If you're an avid PC gamer then the chances are you'll have heard of an action RPG by the name of Sacred, which came out back in 2004 and soon garnered a strong fanbase and online community, who are still playing it three years later. So we jumped at the chance for a demonstration and hands-on look at how the highly anticipated sequel, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, is shaping up for its release in March 2008.

Even though there are still a few months to go, the first thing that struck me about Sacred 2 is how gorgeous it's already looking. Action RPGs are generally viewed from a pseudo overhead angle to get a broad view of your surroundings as you hack and slash your way through hordes of foes, so the temptation can be not to worry too much about how things look when you zoom right in - however, Ascaron haven't even slightly given in to this temptation. It's no exaggeration to say that the developers have crafted a truly beautiful, living, breathing world to venture through; wherever you look there is movement and life, and even when the characters are standing still you can see their bodies moving as they breathe and stretch while waiting for you to put them into action. Individual strands of grass sway in the wind, as do the trees, which look completely natural and their real-time shadows enhance this effect no end.

Sacred 2 is a true sequel - everything in the game and graphics engines has been created from scratch, and the end result is a mightily impressive and varied landscape. We began our virtual tour with a look at one of the returning character classes, the Seraphim, and watched in amazement as developer Jens Eischeid zoomed right in so that her body filled the screen and we could see that she sported enough detail to put the average third person action character to shame. A number of different armour sets were shown to us, each of them distinctive and unusual, an array of incredibly cool-looking, colourful and well-conceived designs, as well as the ability to mix and match at will to create a truly unique look for taking your avatar online. Your only limitation is how much you can fit into the grid-based inventory, where all your possessions are stored.

Even more impressive was the sabre-toothed tiger that serves as the Seraphim's exclusive mount in the game, its tail swishing gently back and forth as it waited patiently to be guided around the level. A big hit with fans of the original, the mounts have returned with gusto for Sacred 2, with options to customise them and outfit them with a range of armour and weaponry, each of the six character classes having their own unique mount. Not only this, but you can learn skills and special attacks for your mounts, giving you even more options for wading through the bad guys that are determined to send you to an early grave. We got to see two of the mounts, plus the default horse you begin with, and the new Shadow Warrior's Hellhound looks amazing, reminiscent of the red-eyed beasts from Ghostbusters in build and movement, hopping around the level like a fearsome powerhouse.

The already picturesque landscapes have been further enhanced by some wonderful effects, including a day/night cycle that was a wonder to behold in fast motion, as we watched the shadows of the trees and characters changing position, the light fading to give way to moonlit night, then back to day again. This isn't just eye candy either, as NPC routines change depending on the time of day and certain enemies, like werewolves, only come out at night. Then there's the wind, blustering through the landscape, causing trees sway to markedly and sandstorms to be whipped up in the desert. Possibly the best of the bunch though is the rain effect, which is the most realistic and wonderful looking rendering of rain I've ever witnessed; characters and the landscape get wet, while the individual droplets can be seen impacting on the wonderfully fluid rivers and lakes. Further life will be brought to the final build with the inclusion of birds flying around, fish swimming in the rivers and mammals like rabbits hopping about the place.

The game world itself is huge - fifteen square kilometres of territory to explore, which is divided into twelve themed regions including desert, mountain, icy tundra and jungle, with villages and towns for the various races like the High Elves and the Medieval level humans to explore. To give you an idea of just how huge it is, running non-stop from the top left to the bottom right of the game world would take approximately six hours! Even more impressive is that the world of Ancaria is fully streamed, so you won't see a single load break or even be aware that the next sections are loading in as you approach them. This includes buildings, and I was impressed as the Seraphim was guided into a house, its roof fading away to reveal her walking straight inside to ransack it (some RPG traditions never change, I'm glad to say!) The levels are multi-tiered too, so when you're high up you might spot an area down below in the distance that you want to find your way down to and explore.

Confident in the mythology and history established in the original, Sacred 2 is actually a prequel that takes place 2000 years before the first game. And while the emphasis is firmly on the action, much care and attention has been given to the story to ensure that you will be spurred on as the plot unfolds and you guide your character through the unique role they play in the tale. The story revolves around T energy, which has been harnessed by the High Elves - however, they have abused it and now it's infecting the land, mutating the native wildlife and bringing chaos to the realm. There are two campaigns to play through - in Light it's your job to defeat the reigning High Elves and restore order to the land, while in Dark your aim is to harness the power to your own nefarious ends and take over the world, which will be sure to keep your inner megalomaniac very happy!

Adding real depth to the setting, there's an individual storyline to follow for each of the six character classes, some of which can be played through in both campaigns from two different perspectives. For example, the Shadow Warrior is an undead human slave who suffered through life at the hands of the High Elves and couldn't even be left to die in peace after they resurrected him. So his tale can go either way - he can either embrace the darkness within him and take the dark route, or rebel against his former captors and set out to put an end to their misdeeds once and for all. The stories and quests for the different characters, which have been constructed by a team of professional writers, will intersect at various points as you progress, and the tally of main quests, side quests and character-specific quests is over 650 in total (and counting!) Suffice to say, the amount of variety and depth to plunder is staggering, but fortunately the quest log returns, listing all your currently active quests, which you can complete in any order, diverting from one side quest to go off on another that you've just discovered, should the mood take you. Ascaron's commitment to creating an expansive and open-ended gaming experience is impressive to say the least, even more so for an action RPG, with the potential to rival or even excel the mighty Oblivion.

This commitment is most apparent in the variety and customisation on offer with the character classes. Each of the six classes have three 'aspects' and each of these aspects has a range of combat styles and powers, many of which promise some awesome special effects, allowing you to focus on just one aspect or mix and match elements from two or all three of them to tailor the experience to your own preferences. Emphasis is well and truly on crafting a character that not only looks unique, but plays unique too, making for almost unlimited replay value and allowing you to play through the game multiple times in the same class and have a very different experience each time. Ascaron's philosophy is that your character is the most important aspect of any RPG and they are most certainly practicing what they preach.

The enemies you'll be unleashing all hell upon are just as varied as your character options too, with many different types to be found in each of the twelve regions, which come complete with their own bosses. In the hands-on multiplayer mode I was slicing down goblins, creepy-looking giant spiders, phantoms, floating flame monsters, wolves, wild boar and more, all in the same expansive area. We got to see a couple of the huge bosses too, which unashamedly take a cue from Lord of the Rings, like the Balrog-inspired Fire Demon and the Watcher-like Giant Squid, whose tentacles flap and sway with unnerving realism. Experimentation is encouraged, as you try out different combinations of techniques and powers to discover the best ways to exploit the weaknesses of different foes.

There's no disputing Ascaron's commitment to their fanbase either; they've conducted extensive market research and collected feedback from fans, incorporating many of the suggestions and ideas for what Sacred lovers want to see in a sequel. They're even collecting jokes and humour to scatter liberally into the mix, an aspect of the original that they're keen to retain, in order to round out their world with some light-hearted antics. As an example, the only motion capturing in the game is from the real-life band Blind Guardian, who feature in a side quest where you must retrieve their stolen instruments! Everything else has been hand animated, an approach that Ascaron feel is the best one, and the results are impossible to deny.

Another impressive undertaking in Sacred 2 is the adaptive AI - we didn't really get to see this in action yet, but the game will adapt to your playing style and the number of people you're teamed up with to keep the level of challenge as consistent as possible. Enemies get tougher as you level up and get stronger, while they will increase in strength and number when you are accompanied by other players or charging into battle on your mount. Not only this, but NPCs, who each have their own complex, separate lives, will react differently to you as you progress as a character; the way they treat you early on in the game might be quite different to their reaction later, as you gain notoriety for your deeds, or misdeeds. There are almost 200,000 words for the NPCs alone, so the incentive to interact with them is high and repetition shouldn't be an issue.

On the multiplayer front, Sacred 2 is perhaps at its most impressive. As Director of Publishing Heiko tom Felde explained, Sacred 2 only has one build, and that is multiplayer - in other words, even when you're playing alone, you're in a multiplayer game for one. In practice this means that a friend can come and join you at any point in the game, teaming up to help you take down that tough boss, gaining experience alongside you and splitting the spoils between you. Then, when they've got to go, they just leave and you carry on alone. When you consider that the whole game can be played through by up to six players in co-op, the potential for team fun and camaraderie has never been higher; this alone should be enough to make Sacred 2 a surefire hit with online gamers. There are Player versus Player modes too, where you can enter an arena for a head-to-head duel or a multiple combatant battle, with other gamers able to watch the fight and even place bets on the outcome using in-game currency! Take it from us, this is going to be big online.

And not just on the PC either - while most of what we saw was from the PC version, we got to view the Xbox 360 version in action too and it's looking just as luscious as its computer sibling. Sacred 2 on 360 has been developed to make use of all three core processors and maximise the power and potential of Microsoft's off-white wonder, and all the multiplayer modes of the PC will be available over Xbox Live too. It's a slight shame that cross-compatibility between PC and Xbox 360 isn't on offer, but when you realise that Sacred 2 has been in development since before Sacred was released (even then the initial designs were underway!) you can understand that the technology arrived too late into development to be incorporated. There's nothing else like this on 360 at the moment and I have the feeling that Ascaron are about to discover a big, untapped market in the console arena for action RPGs, especially ones that look this good, have this much depth and have such revolutionary multiplayer features.

The only real differences in practice between the 360 and PC versions are the camera, which is going to be more 'over the shoulder' than 'bird's eye', and the control system; while we didn't get to see this in detail, the face buttons and d-pad are used to map actions and attacks quickly and easily for instant access, a system that's looking promising. Visually there will be some unique graphical effects on the 360 version too, thanks to its uniform spec and those three powerhouse processors. And speaking of powerhouses, you won't need one to play the game on PC either - the graphics are fully scaleable and only require a Pentium 3.1Ghz and GForce 4 or equivalent with 128MB VRAM as minimum, so there's no need to worry about forking out for a fancy upgrade if you've bought your PC within the last two or three years.

After the presentation, we had a brief encounter over LAN, a four-player game where you have five minutes to kill as many enemies as possible, then face-off in an arena against each other. Given the time constraints it was all a bit of a hectic click-fest to try and keep the leading score, but the controls are responsive and intuitive and the gameplay is instantly fun and accessible. I only got a taste of the game, but it has me salivating for the full experience and March 2008 can't come quickly enough!

I can honestly say that I'm very excited about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. Ascaron's commitment to excellence and innovation is commendable and the end result is a labour of love that promises to be the very best of its ilk. Beneath its gorgeous, accessibly simplistic exterior beats the heart of an endlessly varied and deep gameplay experience that I cannot wait to get my hands on, even if it does mean cancelling my life for about the next two years! Watch your back Diablo - Sacred 2 is looking devilishly good!

Previewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).