Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is the remaster of the classic RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning released back in 2012. The original game was released by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, and it was a very well-received RPG of its time. Fast forward eight years and the RPG has returned to life as Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning under the publishing umbrella of THQ Nordic. Boasting 4k visuals and enhanced graphics, the remaster is now available on modern consoles and PC. This is our review of the PC version of the Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning in which we explore a gorgeous world and save the Faelands from its imminent doom.
The story of Kingdoms of Amalur takes place in Faelands that is under threat by the immortal beings known as the Tuatha who are hell-bent on exterminating the mortal races of the world. These races include humans, dwarves, elves, and any other race that is not Tuatha. Tuatha’s biggest advantage is their immortality as every time they die, they are reincarnated so ultimately, they cannot be completely defeated. You step into the world as a dead person brought back to life from an invention known as the Well of Souls that is destroyed after its very first successful experiment, you.
You begin your journey to save the Faelands from the ruthless assault of Tuatha as The Fateless One. While everyone’s fate is known in the world of Faelands, you are the only one who must write your own destiny because it is not written. Your past has been erased and your memory is gone and you have only one option and that is to forge your very own destiny in Faelands and save it from the curse of Tuathas. The story plays out just like any other traditional RPG where you are the chosen one and you must explore a vast fantasy world seeking new allies and defeating bigger enemies as you progress in the game.
The game starts with you designing your very own character. Apart from the normal visual changes such as changing the face, adjusting colors, and jewelry, you can also pick the race of your character from four different options. Apart from this basic character creation, you are then offered a pretty simple and easy character development model from where you can further adjust the character for your own, unique playstyle.
Beginning with the detailed character skill trees, you have three unique character skill trees to invest your points in and develop the skills of your character. These fall under the categories of Might, Magic, and Finesse. Depending on your personal preferences, you can adjust them and then move on to Character Skills which are also vital for your character and they affect personal skills such as Lockpicking, Influencing, Crafting, and Blacksmithing. These are the basic characteristics that you can modify your character every time you level up and get some points.
Apart from these customizations, one of the most important character development mechanics in the game is the Destiny system. This acts as a Class system and you can start with the basic classes such as Brawler, Acolyte, and Rogue. All of these are different classes and each one offers a unique playstyle and stat boosts. After choosing a class, you can then invest points in relevant trees and unlock more advanced Destinies as well. As the tiers improve, these begin to merge with one and another offering you a more diversified experience where you do not have to limit yourself to just one particular playstyle.
You can choose to become a mage and be proficient as melee combat as well. Fateweavers allow you to create some of the most diverse destinies that will completely change how you play the game. However, character development is somewhat limited in the game as there’s a low level cap of just 40. After hitting the level cap, these Destinies are your best bet to further enhance your gameplay and play around with how your character fights in the game. The most direct impact of these Destinies is on the combat. You can also craft some temporary buffs and use them to boost a particular stat if you want too. The game offers a pretty simple crafting mechanic too where you can collect resources and then create some potions to use in combat. This brings us to another great mechanic of Kingdoms of Amalur, which is the combat.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning brings the fluid combat of the original game back to life and it is better than ever. Although it is not too overly complicated, it is still pretty good and nothing short of solid. You have two slots for equipping the weapons of your choice. Depending on your playstyle, you can choose from a variety of swords, hammers, daggers, chakras, Fae Blades, and staffs. If you prefer, you can also mix and match your weapons to have a good balance of magic and traditional melee attacks. This freedom of weapon choice is offered by very few RPGs as mostly you are locked to one type of weapon depending on your chosen class however there is no such restriction here which makes the combat of this game even more fun.
With that being said, one of the most attractive features of Kingdoms of Amalur has always been its beautiful world. The game features one of the best fantasy worlds that I’ve ever explored in any video game and even for this review, when I started playing Kingdoms of Amalur for a second time, I absolutely loved exploring the world. Faelands are just beautiful and gorgeous to look at. The environments are extremely big and you would always get lost while trying to complete a single objective as you would stumble upon a dungeon or find another NPC with a brand new quest for you.
The world feels extremely alive around you as you travel through city to city looking for more quests and exploring the vast-open areas for loot, weapons, armor, and completing side quests. Side Quests play an important role in the game as they help you understanding the lore of the game and exploring additional areas that you might miss in the game if you stick to the main story of the game. You can also explore different dungeons to take down powerful enemies and find some great loot there. While you are not completing a quest, you can even just roam around the beautiful landscapes the game offers and you can still have a fun time.
While Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning brings back the game to modern consoles and PC with improved 4K visuals and enhanced details here and there, If I am being honest here, I was disappointed when I started playing the game. It was not because of the game but it was because of the amount of work actually put towards the ‘remaster’ aspect of the game. I have over 40 hours in the original Kingdom of Amalur title while currently, I have over 20 hours in the Re-Reckoning but there were different places where I did not notice any difference from the original title.
This was most common in the game’s dark areas where the ground still felt dark and dull when it should have been worked upon to make it look like a proper remaster. Most of the vegetation in the game simply looks like it has more light on it rather than improving its quality. This goes for much of the animations as well in the game. While the 4K and better frames make the game worthwhile, all these little things do not justify how the game has been converted into a Remastered title when most of it simply looks like the original one. It certainly feels like a lazy remaster. If you run both games side-by-side, the only thing you notice is the higher 4K resolution, enhanced lighting, smoother frames, and a little bit of added vegetation. Some of the ground areas still lack vegetation like I was hoping that it would after seeing some of the remasters come in the previous days.
Overall, if you did not play the original game or even if you played the original game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is still worth your time. It looks better than the original game but nothing is too breath-taking. It brings back one of the best RPGs to life and is certainly worth your time. It is a shame that the developers did not give the title the attention to detail that it deserved. Most of the launched bugs and crashes have now been fixed with numerous updates and patches so the game is in a much more stable position and you can play it without experiencing crashes and bugs.
Final Verdict:
Kingdoms of Amalur is one of my all-time favorite RPGs from 2012 and I loved playing the original game when it came out. When I heard about its remaster, I was extremely excited to finally see the RPG return with modern 4K support and enhanced visuals. However, I can say that the remaster was a slight disappointment for me. The original game looked extremely pretty back in its days as well so the visuals being nice this time around does not really justify a re-release under the remaster banner. It is simply an upscaled version of the original game where nothing much has been touched. However, for a moment, if you remove the thought of it being a remaster and look at the game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a great, light RPG that looks beautiful, offers solid combat mechanics and a fantasy world that is gorgeous to explore. If you are heading into Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, just don’t think of it as a remaster because it is not a very good remaster but think of it as a brilliant open-world RPG featuring a beautiful world. This will make you like the game more. A solid addition to your library if you missed playing it the first time around.
Final Score: 7.0/10
