Sacred Citadel - New Game of the Day #63

SACRED CITADEL – NEW GAME OF THE DAY #62

What? A 2D side-scrolling brawler based on Ascaron’s Sacred universe

When? 2013

Where? XBLA, PSN, Steam

As action-RPGs go, Ascaron's 2008 offering Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was fairly middle-of-the-road. Not particularly awful, it balanced its generic hack n slash dungeoneering with a few half-decent ideas. The classes were fairly interesting and it was nothing if not massive. A third game is currently in development, and in the meantime Deep Silver are keeping the dream alive with Sacred Citadel, a side-scrolling, loot-tastic brawler set in the Sacred universe.

Developed by Southend Interactive, Sacred Citadel's cartoony art-style is immediately appealing, setting it apart from Ascaron's soon-to-be trilogy. You'll take control of either a warrior, ranger or shaman and advance through the various levels by obliterating legions of colourful enemies.

2D brawlers have struggled to find a dedicated audience since the days of Golden Axe and Streets of Rage, and even with the HD polish available on modern systems their simple, repetitious nature often fails to fully capture our attention. The intimate details of how Sacred Citadel will combat this are yet to be seen, but one of the more obvious weapons in its war against boredom is the fact that unlike the majority of 2D beat-em-ups, this one throws loot at you like granny-panties at a Tom Jones concert.

If there's one thing any RPG developer knows, it's that role-playing gamers like collecting crap. To feed your inner kleptomaniac there’ll be armour pieces, weapons and trinkets galore, and your characters will level up through the age-old process of XP-gathering, unlocking new skills and upping their stats.

Sacred Citadel’s gameplay lends itself perfectly to 3-player co-op as the diverse classes work together by utilising the standard tank/dps/support paradigm. As long as the gameplay remains as compelling as the gorgeous visuals, there should be plenty to keep ARPG fans, hardcore or otherwise, hooked on Southend Interactive’s little spin-off.

Developer Legacy: Swedish outfit Southend Interactive are best known for their work on 2003’s cel-shaded shooter XIII and, more recently, 2010’s colourful puzzle game, Ilomilo.

Website: www.Sacred-World.com

Facebook: Facebook/SacredWorld

Twitter: @SouthendGames

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

Please register or login to post comments