Prepare to Scheme Your Way to Victory
Plenty of RPG’s give you the ability to talk your way out of trouble, but Sacred Fire is elevating this to the core mechanic.
Set in Caledonia (The Latin word for Scotland), Sacred fire puts you in the shoes of a Gaelic warrior facing a Roman invasion. Unfortunately, the Romans were a dominant force for a reason; they were better organized, had more soldiers, better armour, and more advanced weaponry.
Sounds like a losing battle? Not necessarily. Rather than facing down the enemy in traditional battle, Sacred Fire’s core mechanic is manipulating your foe into making mistakes. Don’t get too complacent though, because it works both ways; you’ll need to keep your wits about you and a cool head under pressure because the game will try to rile you up, and get you to make mistakes.
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Helping this is what the game calls blocks; various forms of mental trauma, addictions, or unchecked emotions that will impede on the skills you can use. Facing down the centurion that killed your family? Let’s hope you can keep all that rage and guilt under control, or you could see yourself facing down the wrong end of a gladius. Got a crippling fear of fire? Let’s hope that your enemies don’t get wise to that, or they’ll have one more way to manipulate you.
Adding to that, there’s a focus on peaceful conflict resolution, and using your own guile and wits to force your opponents to surrender rather than defeating them. What this means for the storyline – whether you’ll be able to get your enemies on your side, for example – is unknown at this point, but what we can be certain of is that Sacred Fire is a fresh approach to the genre.
What do you think of Sacred Fire? Do you think you could talk down a Roman Centurion? Let us know in the comments.