PixelRage: Please, introduce yourself and tell us something about Ascaron, important achievements accomplished so far, and future plans.

Alan Wild: Hi there. My name’s Alan Wild and I am the Product Manager for Ascaron Entertainment. Ascaron has a history of success with strategic titles such as the Patrician series and Port Royale. Future plans include Port Royale 2, Web Wars Arena and three other undisclosed projects.

PixelRage: Speaking of Sacred, why did you decide to make an RPG / Hack'n'Slash ?

Alan Wild: We’re all huge fans of the RPG genre, and there was so much we wanted to do to add to this kind of game. It made perfect sense to develop our own RPG and create exactly the kind of fantasy world that we ourselves would want to adventure in, and with the features that we know RPG enthusiasts have been waiting to see. So, Sacred was born.

PixelRage: Could you compare Sacred to another RPG, and point out distinctive
features that sets it apart from other games?

Alan Wild: It would be extremely difficult to compare Sacred to any single other RPG title. There is just so much going on… here’s a list of distinctive features to get your teeth into:

a. Sacred has six main characters: Gladiator, Seraphim, Battle Mage, Wood Elf, Dark Elf and Vampiress. As well as a pool of items and skills, they’ve all got a host of class-specific weapons, armors, items and combat arts (special skills and magic). We’re talking well over 2,500 items here…
b. The Gladiator is the fierce close-combat warrior. His special skills allow him to grab enemies and pick up, throw them, slam them, kick them, stun them, attack numerous enemies at a time… and the Gladiator can use almost all the weapons available in Sacred. Likewise with armor, which he can wear with little or no encumbrance or movement penalties.
c. The Seraphim is an angelic warrior, a skilled fighter who also has heavenly magic at her disposal. She has a range of unique armors, such as Seraphim wings, which as well as having some seriously cool magical and ‘energistic’ lighting effects, add various bonuses depending on just which items you find.
d. The Battle Mage is the traditional magician character, with one subtle difference: he also has some skill with close-combat weapons. The forte of the Battle Mage, however, is his exceptional magic and powerful spells. He can use spells from each of the four Elements: Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Additionally, the Battle Mage is also adept in the healing and protective Life magic. Being able to use weapons as well as magic gives Sacred’s Battle Mage much more scope for playability than previous mage characters in this genre.
e. The Wood Elf is a ranger-class character, with the legendary skills and magic of the noble Elves. Highly skilled in the use of bows, she can unleash devastating multiple, explosive and special arrows from her taut bowstring. Alongside her graceful attacks the Wood Elf’s Moon magic allows her to summon Ancestors and Unicorns to aid her, and to magically trap or transform her enemies.
f. The Dark Elf hails from a race that has strayed from the path of nobility walked by their Elven brethren. Dark Elves are malicious and ruthless in combat, particularly in the use of unarmed combat. They are also renowned for being efficient with their savage and wicked blades. Dark Elf males are trained from birth in such skills, and also in the use of traps.

It is these traps which can make any meeting with a Dark Elf quickly turn into a lethal encounter.
g. The Vampiress is one of the most unique characters to ever grace the world of fantasy RPG. Vampires have always been talked about, and there are many stories about them… and the Vampiress epitomizes the essence of the stories of such creatures. Both honorable and charming, fearsome and deadly, the Vampiress can appear as a beautiful knightly warrior, with graceful movement and speaking with their air of nobility, or she can appear as the vampiric creature of the night, summoning wolves and awakening the dead to aid in her quest, and fighting with animalistic claw attacks, slashing and biting.
h. All the characters are hugely playable in their own right, and each play quite differently which adds to the replayability of Sacred.
i. The characters, as described above, will make Sacred immensely appealing to all RPG gamers.
j. Sacred also boasts the appearance of horses which are an integral part of the game. To be able to ride, fight and cast magic from horseback is something gamers have been wanting for a while.
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