Germany-based developer Ascaron has been developing PC games for over fifteen years, but with its upcoming sequel Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, it is making the plunge into multiplatform development, with the game set for release on PC and Xbox 360.
The original Sacred, a 2004 point-and-click action RPG seen as one of the better Diablo-esque offerings, found a solid audience, selling nearly two million copies and retaining a strong multiplayer following. To build on that community, Ascaron is taking a heavily multiplayer tack with Sacred 2, with the game supporting eight-player co-op and architected to allow players to jump in and out of each others' games.
Gamasutra sat down with Ascaron managing director Heiko tom Felde, assistant producer Sebastian Fleer, and Xbox 360 Q&A programmer Sebastian Walter to discuss Germany's historically PC-centric games market, the challenges of moving to multiplatform development for the first time, why it's important to build relationships with your outsourcers, and how to balance what your fans want with what's practical.
The Koalition writes: "To be clear, this list is in regards to isometric-styled hack-and-slash action RPGs. If you've ever played a Diablo game or anything like that, then you have a pretty good idea. There are lots of games and franchises in this genre, but it also seems to be one of the most under-represented each and every gaming generation. Releases are few and far between, but each successive title seems to always garner praise and success. One of the most iconic franchises in all of gaming - Diablo - basically started the entire subgenre and it's still going strong to this day. With Diablo III finally set to release on consoles soon, I thought this was a good time to take a look back at all of the best the action RPG genre has to offer this generation."
Definitely looking forward to Diablo III on consoles. Very anxious to see what has been added and taken away from the PC version.
I enjoyed Torchlight 2 and Path of Exile should be on the list.
POE is very hard!
Dark Souls is not in the ARPG genre.
It has action of course but ARPG is something else.
Do explain sir...i've been calling them all Action RPGs up until now.
An RPG with real time combat...is what I have been calling ARPGS.
Good article. A bit sparse, it would have been nice to hear a bit more detail about each game instead of a short, basic description.
But good. I enjoyed the read.
Yeah more detail would have been better, maybe some information about *really* makes them different besides the setting and whatnot. It's tough to get too detailed and keep the list relatively brief, though.
Thanks for reading!
Author is it in that order?
If so I would pick Diablo 1,2,3 as first three. Everything else comes after.
This article was focused on only this generation of consoles as a year-range, so Diablo I & II were excluded :)
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is made by an UK-based gaming company “Ascaron.” It Is a prequel to Sacred which sets about 2000 years before the events of Sacred, the prequel has a lot more than Sacred, but does that mean Sacred 2 can top off the Diablo series or It will just stay to the “Diablo Clone” status?
Digitally Downloaded writes: "So you might be playing Diablo III. Or you might be seeing the number 37 in your nightmares right now. But either way it’s hard to deny there’s a thrill to the hack-and-slash lootfests that the original Diablo made so popular, and has been imitated so many times since.
But perhaps you have an old PC, or you stick to playing games on consoles. Well, never fear, you can still be looting along with everyone else. "
This guy is screwed in the head, the best dark ARPG/hack n slash/dungeon crawler atm is Path of Exile and the only game that looks good enough to compete with it is Grim Dawn but that is not even in close beta yet, the games those guy suggest suck big time some of them look really horrible like they r from the 90's, article fail beyond measure.
wow this looks to be fun!!
I feel this game is being overlooked but I'm looking forward to it.