I love epic games. It is the guest of our screens as a renewed version of a game that was released in 2012 and never received the attention it deserved due to various problems. So is Kingdom of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (KoARR) worth playing? What kind of game awaits those who will play for the first time? Is it good enough to attract players who have played before? Let's examine it together.
First of all, let's talk about the story. Our main character is someone who recently passed away. We choose our race, gender, and other visual features as we are taken near other corpses. As we understand from the speeches of the gnomes that carry us, we are one of the unsuccessful results of some kind of experiment. Just before it turns out that we are the first successful result of experiments with the device called Well of Souls, a group of enemies attack the place and begin to slaughter researchers. Our newly awakened character who has no remembrance is trying to protect himself against attackers and the game begins.
In a land where everyone's destiny is pre-written and can be read by masters called Fateweaver, we learn that we are the only one whose fate has not been written before. This is such a great power that we have the ability to change the destiny of everyone in the land. We begin our long adventure in the Faelands land with a Fateweaver trying to help us.
I have a lot to say about the story. First of all, the person working both in the world and in the story is R.A. I have to say it's Salvatore. This name, which will be immediately remembered by those who love fantasy stories and are interested in desktop role-playing games, is also the creator of Drizzt Do'Urden, one of the most important characters in the Forgotten Realms. In a brand new world where many different races live together, we try to follow a long and interesting story. All around there are books with information about the land and people ready to share their knowledge. In addition, the stones called "Lorestone" found around are ready to tell us many different stories.
I said we are trying to follow the story above, and I was serious in saying that. R.A. While Salvatore did a good job writing the story, we have some presentation difficulties and it has nothing to do with the author. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, which we can call a single player online game, can cause us to miss the story while running to other things.
Staying Under the Mountain of Story
There is a lot of lore content in the game, after a while you can give an error due to excessive information overload. Books, story-telling stones, people talking around, and so on, just like our character in the game, “What's going on here? What year are we in? I do not remember and understand anything. " possible to fall into a situation. Let me give the simplest example from a mission in the first town. There is a Fae person lying on the ground and was badly beaten. While trying to improve this character, we are also trying to understand why he was beaten. In order to fully understand the situation and get to know the Fae race, we need to talk to anyone interested, and it means a lot of dialogue. If you don't want to engage in that much dialogue, you don't know why the realm takes this attitude towards the Fae race.
I will say that the presentation in general is not very good. It is very difficult for you to enter the world without reading every book and learning everybody's opinion. When you try to do this, you feel like it takes a lot of time. It could be things like at least a little more cinematic presentation, more descriptive information. Although I love the Lorestone thing very much, I also wish some of the stories had visual representations.
One of the most serious problems in terms of story is that the events do not affect the world very much. There are moments in the game where we can choose. Still, we cannot see much of their impact on the world. While there are a few pre-prepared events, there aren't many choices that affect the world. In the side missions we can make some important choices, but the main missions are generally more linear. The most important feature of the characters with the ability to persuade is to win more awards. Serious problems we encountered during the main task, we feel like we are being taken to rest during intermediate missions. It must be a world affected by war, but those living in the world are unaware of this. Everyone looks after their own business, even the groups we join are unaware of what is happening around. Of course, this situation slightly undermines the atmosphere.
All in all, a very good story has problems due to a heavy presentation. I don't think it's going to be a problem if you just follow the main story and don't care too much about the rest of the world.
A War Mage in Heavy Armor
We came to one of the funniest parts of the game. Fighting mechanics. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning has preserved the already beautiful fighting mechanics of the original game. As a character without destiny, all roads are open to us. This means that our character has a lot of options to use during the war.
During the fights, you can equip two different weapons and use the spells you have on the enemy. While weakening the enemies in the field with the "chakram" preferred by the wizards, you can cut the enemies near you with a sword and finish another enemy's work with the lightning spell. Combining different weapon combinations with skills and clearing enemies is great fun. Thanks to both shield and rolling mechanics, you can wander among your opponents and take advantage of their vulnerabilities. There is also the Reckoning mode.
Since we are a person whose destiny has not been written, we can change the destiny of those around us. This is bad news for competitors, of course. After collecting enough energy, the mode we switched to by pressing the L2 + R2 keys causes the enemies to slow down and hunt them faster. In the meantime, although our experience points increase, the real fun part is the finishing blows where we rewrite the fate of the enemy. We take a weak rival and finish it off with an energy that I guess is made up of the webs of fate. Energy sometimes turns into an ax and cuts off the opponent's head, sometimes it becomes a spear that we can attach to the opponent.
Character control during the fights is very comfortable and fluid. The camera angles are also pretty good. We can switch between opponents quickly, without the need to lock onto any enemy. The battles are so enjoyable that you want to quickly skip the story parts of the game and dive into stronger enemies. If only Ghost of Tsushima's camera system would have looked like this.
Determine Your Own Fate
Instead of the class system we are used to in the game, there are ways we choose by giving our points. The points we invest in a path enable us to reach the talents in that area, while also unlocking the Destinies cards, which we can call a kind of class system. Let's explain this part in more detail.
If you prefer a standard way, you can play the game as a wizard, warrior or bandit. It is possible to make your character a standard warrior by investing the points you get in a single field every time you level up. There are different weapons and abilities for each class in the game. Wizards support elemental-damage basic attacks with powerful spells, while warriors smash enemy ranks with massive weapons and heavy armor. If you want to go more sneaky and stealthily, there are quick killing techniques like catching the enemy off guard with knives and stabbing behind the opponent in crowded fights.
But we are someone whose fate has not been written and we have more than one choice. When the points we invest in both magic and war reach a certain level, a new fate opens before us. The class system called Destinies determines what bonus features our character will have. It is possible to become a war magician who wears his armor and clears the enemy with magic, a swordsman who cuts down his enemies with light armor, or a legend mastered in all weapons.
We Work Like an MMO
Fighting is a lot of fun, but the game isn't just about fights. There is a huge land ahead of us and a lot of things to do. We can focus on the crafting part and create new armor, potions or power stones. We can gather flowers around and go looking for lorestones and hidden treasures. Or we can do quests, lots of quests.
There is a serious abundance of missions in the game. As you follow the main story, everywhere you enter, you see people rushing "Aha, the man to serve has arrived." You enter the cave, a new mission comes out, the bandit cuts your way and the hoop new mission comes. You can join the various groups in the game. This means more missions.
I mentioned earlier in the article that the game is a single player online game. You know, there are a lot of missions that develop the story of the region so that your character can level up, while you are doing them, you will skip levels without realizing. The same situation exists in this game. There is duty everywhere, everyone wants something. Some send you to long dungeons, some among the trolls.
There are fun choices such as changing the course of the side missions with the choices you make, flattening the town that sends you to clean the spiders by being one with the spiders. At least in most of the side missions, you can change the outcome and drag the realm into a worse situation.
The fact that there are so many side quests can cause you to miss the main story after a while. If you try to do each of them, it is possible to get bored before reaching the end of the game. Some side quests are very similar and even though the dungeons we enter are beautiful in design, they are similar to each other. That's why I recommend that you choose your side tasks carefully and return to the main task as soon as you feel bored.
Innovations With Re-Reckoning
Until this part of the review, we've covered a lot of things for first-time players. Now let's see what comes with the revamped version of the game. In 2012, when the game was first released, the graphics were at a level that we can call good. It was a game with graphics that we can call cartoon style, used in the Warcraft universe. The advantage of this choice is that even the old version of the game still looks more pleasing to the eye. With Re-Reckoning, there was no serious change in the graphics. We can see that the skins have been improved and the resolution has increased, but if your expectation is stunning graphics, you won't find it in this game. Still, I am happy with what I saw.
With Re-Reckoning, one more complaint from the players was taken into account. After a while in the original game, our character became so powerful that we were swinging enemies left and right even at the highest difficulty level. The newly added "Very Hard" difficulty level and the adjustment of your level according to the region every time you enter the zones, remove the problem of the game becoming too easy and boring.
Among the advantages of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning are nice innovations such as the availability of all previously released DLC packs in the game, increasing the capacity of the storage in the players' homes, and the ability shortcuts to give them the opportunity to use 8 skills. If only there was a photo mode. We can turn off the interface, but it is not enough to take great photos.
My Result
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which set out with the power of names such as R.A Salvatore, Todd Mcfarlane (Spawn) and Ken Roiston (Elder ScrollsIV: Oblivion), was a game that did not get the value it deserved due to unsuccessful advertising campaigns, strong opponents and various troubles. 38 Studios, who also wanted to make an MMO game set in the world of Amalur, went bankrupt shortly after its release, and the naming rights were acquired by THQ Nordic in 2018.
Published by THQ Nordic, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a full game that players looking for a different action RPG game can love. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a very good game with its strengthened graphics, improved gameplay mechanics and a world that promises you a great adventure. Maybe there are too many side quests and conversations that may intimidate you, but the joy you get when you put on your guns and get into the action is worth it.
Players who have played Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will not find much innovation in this package. The arrival of some gameplay enhancing updates and difficulty settings that make it even more enjoyable is definitely a plus. For those who have played the main game before but have not bought DLC packs like me, the opportunity to play with improved graphics is fine. Still, if you have any thoughts about buying the game, I have one more news for you. In the announcement made by THQ Nordic, it was announced that a brand new content package will be coming to the game. There is not much information about the content package called Fatesworn, but new content is always good news.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning takes an already beautiful game and gives the new generation of players the opportunity to experience it. If you can rid yourself of the burden of side missions and problems in storytelling, you can have a very enjoyable time.
A really great post great and very nice game