Unlike most RPG fans out there, my love for the genre didn’t even start until the early 2000s. My first proper jump into the format was the original Fable, which hooked me due to the open-world setting, and at the time, the groundbreaking way it allowed me to forge my character’s own destiny. Even now, only a handful of games came remotely close to scratching that itch, one being the original Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which was released back in 2012 for the last generation of systems. Needless to say, I was excited to jump back in when offered a chance to review the remastered version, despite the silly name “Re-Reckoning” – simply calling it a remaster wasn’t good enough? It sounds like the dude who pitched this was just nervous.

The story remains intact and includes the two major expansions offered for the main game, with a brand new one slated for post-release as paid DLC/included in the pricier version of the game. Focusing on your custom character, you play as a recently reanimated corpse that has no memory of prior events and is thrust into a budding civil war between rival. It’s heavy on exposition, with lore that seeps from every interaction, note, book, or item that you can find if you choose to delve into it headfirst – for me, this quickly became tiresome due to the repeated information and verbiage between characters and stories. It’s not overly original by any means, but the story is there for those that wish to explore it. The biggest thrill in this comes from the combat, so I was quick to skim over the subtitles as quickly as possible, skipping the long-winded conversations. For those that enjoy listening over stabbing, you will be treated to a much larger cast of voices than normal in this type of game, despite a few noticeable repeats – it’s far from the “didn’t I just talk to you?” feeling I got from Skyrim or Fallout. 

The combat was and continues to be the game’s greatest achievement – leaning heavily on older God of War or Fable styled combat, you can mix and match abilities from three of the builds (Might, Will, Dexterity) and respec your character at any given time if you elect to, allowing players to lean into one camp more than the others. A constant ability is the need to dodge, parry, and block incoming attacks which often results in a stylish finishing move. Once you get the ability, these can charge a fury type attack that will amp up your damage and speed, while slowing the game world and permitting you to perform a grisly enemy specific finisher that can offer huge bumps of XP if you complete the required QTE.

The “Re-Reckoning” bit largely applies to the visuals, and outside of some small texture and lighting improvements, it still looks dated, almost akin to an “Enhanced for Xbox One X” type of game compared to a full-on remaster. There are still downright ugly faces, blocky character models, and wonky cloth and hair physics, where the assets in question look like static bits opposed to flowing locks. It didn’t deter me from enjoying the game, but it didn’t draw me in more either. When this was announced, I had one major hope for an improvement, which is the map. I love the level designs and how each open area zigs and zags, making the areas seem bigger than what they really are, but the way the map is designed means it’s often difficult to find the specific location where my goal is located. Typically I ended up wandering around in a way that feels all too familiar with the dreaded maze-like areas found in the interiors of Bethesda’s big RPG offerings. I feel like if a game ever deserved the breadcrumb trail, this is it, and I was sad to see this not addressed.

Following the original, the game is stuffed with enough content to keep you busy for a fortnight, with the lengthy main story, side missions, minor fetch quests, and the various factions you can align with. As of this writing, I have spent around fifteen hours in the game, while the original took me around 40 to finish the campaign. I have enjoyed almost every moment of it, despite some lingering technical issues that were prevalent then, and still exist now much to my disappointment. One that stands out is the fact you almost always look like you’re walking above the ground, not on it, casually floating by like the ghost you kind of are. The menus are still a chore, requiring you to go through menus and sub-menu to change your loadouts and sift through the never-ending stream of equipment that is dropped. For the uninformed, I am talking Borderlands levels of loot, and unless you can find some vendors selling backpacks to upgrade your carrying capacity, the sorting every few minutes will remain an annoyance from start to finish. I also keep running into situations where I can’t pick up loot, not because I am at my carrying capacity, but the game just doesn’t allow me to and throws up a brief message essentially saying “the loot can’t be retrieved, sorry not sorry.”

The one big annoyance that is new to this version is the instability, which has caused a lot of lost progress if I went too far along without saving, thanks to the dreaded locking up and “errrrrrrr” sound that emits from my TV until I can manage to get the Xbox to close the software and reload, which has happened at least once every two hours or so since I’ve jumped in. The loading times also seem to be much longer this time around, but this could be clouded by nostalgia.

If you never played the original Kingdoms of Amalur, Re-Reckoning should be a treat that is a worthy purchase for any RPG fan, even with its mild annoyances. It’s not the deepest story, the best looking, or the most polished, but we still play Skyrim every time Bethesda puts it out and don’t seem to complain.

7 out of 10

Pros

• Captures What Made the Original Great
• Freedom in Combat
• Probably One of the Largest RPGs on Today’s Market
• A Wealth of Backstory and Lore
• More Loot Than You Could Fit in a Standard Model Claptrap

Cons

• Dated and Uneven Visuals
• Some Hefty Bugs That Risk Loss of Progress
• Map System
• Cumbersome Menus

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning was developed by Big Huge Games in conjunction with KAIKO and was published by THQ Nordic. The game is available on PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, check out the official site.

 

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