Sacred 2

My latest issue of PC Gamer arrived covered with an ad for Sacred 2. I played Sacred many moons ago and enjoyed it immensely. It's an European Diablo clone with a bit more emphasis on story and questing than the Blizzard product.

What's funny is that I've heard absolutely zero buzz about the game and the ad announces it's due to hit retail next month. I didn't even know it was in production until today let alone imminently arriving on store shelves. E3 went down just a few weeks ago and neither G4, XPlay, or any of the gaming sites made any mention of Sacred 2. So what gives?

It could be that since it's a European game, it's been heavily covered across the pond but completely ignored here in the states. Ascaron Entertainment is developing the game, across multiple platforms I might add, and perhaps the fact that they're a German company somehow hindered pre-marketing the game outside the European venue.

Another scenario, less likely, is that the game stinks and American previewers found it not worth their time to hype. Sacred was such a solid title, I doubt seriously its sequel will prove worse in terms of playability and value.

In any case, look for Sacred 2 to hit retail sometime in September. I found it ominous that Ebgames didn't have it listed as a September release, but maybe that's because they didn't order any shipments. You might have to hit GoGamer.com for this title (though they don't have it listed either).