Watching the planet come to life is a real pleasure. From the desert storms at the start to a lush planet with exotic fauna at the end, it's a wild (and beautiful) ride. With no hostile flora/fauna and many options to customise gameplay to your taste, this is a relaxing and enriching experience.
+ combat is fun and varied; the best bit about this game. Between readying actions, dodging, and using advantage/disadvantage to your... advantage this game can feel pretty strategic. Sometimes even awesome, e.g. when you manage to push a difficult adversary to his death at the bottom of a chasm. +- 5e itself is somewhat meh IMO (not a fault of this game, but that's the ruleset it's based on). 'Bounded accuracy' is a divisive addition in 5e, which you might want to look into before buying the game. Despite its advantages, I strongly felt the inherent lack of specialisation and epicness. Also, casters feel pretty neutered; they're still good at making a real difference via crowd control, but between concentration and limited spell slots my other characters were usually more effective by simply killing enemies instead of CC'ing them. - The story is very, very, VERY basic, linear, and uninspired. Without spoilering anything, it's practically no more than a chase after n McGuffins and a climactic end fight. It also has no significant choices for you to make, which makes the whole idea of this being a RPG fall flat on its face. 'Combat simulator' would fit better. - Graphics are serviceable, but ugh. It felt more like a marginally upgraded NWN to me rather than a game that came out in 2021. Despite that, it still managed to frequently cause significant FPS issues. - The quality of voice acting is generally okay, but sometimes really drops into the negatives. - The music is 'ok', nothing memorable at all. All in all, I had fun playing this game, but unlike many other RPGs that I cherish and replay every now and then I don't think the urge to revisit this will hit me anytime soon. I'd recommend to get this when it's at a discount.
This is doubtlessly a great game. Fantastic graphics, imaginative and varied world, excellent sound-work, good tension arc. I'd peg it more as an action-rPG with a minor 'r', because you, as a player, have very little choice in shaping the story. Occasionally you get to pick among 3 options (which are always 'angry/forceful', 'clever/deflecting', and 'empathetic/nice'), but that's all. The game is extremely combat heavy with some storytelling cutscenes, so don't expect building/using any social skills. Stealth gameplay is decent, but you will starve yourself of XP and mats and you will end up in forced (boss/arena-style) fights anyway, so... meh. Exploration feels quite thin, with collectibles too sparse to make for enjoyable hunting, yet if you get the maps for them, the 'hunt' deteriorates to 'run to map marker to pick up stuff'. That said, some of the vistas in the game are the most beautiful I've ever seen, so it's still worth it to stop and sniff the roses, as it were. The story captivated me, I loved all the hidden texts and holos you could collect to learn about the lore. But... I cannot avoid mentioning one thing which really did annoy me in the end, despite me trying my best to just ignore it: The game is extremely heavy-handed in communicating the general feeling of 'men = evil, stupid, or weak' vs. 'women = good, clever, and strong'. I prefer female protagonists and I do love well-written characters of either gender, but this game could have done with a bit more balance.
I got this DLC for free as part of the pre-order/early-buyer package. I'm generally not fond of such microtransactions, but if you wonder if it might be useful to you: - The weapons are quickly replaced and not all that good. - The armor pieces, notably the gloves and hat, are quite useful for their talent bonuses (crafting/insight, respectively) and retain their usefulness for the entire game -- both checks come up regularly.
Score 4.5/5 POSITIVE + Atmospheric world. The factions are believable and nuanced, though the Bridge in particular made me want to strangle people. Party members belong to one of the factions but bring much-needed perspective to them (and generally do not follow the tenets slavishly). Graphics-wise, the nature settings are admittedly a bit samey, but so beautiful (lush forests, plains, even underground caverns with flora) that I don't mind at all. The cities and clothes per nation are very different and well done. + Well-written quests and interesting lore. They all tie into each other and even the rare fetch quest illuminates the world, I enjoyed it. + The main characters are very well done; the player's character has a very interesting background that, at the same time, leaves many blank pages for you to fill in. + Lots to do and see. NEUTRAL o The narrative tone might be called naive by some, positive or optimistic by others. There is a 'best' ending and it's an 'everybody hugs' ending. I did like it as it was believable enough to work, and I appreciate having a happy end option instead of 'everybody is #$%! and the world is gray'. o RPG choices are limited to certain key choices in the game. If you have a specific character in mind the voiced lines in particular might sometimes induce dissonance (the general habitus seems to be compassionate and helpful). That said, those key decisions can be quite tough and/or evil. o The music is... unremarkable. I can't actually remember it at all. NEGATIVE o Camera can be a bit wonky, especially during fights, making me run or shoot in the wrong direction. o Subtitles were clearly not proof-read and mix up some actors' genders. o Sometimes there's a lot of rather unproductive running from A to B and back. Sadly some quick-travel points are lacking and/or misplaced (e.g. no QT points in the main castles).
This game is so much fun. Seriously, do not allow yourself to be distracted by the eternal litany of 'is this Dark Souls like'... judge this game on its own merits. + Gameplay is a lot of fun. Darksiders 3 is a noticeable step up in difficulty from the previous entries in the series. On the one hand, this can be a source of frustration, since there is no manual save and the teleporters can be rather far off. On the other hand, this allows you to feel how, as time goes on, you have improved both your own gaming abilities as well as your character's gear. Weapons and powers are varied and fun to use. There are hand-placed little secrets everywhere and they're rewarding to discover, so if you like to explore or solve the occasional puzzle, you'll be happy. You can customise gear (via charms and upgrades) and attributes to your liking, so you can play the way you want, though diminishing returns on attributes limit variability. + It has tons of atmosphere. This game is faithful to the tone and atmosphere set by previous entries. A bit cheesy sometimes, true, but never boring. It has a distinct art style, so don't expect photorealism here. Playing as Fury is a true blast. Her voice acting is excellent. I think THQ did a great job with designing five main area 'themes' (green city, crypts, swamp etc.), but as you track down the Sins, you'll switch from one theme to the next, so there's always variance. The music varies between 'oh, there's been music playing' and 'I'll just listen for a while'. + Fury rocks. She's the most flavourful horseman so far, she's a joy in combat (even if there's no blocking... but there's a lot of satisfaction in getting perfect dodges, as that enables her to use far more powerful moves). And she looks absolutely kick-ass. - FPS drops in some areas. - Telegraphing can be hit-and-miss leading to a swift death. - No manual save. Too few savepoints. All in all, this game is a great popcorn game: Kick ass with Fury and enjoy the ride. :)
Summary: Great visuals, audio and writing. Gameplay can be frustrating at the start. + Great story that grips the player despite using elements we've seen before (e.g. The Matrix, Deus Ex, ...). It's reasonably deep and presents a fair bit of food for thought. + Atmosphere is dense and fitting for a dystopian future. It's not all drab only though; some fun encounters and quips lighten the mood. + The game looks fantastic. Every zone has its own distinct style, you can almost smell it. + The audio is similarly stellar. Music is top-notch, as is most of the voice-acting. + Quests are varied and fun, and most importantly, many of them allow several different ways of solving them. + Solid character development both from a mechanical (skills) perspective and a roleplaying perspective (conversation choices) o Gameplay is somewhat fiddly to get into and can get rather frustrating at times. In the 'real world', enemies like to stunlock you until you figure out what the hell you are doing, and in the virtual world, the game throws endless masses of enemies at you. o The story is linear, but thanks to the various options presented in conversations and ways to solve quests, it has some replay value. o Game has medium length (probably around 15-20 hours for a completionist run). - The ending felt rather rushed. Particularly one ending could definitely have done with a better epilogue. - Shooting is... meh. No cover, no strategy, just war of attrition. Melee is much more fun. Verdict: 9/10 ~ 4/5
'Review too long' - sigh. + Interesting new skill concept. Skills are randomly found in the form of runes. Increasing skill levels are a strategic choice, so be careful. + Colourful, vibrant world. + You can ride a horse. No joking, that was novel at the time, you can even give it different harnesses to boost specific stats. - Absolutely terrible story. Yes, Diablo does not tell a novel, mesmerising story either, but at least it comes with some lore and gfx 'oomph'. Sacred has neither of these and delivers a bland, utterly repetitive and boring narrative. - Incredible amount of worthless filler sidequests -- completely randomised on the outside, mind-numbingly repetitive on the inside. - Only maybe 6? 7? different monster types. Overall. In the whole game. Yes, the world is huge, but damn - is even a palette shift too much to ask for? - Horrible itemisation: 99.9% is vendor crap. The only notable exception are the beautiful sets, but a few deplorable design decisions (no muling, static item levels etc.) mar their usefulness, and thus the excitement. - Tons of game-breaking bugs. TL;DR: I wish I had the time back that I sunk into this game. It is/was advertised as an aRPG, but it fails at providing (a somewhat engaging) both the A - action and the RP - roleplaying, leaving only a mediocre time-eating G - game that will inevitably make your eyes bleed before you uninstall it.
