Sometimes a game comes along that hits every note and despite being inspired by another game, manages to create a unique identity for itself. This was the case with Sacred, a game with a long and complicated development history, starting as Armalion, a game based on the German tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye. Ikarion, the developer, went bankrupt and the unfinished product was acquired by Ascaron ( a studio known for making soccer management games) who removed The Dark Eye license, but left references such as naming the world the newly renamed Sacred takes place in, Ancaria after the Realms of Arkania series based on The Dark Eye.
Sacred stood out among the many Diablo II clones with its use of open world gameplay and the way its classes all felt unique in ways other games could not touch. There was also a lot of wittiness and humour to the game, with plenty of references to other media, and the result is a game that, along with its expansion, saved Ascaron at the time. That said, there were a number of bugs in the release that had to be fixed over time, but fans came to love Sacred and released a number of mods to not only fix the game but add fun new content.
Eventually the time came for a sequel and Sacred 2 tried to be both a refinement of what came before, while offering changes to make it better. That was the goal anyways, but Ascaron ran into financial issues again and the development cycle became a troubled mess and a rush job bringing back many bugs and not flowing as seamlessly as the first game’s open world did. An expansion was released but it was too late and Ascaron went under and the rights to Sacred were sold off.
Now, after a beat ’em up spinoff that was just kind of there, and a third game that was an utter disaster that betrayed everything fans loved about the series, THQ Nordic and SparklingBit, a studio formed from former Sacred developers, have released a new remaster of Sacred 2. I want to say this is a cause for joy, but sadly the rushed development of the game that resulted in its originally buggy launch has affected Sacred 2 Remaster in a big way.
Sacred 2 Remaster was a bit of a mess at launch, crashing frequently and having numerous bugs and issues that made the game not fun to play at all. Normally I would say its unacceptable that a game launched in a bad state, but there is a valid excuse here and SparklingBit has been very upfront and honest about the issues they have had to work with, such as legacy code springing nasty surprises on them that they did not see until launch. These include memory leaks that made development an uphill battle, but patches have been released constantly since late 2025 and the game is in a better state now.
Sacred 2 Remaster is a game best played with a controller, as the game and its UI has been slightly redesigned around that control scheme, for better or worse. I personally would prefer an option to choose the UI, but SparklingBit has addressed the matter somewhat since launch, with changes to the UI that do not change the layout, but make it a bit more approachable on PC. A lot of the clutter resulting from item tooltip overlap and UI color problems have also been fixed, as have issues with stretched skill icons and displaced UI tooltips.
One thing that is a bit of an issue is the skill slots compared to the original game. In the original version of the game on PC, you could set up very flexible combat art slots and hotbars, but it is far more restrictive in the remaster and there is no 5th combat-art/weapon slot. SparklingBit has said they are considering bringing it back, and the developer has made an interesting change as well. A UI-debug branch was added on Steam that shows that SparklingBit is still making changes and is preparing for modders to make their own preferred changes as well.
It needs to be emphasized that SparklingBit had to rewrite large parts of the code just to get the game to work, so some issues are understandable, and it is to be commended that they are making improvements. Sacred 2 was not as liked as the original Sacred at the time, but is now regarded as a worthy entry in the series that has plenty of the unique features that made the original stand apart from other Diablo clones. The game is still fun to play, and the characters and story feel unique, especially when you decide whether to be good or evil, which affects how you play and experience the game.
One thing I need to address is that there has been backlash against THQ Nordic for removing Sacred 2 Gold from storefronts after the remaster came out. Sacred 2 Gold was the best way to experience the original game, and was very mod friendly, but it is not in fact gone for good from storefronts. Buying the remaster will give you Sacred 2 Gold as well, and it may feel scummy to lock the classic version behind the remaster, but this is not like what we have seen with other “Remasters” where developers go and remove any other version completely. Yes it costs more, but you can get both versions this way, and with the constant improvements Sacred 2 Remaster is getting, both will be worth playing, especially as mod support gets better for the remaster.
Is Sacred 2 Remaster the best it could be? No, not at all, but SparklingBit had a lot working against them when they were working on the game. They have been listening to fan feedback and have been working to make the experience a better one. I still recommend checking out Sacred 2 Remaster because the game is on its way to good state with developers who are passionate about the project, and it comes with the best version of the classic game. Here is to the future for Sacred 2, and may it be a good one.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided