Sacred Citadel

The game that starts off kinds fun....but then slowly drains your soul. You will just slowly stare at screen, painfully, until the game emotionally waterboards you level by level. This game is a disaster wrapped in confusion. Half the time you can’t tell where enemies actually ARE. So what happens? You start panic-mashing buttons like a caffeine-addicted cave goblin because the enemy positioning makes less sense than microwave instructions written by philosophers. The enemy standing in the “middle lane” somehow hits you from the shadow realm while your weapon swings harmlessly into empty air like you’re fighting invisible tax collectors. Eventually combat devolves into: “Just swing wildly and pray to the cube gods.” Even co-op with friends didn’t save it. Instead of “epic fantasy adventure,” it became: “Two exhausted idiots screaming ‘WHERE AM I?’ during chaotic particle explosions.” Nothing says “immersive combat” like spending five seconds trying to identify which blurry armored goblin is YOU while getting punched in the kidneys by orcs. Every stage feels like the developers copied one hallway, changed the wallpaper slightly, and called it a day. There’s barely anything mem…

It drained my soul. But then again, my soul was sold long ago to the Valve deities, so I'm not sure what it drained. Maybe my ballz.

horrible crap

Despite the fact literally nobody seems to be online anymore, this is a very good game. Since I haven't anyone to play with, I haven't gotten the DLC, but I plan on doing so later because overall the game is very fun to play.

Sacred Citadel, developed by Southend Interactive and published by THQ Nordic, is a curious offshoot of the Sacred series that trades the sprawling, loot-driven action RPG structure for a far more contained side-scrolling brawler format. Set in the familiar world of Ancaria, the game attempts to ground its story within the larger Sacred lore by presenting a conflict against the Ashen Empire, but the narrative mostly functions as a backdrop rather than a driving force. The real focus here is on moment-to-moment combat and cooperative play, with the game clearly leaning into the traditions of classic arcade beat ’em ups rather than the deeper systems fans of the franchise might expect. The gameplay is built around a linear progression through stages, each populated with waves of enemies that must be defeated before moving forward. Players can choose from a small selection of characters, each representing a different class archetype with their own strengths and abilities. Combat revolves around chaining together light and heavy attacks, mixing in blocks, dodges, and occasional special moves. The controls are responsive enough to make the action feel fluid, but the system itself remai…

Great beat 'em up from the Sacred universe.