The kingdoms are back and just as good as before.
What They Say:
The hit RPG returns! From the minds of the bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston, comes Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. Remastered with stunning visuals and refined gameplay Re-Reckoning delivers intense, customizable RPG combat inside a sprawling game world.
Content:
2020 has been starved for those classic Western open-world RPGs and Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning might not be brand new but it is still well worth playing eight years after its initial release. The remaster of Kingdoms of Amalur is one of the strangest updated releases of a video game that I have ever seen.
Though it has been eight years since its release, this game is, well, pretty much the same game as it was before. In many ways, it is more of a port of the beloved RPG with its DLC expansions included than it is a major change over the original. The graphics look largely the same as they did before.
It performs pretty normally, except with some minor technical issues and bugs. I’m not sure if these were in the original game or not but there were frequent odd bugs where the NPC or other objects in the game would be incomplete. They would show up in horrifying ways of having their upper half of their bodies just… gone.
It even happened to some treasure chests that I came across with the chest missing the top half of it, making me question if I had already opened it to only find out that I hadn’t and this was just a glitch. There were strange bugs that happened like this throughout my time with the game, though most of them didn’t deteriorate too much from the experience.
However, the one performance problem that did annoy me constantly were the loading times that are pretty darn bad. Normally, I’ll just mention loading times with a brand new game and how they’re bad and move on, but this really detracted from my experience for one main reason: this is an old game.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a remaster of an eight-year old game from last generation; it shouldn’t take that long for loading between areas and buildings. It is a little bit understandable when you are fast traveling from one end of the world to another but not when you are loading into a shop that you can cross in a few seconds.
For the most part, the loading times were just as long for going inside of tiny buildings as they were for fast traveling to an area far away. It doesn’t really make sense no matter what and it did get annoying over time to the point where I only really felt like playing for bursts of times since I expect more from a remaster of this game.
With that aside, though, for the most part, this is the same game that fans will remember from 2012. The graphics do hold up somewhat well, except for the character designs and animations. They are super stiff in dialogue and don’t look too great. But the monster designs and overall world still looks pretty great these days.
What I didn’t expect to age so well was the combat that is just as engaging, fluid, and interesting as it was back then. I did find that the camera got a bit annoying in dungeons but it wasn’t too much of an issue. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning still has one of the most fun action RPG combat systems I’ve ever played.
Whether you are using twin daggers or a greatsword, there is a solid and varying feel to the weapons that you can use. If you like powerful, lumbering weapons that are slow, you can fight with that. If you’re more like me and like the faster weapons, you can use those and tear up enemies, roll away, and then use some skills to keep a distance between you.
There is so much freedom to the gameplay system that rewards you for choosing to play the way you want to. There are classes, sure, and they fall into the three main skill areas of might (basic melee fighter style), finesse (more rogue-like, daggers and bows), and sorcery (magic) but you are free to switch at any point. You can even pick hybrid classes that are balanced between two or more of the skill areas.
And if you don’t end up liking the build you went with, you can respec your points at any point in the game by visiting certain NPCs to switch things around and find what works best for you. And the openness expands to the world itself which you are mostly free to explore with plenty of quests and stories to experience.
The main story is fine but the side quests all have their own storylines that have had time put into them to make them interesting enough. There is tons to do, including visiting the numerous dungeons, completing quests, crafting, and even buying your own house to upgrade.
The game has a lot included with it, with the two main DLC expansions also available in the base title, ensuring that you have tons of time to play it. This makes it great for not just newcomers who will have a lot to play but for those who haven’t picked up Kingdoms of Amalur in years.
I do wish there were more customization in the settings for making the game your own and more accessible. For me, personally, the subtitles were almost passable but they were just under what I would prefer. It would be nice to see subtitle size options and other settings for those who need or want them.
In Summary:
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, for better or for worse, feels more like a straight port of the original 2012 than a remaster. The graphics look exactly the same as before to me, having not aged too well for the characters but still looking great in the world and monster designs.
This remaster also comes with some strange bugs and annoying loading screens that feel awkward in a game that is supposed to be an improvement over the original. But even though it feels like a straight port of the original 2012 game, there is no denying how great it was then and even still today. The combat is still one of the best in the RPG genre, the world is stunning, the freedom is impressive, and the writing is detailed across the main story, lore, and tons of side quests. With the main DLC expansions included, I was happy to return to the Kingdoms of Amalur.
Grade: B
Developer: Kaiko, Big Huge Games (the developers for the remaster)
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Age Rating: Mature
Release Date: September 8, 2020
MSRP: $39.99
Platform: PS4 (reviewed), Xbox One, PC
This review was done with a review copy provided by the publisher. We are grateful for their continued support.