In-development review, two acts completed; after one playthrough; about 5 hours to finish two acts. Sacred Fire lives up to its subtitle better than any other computer-based "Role Playing Game" that I have played. It is completely engaging. I expect from context that most choices do not actually change the story much, as long as you survive; however it genuinely _feels_ as if they do. I will definitely be replaying with different choices and/or character, so I will find out. There isn't any "sacred fire" in the story so far though. The game is set in Britain during the Roman conquest. The player is part of a small village in a larger loosely-bound kingdom trying to stay free of the Romans. There is a Roman wall nearby, but I was not clear which wall or fortification it was. It isn't important to the story. The story has the Romans, "slavers", and "raiders" as adversaries. The slavers are Romans too and the raiders are quasi-allies (said to be from another island, so either Irish or Icelandic?). Graphically the game is static. It is played as a series of text-based choices of interactions (including some combat) with other characters and in response to your character's thoughts and condition. The art and music are good. Character progression is through spending from several point totals. The character changes things like armor using wealth, reduces their faults using self-insight, increases bonuses with renown titles, and changes relationships to other characters with experience. I found the normal difficulty a little too easy, perhaps, because I maxed out the available renown titles. But I wanted to have more points than I got to develop my relationships with other characters. I died once, to what felt like an arbitrary opponent action. Restarted at checkpoint and had only a couple slightly close calls. The only complaint I have is that the story progression and the player's rise is too fast. And that is because I wanted more, so it is a positive in a way.
Repetitive graphics and play. No story to speak of. Impossible to succeed without a controller I think. The options allow selecting a controller, but it does not work on my Mac with my properly connected wireless controller that works with other games.
