

There are also several potion types, such as the typical health heal, but there are other types, like Potions of Undead death, which stops Undead from reviving once players kill them, and "Potions of Concentration", which regenerate players' combo attacks so they can be used faster. There are no mana-heal potions in Sacred, because mana is not a feature of the game. Also, monsters occasionally drop a rune that increases a certain skill for a certain character, if used.

If the player owns a horse several different types of saddles can be bought to be used on it. These saddles increase the speed, defense, and damage done by the horse. Only one horse may be owned at a time, and the horse can be damaged and killed.