KickStarter Sacred Fire - a psychological RPG about romance, loyalty and revenge - now available on Early Access

[cyborgboy95]

Erm... hurray?

We've added a result screen when you succeed or fail a roll, emulating that natural 1 or 20 feeling

The choices you make earlier on in the story will unlock new options. What better way to prove that the Roman threat is real than with a severed head?

 

[anvi]

Jessica's quest to find herself and her inner sparkle.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/900400/view/3055109632950888766

New Trailer, Demo At The Steam Next Fest, and Release Window!
Hello everyone!

We're excited to share a bunch of announcements with you. Starting with a brand new trailer! It shows you the enemy you fight: the merciless and seemingly endless Roman legions. Take a look below.

Steam Next Fest
Of course, we wouldn't just make a new trailer for nothing. Starting June 16th, you will be able to get your hands on the first public demo of Sacred Fire during the Steam Next Fest! The demo will let you play through the first chapter of the story with updated visuals and in-game choices, as well as voice acting. Doug Cockle, best known as Geralt in the
Witcher
franchise, is cast as the voice of your older brother. Joining him are Michelle Gonzo as your childhood friend, and Ben Britton as a local bully.

We can't wait for you all to get your hands on the demo. Make sure you join us on the official Sacred Fire Discord to discuss and compare your playthrough of the demo with the rest of the community when it goes live!

Note:
the demo will only be available for the duration of Steam Next Fest (June 16th-22nd), so make sure you try it out in time!

Release Window
We're not done with the announcements just yet. We're proud to announce that Sacred Fire will be
coming to Early Access in Fall 2021!


The choice to launch in Early Access comes after careful consideration. We understand this makes the wait for the finished experience longer, but the key factor outweighing everything else, is that we believe, involving the community and listening to your feedback, is the way to create the best possible game. It feels like a natural step for us to take, as Sacred Fire, since it’s first inception as a purely text-based experience, was developed with community playtesting and community feedback.

The Early Access version will contain full character creation and customization, and the first of three acts, introducing many of the companion characters, tough dilemmas and turn-based boss fights. The first act is a contained story with a rewarding ending and offers thousands of choices, two completely separate story branches and plenty of nuanced differences when playing as a male or a female protagonist.

We hope you're as excited as we are! Make sure you join us on Discord to discuss the news, or leave a comment down below.

 

[poetic]

Hello everyone,

TRAILER

I'm excited to share with you a brand new trailer for Sacred Fire:



DEMO

A playable demo will be up for a week from Jun 16th till June 22 during the Steam Next Fest. Follow the game on Steam to get notified when the demo goes live:

Doug Cockle's voice brings an important character to life in the demo

RELEASE

Sacred Fire will be coming to Early Access in Fall 2021.

The choice to launch in Early Access comes after careful consideration. We understand this makes the wait for the finished experience longer, but the key factor outweighing everything else, is that we believe, involving the community and listening to your feedback, is the way to create the best possible game.

It feels like a natural step for us to take, as Sacred Fire, since its first inception as a purely text-based experience, was developed with community play-testing and community feedback.

 

[fork]

Looks like shit and sounds pretentious.
Could be successful.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Looks like shit and sounds pretentious.
Could be successful.

Codex, friendly as always.

 

[fork]

Oh, I am friendly, but I'm also honest.
I realise that's not a favoured trait in our societies, but I can't help it, sorry.

 

[poetic]

The trailer showcases a military tactic used to break the roman shield line, that may or may not been grounded in history, using what's know as a caber toss in modern Highland games.

I've posted a visual thread about it here: https://imgur.com/gallery/zWIHPS3

 

[HoboForEternity]

i will check out the demo. i liked what I played in the backer alpha few years ago

 

[c u in da ballpit ashren]

I can't believe Larian decided to take the romance from their games and make that the sole game this time. Wow!

 

[poetic]

i will check out the demo. i liked what I played in the backer alpha few years ago

Hey, thanks! I think you will find a lot fo things have improved, and I mean not only visually, but a lot of the choices allowing for better scene exploration and role-playing.

 

[poetic]

I can't believe Larian decided to take the romance from their games and make that the sole game this time. Wow!

I'm quite sure you are jesting, but just to stay in my role of describing what the game is and what it is not, there is tactical choice making and a turn-based combat system where emotions change your probabilities and you can boost your chances from a limited pool of willpower. And story-wise romance is just one of many facets of the experience. For example, as the trailer shows, I've given some thought how to enable the player to use some fun military tactics, based on the fact that the Roman legions conquered most known world by using huge shields and short stabbing swords, but for some reason it didn't work for them in ancient Caledonia. Instead, Romans went through the trouble of building the Hadrian's Wall there.



And while the reasons why the conquest of Britain was abandoned after 80 years are many, from political to economic, another reason often cited is the Caledonians being smart enough to never actually engage in a mass battle, where they would be at a disadvantage. But what if it was also the other way around? What if the Caledonians found an effective, not many resources requiting, way to break the Roman shield wall and that’s why also the Romans didn’t push for a pitched battle? Others have speculated on the big screen how that might have happened (The Centurion 2010):



And while rolling fireballs look awesome, what I'm on about is a much simpler proposition. While Roman historians would paint the Caledonians as half-crazed naked woad painted savages, the archeology suggests, they were fairly skilled and organized people, building stone monuments and crannogs on lakes requiring ingenuity and organization.



So what if these smart builders asked themselves a simple question - why throw yourself against the shield wall when you can throw something else that doesn’t feel pain? And how can you create the most force on impact with an object a single man can throw? And how do you prevent the man carrying the heavy object with both hands from getting killed by roman spears? Well, what if there were two lines - the first blocks the spear, and the second throws the heavy object. In a way that flies above the head of the first line and then falls with maximal force off impact on an enemy quite far off. That seems like an impossible throw, doesn’t it? But this is exactly what you see in what’s known up to this day in Highland games as a caber toss.



And the funny thing is, everyone seems to accept the modern-day interpretation that there is no real reason behind this weird throwing discipline, where grown men flip a log up to 20 feet long weighing up to 150 pounds. Modern-day interpretation ranges from lumberjack competitions to creating makeshift bridges. But what survived till our modern days is the objective of the throw - the goal is to make the caber flip and impact a spot right in front of you and not deviate to the sides. So it’s not the weight of the caber that matters, it’s not the speed, height, or the distance of the throw. It’s the ability to throw it straight in front of you. Why? Well maybe, because others are carrying, throwing, and flipping their cabers to your left and your right, in one synchronized attack, hammering the Roman line all at once, and using the raised shields to block the falling caber as an opening to break the shield wall.



This is just a small example of the tactics, that we let the player explore in Sacred Fire. What do you guys think? Could the caber toss have been used in a battle? If so would the Roman historians report it publicly? Maybe you do not want the subjugated nations to start practicing throwing flipping logs; of course, just to be able to place makeshift bridges, when the need should arise.

 

[udm]

poetic can I still get the boxed copy now?

 

[cyborgboy95]

Always nice to hear Geralt's voice

 

[poetic]

poetic can I still get the boxed copy now?

Hello there, there is no change in the physical rewards for our Kickstarter backers, so yes, they will be send out after the game is finalized. Thank you for your support and patience.

 

[udm]

Thanks poetic, but what I meant was, can I still preorder the boxed version? It seems like it's no longer available on Indiegogo

 

[poetic]

udm Oh, sorry, I now see what you meant. Ok, I've sent you a private message sent.

 

[poetic]

The free Sacred Fire Demo is live now for a week, as part of the Steam Next Fest. Create your character and tell your story in the first chapter, The Hunt:

You can grab it here from June 16th till 22nd 2021!

 

[MRY]

Congrats!

 

[poetic]

Congrats!

Thank you, it's been a journey!

 

[Maxie]

amazing how the game still looks like The Bitcher

 

[udm]

poetic The demo was great! Loved it! I'll be preordering the boxed copy once pay day comes.

Questions:
1) Can important NPCs be killed?
2) How much can you stray from the main path? Are all major scenes in each chapter unavoidable, or are there outcomes that lead to alternative pathways?

 

[HoboForEternity]

The demo of sacred fire is definitely the highlight out of 5 something i have played. Congrats. It's just like the backer alhpa but with steroids in term of visuals, UI and general QoL. Too tired to write in depth thoughts now, but it’s definitely my favorite one.

 

[Rahdulan]

Yeah, I have to chime in with the rest and say it's a really solid demo.

In a way Sacred Fire seems to be something I didn't really know I wanted until trying it - what would in other RPGs really just be "roll a skill to see if you succeed and move on" here it's about breaking down the scene itself into individual bits that can go right or wrong. If the opening part with the deer is how we can expect scenes in general to be structured it's granularity at work backed by all those character stats. Now, it also means every individual action is throwing up modifiers on the screen, without even going into things like enforcing Ideas or not, but I liked the overall pacing constantly moving you forward. Except for the combat because I got the impression I could keep sparring with Morl forever as long as dodging was on the table and my character wasn't combat-centric enough to really dish out sufficient damage because I had plenty of MP to burn to affect Control and roll chances through it. This is something I wouldn't put past failing to understand the system on my end, though.