Sacred 2 adopts unique PC DRM

By Robert Purchese Published 10 November, 2008

Unauthorised installs act as demos.

Ascaron has adopted a unique DRM system for the PC version of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

This allows the action-RPG to be installed as many times and on as many computers as you wish, but turns all of the unauthorised installations into timed demos lasting 24 hours.

During that period, all content within Sacred 2 will be on offer, as will the full suite of LAN multiplayer options. Then eventually, when the free-time comes to an end, players will be asked if they want to buy the full version.

"We feel that consumers should have a right to choose, and this innovative system offers the perfect purchasing option for gamers," said Heiko tom Felde, boss of developer Ascaron, in a statement.

"It's a great system for family and friends, allowing everyone the opportunity to try out the game and play together, then making a purchase decision."

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel was released last Friday on PC, with PS3 and Xbox 360 versions expected early next year.

Look out for our thoughts on the hack-and-slash loot-'em-up soon.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    But what's "authorised"? If I uninstall on one machine and resinstall on another (new PC, for intsance) will that be limited to a demo?

    Not that I care, I don't want this anyway.

  • Eraser #2 3 years ago

    And will it help? No.

  • penhalion #3 3 years ago

    scratches sacred 2 off of list of possible purchases. Why? Well the obvious thing that is going to go wrong, is that

    A. You get limited to having only one install on one system, while all other installs are treated as demos. So no installing on a laptop and a desktop then!
    B. Inevitably some installs will register as demos even though they are legitimate first installs.
    C. As usual the makers of sacred will deny all problems for as long as possible, leaving legitimate users ot of pocket and high and dry until the press make a fuss.

    Quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than deal with the inevitable fallout of this idiotic choice.

  • the_dudefather #4 3 years ago

    I think its a pretty cool idea, especially for playing it on LAN

  • jellyhead #5 3 years ago

    I'm just trying to find out if going to XP from Vista will wipe out one of my "lives" for Dead Space, Red Alert 3, Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3. I think i'm boned with Red Alert 3 as the liars at EA have admitted you don't get an authorisation back when you uninstall the product and i'm worried about the other products too now. As i said in the thread, if i'd pirated the games i wouldn't have this issue.

    Thanks EA, gits. Won't be buying anymore games with DRM in the that score less than 90% i can tell you, it's just not worth the hassle anymore.

  • Olemak #6 3 years ago

    Customers who buy this second-hand will be screwed.... which is propably perfectly OK by the developers anyway.

    Maybe the registration code can be used something like 5 times or whatever, like on Bioshock. That should cover the need to install on multiple machines for most, but will still screw with the second hand market a fair bit. Which I frankly don't have much of a problem with. More publishers pulling stunts like this, and the second hand sales guys will run out of consumer confidence... but maybe they mostly limit themselves to console games anyway, so never mind.

    By the way: I'd rather have a demo that allows me to explore a certain section of the game, rather than time out on the trial period. Would probably be smart to leave the beginning area and one or two multiplayer levels open even after the first 24 hours has timed out.

    Apart from that I think it's a pretty smart move, in a way: make the torrents work for them, and view unauthorised installes as marketing, not piracy. That just might, to some extent, be the way of the future. OR the past, I guess, as it is sort of the same thing the original Doom did when the first episode of it was distributed as shareware.

  • Quint2020 #7 3 years ago

    And people ask me why I don't play PC games any more.....

  • Shakey_Jake33 #8 3 years ago

    The same potential flaws annoy annoyances that plague EA/Securom's pathetic attempt at 'protection' apply to this too. You get get a little demo period in the meantime... whoopie.

    The pirates will have already downloaded their torrent, while legitimate purchasers are faffing around trying to get their 'demo' to work as the full game they purchased.

  • Rirekon #9 3 years ago

    Hurray for out-of-context quotes and fear-mongering trolls!

    It sounds like a simple system to me;
    Install on PC-1: Play as long as you want
    Install on PC-2: Play for 24 hours on PC-1 and as long as you want on PC-2
    etc..

    Not exactly rocket science

  • Mooks #10 3 years ago

    lol @ PC DRM

  • jaywalker3010 Verified Mastering Manager, Square Enix #11 3 years ago

    or how bout fact it just thinks `is cd in drive` if yes then full game, if no cd in drive it must be 24 hour version..

  • jellyhead #12 3 years ago

    How many "Authorised" activations can i have with Sacred 2?
    Can i install at home and at work say and have them both work, obviously not at the same time of course or will one or other of them deactivate itself every 24 hours? If i uninstall an Activated install do i get the activation license back?

  • 4thVariety #13 3 years ago

    Some fact to set some myths here straight. I own the German version which is out now for a month.

    (1) I was able to install and activate the game both on my PC AND my Laptop.
    (2) No CD required, this means as long as you do not play closed net, you can happily play with your brother/pal forever.
    (3) There are locally saved characters which you can use in single player and all sorts of open multiplayer. There is "closed net", something like Battlenet in D2, which is restricted to one account per purchase.
    (4) You will only get the highest resolution of texture if you are buying the special edition! BE AWARE OF THAT!
    (5) Other than that the game is VERY traditional Diablo style. People might call it "Character Sheet Manager 2008 Edition", because outside of that you just leftclick monsters and sort your inventory a lot. There is not much "Action game" within that "action-rpg".

    It terms of being the game, Sacred 2 might be fun the first time around, but after that it's just a slow awful grind towards level 200, playing the game over and over and over and over again. You can mess up your character by distributing your points wrong each level and there is no way to go back on these decisions. As always, tiny incremental stats increases on dropping loot are supposed to keep you hook, which they do not. At least not in my case. You will have a good 15-20h of relative fun, depending how much you like the genre, after that it will be forgotten quickly.

  • FooAtari #14 3 years ago

    From what 4thVariety said this seems like a small step in the right direction, sort of.

    At least this throws "i download to try before I buy" argument out of the window.

  • 4thVariety #15 3 years ago

    In terms of its DRM Sacred 2 is VERY lenient. There are clearly visible popups "Hello I am your online activation tool" and there are also easy to use revoke tools. You know your install credits. Should the whole activation server go down forever, the game will simply get a patch to remove the copylock. So there is no way that you are getting screwed with a DRM game that can't be authenticated.

    As far as as selling the game goes I am not sure what the implications are. Technically there is a law in Germany forcing Ascaron to "unregister" the serial number and delete my online account. If they do it, I would have o ask and/or try. Ironically the programming team of the copying software Nero really does that, while American publishers generally don't.

  • Cyclone #16 3 years ago

    I'm no fan of DRM, far from it in fact. But this system doesn't seem too bad, if Ascaron can pull it off without too many bugs or problems.

  • UncleLou #17 3 years ago

    Sounds harmless to me, what an utterly absurd bunch of paranoid scaremongering comments.

    Unfortunately, the game isn't very good, though.

  • actionfitz #18 3 years ago

    @Quint2020
    10-Nov-08 14:50:56

    And people ask me why I don't play PC games any more.....

    -----------------

    same.
    only PC games I buy these days are MMO's like WoW and WAR and a couple of games I got over Steam.
    Other than that its console games all the way for me. screw EA and Co with their 'LOL-DRM'.
    They will lose 'informed' consumers by the bucket load over this crap.