Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on June 17th, 2011

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What's the world of Amalur like?
Amalur is divided into five distinct regions. What we've seen so far is a pretty colorful world, a bit like Fable, but just a touch grittier. It's not dim and ugly like Oblivion or most fantasy worlds. It's filled with unique-looking versions of well-known monsters (Kobolds, Trolls and the like). Big Huge Games is promising that everything in the world -- all the ancient ruins and any architecture -- exists for a reason. There's a story behind everything, some of which is told to you by non-playable characters, and some you can read in books found in the game world.

How does combat work?

Combat is designed to be more interesting than the average RPG. It's very combo-heavy, somewhat like a hack-and-slash game. And there are special moves and spells which are easily accessible for quick use. Seeing the combat in action, there are some pretty spectacular moves. Mages can be bad ass. Bad. Ass.

If you want something fast-paced that doesn't require a lot of inventory management or strategy, this looks to be your game.

By the numbers, Kingdoms of Amalur is set to be quite the epic adventure. With 4 playable races, 4 major cities, 6 faction quests, more than 100 sidquests, and hundreds of pieces of armor and weaponry with unique art, there's a lot going on under the hood. There's crafting, an alchemy system, and a skill system based on destinies as well. These destinies are essentially your class - depending on how the game is played, different destinies are unlocked. How does this fit into a world where fate means everything? The main character has died and was resurrected through the well of souls; he's no longer connected to fate and can set things in motion outside of a preset destiny. It's an interesting system that sets the framework for player choice - persuasion, stealth, and pure combat are all viable options for victory, no matter how you want to play.

Now, that's fine and dandy - all the core RPG elements are in place, but how does combat work? It's much more visceral than you'd expect; rather than playing out like Oblivion, the combat in Reckoning looks like what you'd see in God of War or Darksiders, and it's quite a unique experience for it. Reckoning never claimed to be realistic - the graphics reinforce that, as they're bright and vivid where many games are headed toward an amalgam of brown and grey - and the combat follows that. During my demo, the main character tore through enemies with slashing attacks that made him dash through foes, call forth spikes of earth from the cave floor, and do absolutely brutal kills in Reckoning mode. Time slows down and the player can commit fate shift kills, which play out as QTEs and look fantastic.

So, as I was saying, we picked up our hands-off E3 demo taking a sneak peek at one of the Warsworn faction's storyline quests: (The Hearts of Sibun.) The melee centric order, known very often as swords for hire, were originally founded to hunt ancient beasts known as the Niskaru, who were generally held as the stuff of legends, but have recently been appearing once again. We pick up with our main, but unfortunately silent, protagonist as we meet up with Ost Ordura of the faction at the base of a cavernous dungeon, moments before we loot the corpse of a thief and pick up a Helm of Helius a yellow item, which is one of a set and can be equipped from the loot menu.

As the main protagonist descends further into the dungeon, it becomes clear where these Niskaru are coming from, with a group of mages summoning them into cages. From here all hell breaks loose as our main man takes on the Niskaru Bloodhunters wily creatures with blades on their hands and the mages simultaneously, dealing out fierce and fast blows.

(Your success in combat isn't going to be predicated upon by how fast you can press buttons or whether you can memorise long complex combos,) says Nelson. (RPGs are about choice and your success in combat is going to be based on choice. The choice on how you invest in your skills and abilities. What kind of destiny you choose to equip. The choice in what kind of gear you choose to equip. Then your moment to moment choices like combat strategy.)

Naturally, character customisation in a role playing game is only one small step into a much bigger world, and from what we've heard 'big' might be an understatement for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Stretched across five different environment types players will stumble upon four major cities, numerous smaller towns, and 125 dungeons, the latter of which are riddled with traps to bypass and treasures to discover.

Keeping players very busy seems to be the goal. Throughout the adventure players will find themselves given the option to chose between six different factions, each with their own quest lines and missions. Additionally, over 100 side quests will be scattered across the world, giving adventurous players even more to do. The game even integrates interactivity into treasure chests, many of which requiring mini-games be passed before they can be opened.

At the core of the adventuring will be action. Unlike slower role playing games, [i]Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning aims to be heavy on action, with a fluid and dynamic flow to combat. Depending on how players allocate experience points, they might find themselves casting huge extravagant spells, or dashing quickly behind an enemy for a devastating blow. However, while there is definitely a focus on action, Big Huge Games promises that stealth combat options are still available, and stealth itself can be integrated into the non-combat scenarios for sneaking and even stealing.

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