Sacred is a 2004 action role-playing game developed by the German company Ascaron and published by Take 2 Interactive.

It is set on the magical continent of Ancaria, with characters of various races (dark elf, vampiress, dwarf, etc.)

Each character begins in a different part of the area around a town in Ancaria (the continent that Sacred takes place within), and with a different starting quest.

Sacred features a vast array of items that can be obtained from shops, various containers (chests, barrels, graves...), dead monsters or "magical hiding places" in many of the rocks and bushes throughout Ancaria, which are indicated by a yellow sparkle.

Though players cannot use a rune or jewelry which is not of their class, they can socket it in an item to gain the benefit of its magical and possible stat-raising properties.

In the game there is an option to buy horses, which can be used for faster travel and to battle opponents, but will not affect players' ability to traverse difficult terrain in most situations.

The heroes must find the five elements of Caesarian (wind, fire, earth, water, void), and use them to defeat the monster.

They meet Prince Valor, and he thanks them for rescuing Wilbur and orders them to report to Baron DeMordre to bring reinforcements to stop the Orc invasion.

After Ikarion went defunct, Ascaron bought it out and continued the project with an original story, renaming it Sacred.

Greg Vederman of the magazine wrote that it "provides the loot addict with a deliciously strong dose of the good stuff.

"[14] Sacred was an immediate hit in the German market,[15] where it opened as the top-selling full-price computer game of February 2004, according to Media Control.

[17] Early that month, the game received a "Gold" certification from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD), for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

[18] Ascaron attributed Sacred's early momentum to its February launch date, as it had avoided competing with the major releases of the Christmas season.

[28] According to GameStar, Sacred was a rare crossover hit for Germany, with significant sales volume outside German-speaking countries.

Sacred Underworld is an expansion pack developed by Studio II Software and Ascaron Entertainment, and released in August 2005.

The story picks up after the events in Sacred, taking your character to the Underworld of Ancaria to rescue baroness Vilya.

[36] Underworld was a finalist for PC Gamer US's "Best Expansion Pack 2005" award, which ultimately went to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!.

Ocampo also noted that it was nice that the game is set in a "predefined world, unlike the randomly generated levels of Diablo.