Complementing the graphics of the game were the voice work of professional actors, such as Tim Curry, and the musical compositions of Kevin Manthei.

Using the keyboard and mouse, players move their wizards around a virtual world, directing armies and casting spells to eliminate their opponents.

[7] These units are also summoned to hold the sacrificial rituals required for desecrating enemy altars; killing a sac doctor disrupts the process.

[15] Unlike other real-time strategy games released in or before 2000, Sacrifice's gameplay is not focused on large-scale management of resources and bases.

Through voiceovers and cut scenes rendered by the game engine, Eldred recounts to Mithras his background and the events that led to the world's current state.

[5] Aside from the stated goals in each mission, there are secret objectives that if accomplished bestow bonuses to Eldred's attributes (magical and physical resistance, more mana, etc.).

[17] The game's lead programmer, Martin Brownlow, was inspired by Chaos: The Battle of Wizards, which was released in 1985 for the ZX Spectrum computer.

[37] The game had three voice directors: Ginny McSwain, Art Currim and Chris Borders with Margaret Tang providing VO coordination.

For background music, Shiny hired Kevin Manthei, who had composed many scores for video games and big- and small-screen entertainment, such as Scream 3 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[43] In early 2000, the computer industry released the first video graphics cards capable of processing transform, clipping, and lighting (T&L) instructions.

Brownlow and his team refined and improved the game's graphics, increasing the number of polygons per model and setting the software to scan through scenes a few more times to determine what objects to render and how to display them.

It selected a thousand members of the public to participate in a beta test of Sacrifice's multiplayer modes,[50] receiving feedback on software bugs, performance issues, and possible improvements.

Users have total control over the positioning of models and scripting of events, although the tool does not provide the capability to create new spells or creatures.

[53] Lamchop of GamePro said, "A third-person hybrid of fantasy role-playing and real-time strategy, Sacrifice weaves together an intricate story, addictive gameplay, and drop-dead gorgeous graphics.

The designs were so unconventional that gaming journalist Michael Eilers remarked, "It is as if Salvador Dalí and H. R. Giger got together and played around with 3D Studio Max for a few weeks with a cooler full of Bass Ale between them.

"[15] To fellow journalist Kieron Gillen, Sacrifice resembled a version of the strategy game Command and Conquer as designed by Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch.

[64] Aside from being impressed by the details in the graphics, GameSpy's Lee Haumersen found the creatures' movements fluid and believable, remarking, "flying dragons heave their bodies through the air reminiscent of Draco in the movie Dragonheart.

NextGen's Samuel Bass called them "awe-inspiring",[61] while it was "positively breathtaking" for Eurogamer's John Bye to see "flaming missiles raining down on the battlefield, tornados lifting [his] men up into the sky, or the ground swelling up beneath [his wizard's] feet".

[31][65] Despite filling the screen with "winged, fully animated demons" and "multiple gigantic twisters spiraling gorgeously into the clouds", Sacrifice performed smoothly on the previewers' machines, impressing the staff of Edge.

[37] Haumersen noted a few flaws in the game's vocal presentation: the character models' lip movements did not match their speech, and they had a limited number of gestures to accompany the words.

[7][30] The game's fast-paced combat ensured that fights tended to be messy affairs, where aside from picking out their units from a chaotic mass to issue commands, players had to see to their wizards' safety, and cast spells to support their army.

[3][8][67] Sacrifice's multiplayer games, as GameSpot's Sam Parker observed, tended to be long-drawn stalemates until the wizards obtained more powerful spells.

[68] PC Zone's Keith Pullin was disappointed that the game was not designed to reward tactics; in his experience, he achieved victory by continually summoning groups of creatures to attack the enemy.

[61] The intensity and excitement generated by the frenetic gameplay pleased IGN's Dan Adams,[5] but Bye was so frustrated by his experience that he claimed to have suffered a massive increase in blood pressure.

[55] Sacrifice's gameplay had its supporters; the staff at Edge, impressed with the game's controls and visual perspective, named it one of the "few titles [that took] strategy into the third dimension and convincingly used the extra plane for more than a dazzling 3D makeover".

[5][8][25][30][72] When it became known that the company was developing Sacrifice as its first real-time strategy game,[8] several industry observers were keen to see whether it could deliver a quality product.

[64][73] James Bell, Infogrames's Senior Vice President of Creative Development, said that Sacrifice, although an excellent game, suffered poor sales because it was badly marketed and released at the wrong time.

The staff called it "a strategy game at heart [...] with resource management and troop building playing a major part.

[64][91] Looking back at the history of real-time strategy gaming, Geryk pointed out that Sacrifice's "depth and originality" was unparalleled in the genre and often overlooked in favor of its graphics.

Gillen further lamented that Sacrifice's release heralded the end of Shiny's forays into creative game development, as the company switched to producing more mainstream products, such as Enter the Matrix.