Here are two previews of the recently announced Sacred 3.

OXM:

Since Deep Silver bought the license to the Sacred series from former developer Ascaron Entertainment, they basically went back to the drawing board for the next installment. With new developer Keen Games at the helm, you can think of Sacred 3 as a sort of franchise reboot, albeit one that returns to the high-fantasy realm of Ancaria and may involve some familiar characters and kingdoms. Most everything else has been stripped down and rebuilt as a more action-oriented console-friendly hack-and-slash.

Press2Reset:

The action RPG can be played cooperatively with up to four players. The Safiri Berserker (a ripped beast of a man) and the Ancarian Lancer (a scantily clad pixelated wet dream) character classes were showcased. The two playing showed off the benefit of using character classes with complimentary skill sets as the Lancer stunned groups of enemies and, when timed correctly, the Berserker wreaked havoc as it charged through them. Often this combo instantly destroyed enemies or, when travelling an area on narrow paths, knocked them off to their deaths.

Deep Silver let us know, via GameBanshee, that Sacred 3 now has been officially announced. A quote from the press release - courtesy of Gamebanshee.

Return to the World of Sacred With the Next Installment

 LARKSPUR, CA – AUGUST 31, 2012 -- Deep Silver today revealed the first details about the upcoming Action RPG Sacred™ 3, the next installment in the popular series set in the rich and detailed world of Sacred. They say that whoever possesses the Heart of Ancaria will decide the fate of the world. Zane Ashen, ruler of the corrupt Ashen Empire, will do everything in his power to obtain the Heart; however, the Seraphim have hidden it away in a secure and secret place. Only when a group of heroes combine their powers to oppose Zane Ashen’s reign of terror does the world have a chance of escaping utter destruction.

Please head over to GameBanshee's image gallery to see the screnshots.

There was a ban on reporting on Sacred 3 until Pax and so the first previews will show up these days with one of the first being Xbox360 Achievements.

Showing off the combat, Toplansky states that button mashing is a possibility, but when things get hectic that simply won’t cut it. Players have a range of Combat Arts that can swing the tide of battle and clever players will quickly learn to chain them together with friends for massive damage. “We wanted to create a deeper experience so that players are discovering nuances dozens of hours into the game,” Toplansky states, as a foolhardy opponent is cleaved in two. “To do this we wanted more action rather than pure numbers, so it puts that sense of interest and control back into players hands.” The series certainly seems to have stepped away from the statistic driven end of the RPG spectrum and instead has a more action orientated approach. The reason for this, according to Toplansky is down to giving players a sense of reward. “There is a fleeting sense of reward for, say, getting a new item. I’m going to take that new +6 sword into battle and see that the damage numbers have gone from 200 to 206. Wow, bravo to me right?” Instead they want players to spend time learning the nuances of the game itself rather than scrounging for slightly better weapons.

This is just a dummy newsbit for DB purposes. You can find the details in the accompanying Koch Media newsbit.

Ascaron also announced they are already working on Sacred 3.