Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is the second full game in the Sacred series, in fact a prequel which takes place during the events that occurred 2,000 years before the events of Sacred. Like it's predecessor the game takes place in a fantasy setting. A new game engine means that the game is rendered in perspective correct 3D, whilst retaining the viewpoint found in older isometric games.

Story
A mysterious force called T-Energy is the source of all life and magic in Ancaria. It was originally solely under the control of the ancient race of Seraphim, however over time as they lost interest in the world they gave some of their control to the High Elves. With this power, the High Elves quickly became the dominant race of Ancaria.

A power struggle is raging between two factions within the High Elves. The nobility and clergy are each trying to gain control over the T-Energy. Other races take advantage of the distraction the conflict provides and try to gain control of the T-Energy themselves, so they can become the dominant and most powerful race. As these events unfold, the T-Energy goes increasingly out of control and changes into a destructive force. A force that mutates creatures, destroys cities, and renders entire regions uninhabitable. The campaign selection you make will determine whether your story involves healing the land, or intensifying the chaos.

Campaigns
There are two campaign path choices: Light and Shadow. The player will select the path they want to follow at the beginning of the game, and this choice determines the ultimate goal of their character. Throughout the game, the paths intersect at different points. In one path you may be asked to help defend a town, while in the other you may be the person attacking the town.

World
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel features a very large and open world, with seamless transitions from region to region so you don't have to wait for new regions to load when you switch between them. The surface map is 22 square miles. The world also contains dungeons and caves going as far as 2 levels deep, and surface dwellings of up to four stories.

All areas of the world are hand-crafted to create an intricate level of detail, and give a sense of authenticity. There is a wide variety of different regions, running the spectrum from arid desert to lush tropical rain forest. Every region differs in its climate, terrain, architecture, inhabitants, flora, fauna and even light.

In addition to playable characters and enemies, there will be different neutral creatures to inhabit the various regions, as well as enemies and NPCs.

NPCs are constructed to behave realistically within the Day/Night cycle. This means, that you might not be able to find an open merchant in the middle of the night because he's home in bed sleeping.

Classes
There are 6 playable classes, each of which has different class specific equipment and animations that are dependent on the weapons they're wielding. Maximum character level will be at least 200.
 * Seraphim : The Seraphim is the only class from Sacred 1 that appears in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. She embodies all that is good, therefore she can only play the Light path.
 * Shadow Warrior : An elite warrior, returned to life against his will after his death on the battlefield.
 * High Elf : A student of magic, freshly emerged from the academy ready to explore the world and expand her knowledge.
 * Dryad : Adept at ranged combat, nature magic and voodoo.
 * Temple Guardian : cyborg creature adept with mechanical and technological arts.
 * Inquisitor : He embodies all that is evil, therefore can only play the Shadow path.

Mounts
Players will be able to use horses as they could in Sacred, for transportation as well as in combat. Each class will also get access to a special unique mount type via a quest. Special mounts can also be used for transportation as well as battle.

Quests
Ancaria is full of a variety of quest types. Current figures indicate that there will be 100 core campaign quests as well as hundreds of side quests. The side quests will include character specific quests, as well as quest related to the specific deity you choose when creating your character.

Customization
Character customization is accomplished in a variety of ways. In addition to choice of using a mount or not, and if so which, there is a wide variety of equipment and weapon types. Players will also be able to modify their class specific combat arts (ex: magic spells). An example of customization in combat arts is modifying a lightening spell to either strike with more force, or strike with slightly less force but chain out to additional enemies.

The Platforms
Sacred 2 will be released for the PC, as well as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. All versions will contain the same content, the main difference is in the user interface, which has been designed to allow optimal control for the hardware differences of each platform.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer mode features "hot-swapping" capabilities, which allows players to leave their single player campaign, join a friend's game in multiplayer, then return to their single player campaign at the point they left off while retaining any levels and items that they received while in their friend's multiplayer game.

All platforms will allow a variety of game modes, with five distinct multiplayer modes, with the maximum number of players varying based on the platform and game type:
 * PC: Maximum of 16 players per game.
 * Xbox 360: Maximum of 4 players via Xbox Live, or 2 offline.
 * Playstation 3: Maximum of 4 players or 2 offline.