Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - Boxed - PS3

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is the sequel to Sacred. The game is set 2,000 years before Shaddar summons the Sakkara Demon. It takes place in Ancaria, which stands on the brink of a new war, and the player's goal is to prevent that war. It's entirely up to the player whether light or chaos ultimately gains the upper hand.

All because of a divine energy called T-Energy. Once guarded by the Seraphim and later controlled by the High Elves, its use was highly controversial even among the High Elves, as more and more resistance formed. In the end, what everyone had feared happened: the great war began. Dragonkin, Temple Guardians, humans and orcs fought side by side against the High Elves, but their power was already too great. After the whole of Ancaria had been destroyed, they retained control of the T-Energy. Eventually, even the remaining High Elves left their old homeland and founded a new realm based entirely on the powers of the T-Energy, and in this new homeland tensions escalate between the high nobility and the clergy.

Meanwhile, the constant exploitation of T-Energy continues to poison entire regions, and the once-divine power now turns every living creature in these areas into terrible monstrous mutations that destroy everything in their path.

At the start of the game, the player can choose between six characters, of whom only the Seraphim, a solid all-round character, has carried over from the first game. The other five are entirely new classes, such as the Dryad, master of ranged combat and nature magic, or the Inquisitor, who is in almost every respect the opposite of the Seraphim. Some of the class choices also affect the two campaigns and which of the six available gods the player can choose. While the Seraphim can only walk the path of light, the Inquisitor is condemned to walk the path of chaos and has no access to the gods of light, nature and philosophy.

While the choice of light and chaos affects how the campaign and its main quest ultimately unfold, each god grants the player access to a very powerful spell. The god Testa, for example, charges the hero with T-Energy and allows them to fire energy orbs that heal allied units and damage enemies. However, because these spells are so powerful, they also have a very long cooldown and should only be used as a last resort or against very powerful enemies.

Once a character has been created, the game plays very similarly to the original: the player accepts quests and kills creatures for experience points and loot in order to level up and become more powerful. With each level, the player receives a skill point that can be invested in four different areas, such as defensive skills or class-exclusive combat arts. Out of the 27 available skills, the player can select up to ten and level them up. The player also finds runes on their travels.

These runes allow the characters' talents to be improved. Once a spell or ability has been learned from a rune, relearning the rune increases the level of the corresponding spell or ability until it matches the character's current level. If the player finds runes for other characters or wants to specialise in certain talents, they can visit a Rune Master and trade up to four runes plus a good amount of gold for a rune of the desired talent. It's also possible to combine talents into powerful combos that determine which spells or attacks are used and in what order. The more powerful the talents used, the longer the cooldown for the combo.

The game also offers an extensive multiplayer mode, allowing players to play on PvE or PvP servers, or to play the campaign over a local network (only one copy of the game required for two players), an open network (allows the use of single-player characters), or a closed network similar to Battle.net.