Should you dare dip your toes in the full-motion folly that is The Sacred Pools?

I may have to hand in my Pro Gamer™ card for admitting this…but I have a real affinity for the full-motion video games of the early-to-mid ‘90s. It has everything to do with the fact that I was an early adopter of the Sega CD and that a good many of that Genesis add-on’s killer apps were FMV games like, Night Trap and Road Avenger.

For the uninitiated, full motion video games offered a unique experience in their heyday. The actual gameplay was all pre-recorded and their narrative, film-esque plotlines were the main draw, so there is no 3D-rendered graphical standpoint, and the actual interface is controlled by simple timing based button presses or controller movements or what we call today, quick time events (QTEs). Recent games like Detroit: Become Human, The Quarry, and I Saw Black Clouds (which I reviewed a few months ago) all stand on the shoulders of the old-school FMV titles.

The Sega CD is only a sad footnote now in the ultimate downfall of the ultra-hip Sega that gave Nintendo a run for its money when no one thought that was possible. Sure Sega is still around today, but they are only a shadow (no, not the edgelord hedgehog) of what they once were.

But lo and behold, here in 2022 a “lost” FMV game has been found: the “adult” game, The Sacred Pools. It was produced by Sega for their fledgling Saturn, the original PlayStation, and the PC, but was quietly shelved in 1997.  Gaming Alexandria, a site dedicated to preserving video game history and classic gems, has managed to dig up this rather intriguing FMV title that was brushed aside for a myriad of reasons and didn’t end up seeing an official release and, believe it or not, it's playable as well.

The Sacred Pools reportedly began development with a “$2 to $3 million” dollar budget in 1996. Although the project was slated to be launched in 1997, things went awry quickly, and multiple factors came together to doom the highly-touted FMV title. It was first announced at a swanky Sega bash at E3 with multiple other developers and their respective titles being shown off as well. A YouTuber named acem77 managed to dig up footage from this mid-‘90s E3 event that included the reveal trailer for The Scared Pools.

Although The Sacred Pools was hyped as an “adult game,” it features no nudity or graphic violence at all. Sure, some outfits of the characters are skimpy which arouses one’s curiosity, but at no point in the game are there any naked bodies or even that much blood. A six minute gameplay video of this blast from the past has also been uploaded on YouTube by Gaming Alexandria, and you can check that out below.

From the overall set pieces, the lavish costumes, special effects, and the way the actors are emoting, it’s easy to see how and/or why the developers had big budget aspirations for The Sacred Pools – even though the gameplay is rather dull as you are just navigating through maze-like levels to unlock clues that will get you to the next sequence.

If you’d like to have a go at The Sacred Pools for yourself, check out the Internet Archive as the three different versions of the game have recently been dumped online. I was only able to get the Saturn version running properly, so make sure you know your way around emulators to get the best results possible.

💬What are your thoughts on full motion video games? Should they be considered video games at all or just “interactive movies?” Let’s hear your thoughts down in the comments below!