The Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo is out and it delivers. Sure, I had to peel myself away from Skyrim to download it, but I am extremely glad I did. Take Todd McFarlane's fantastic artistic style that blends brutality with beauty then let R.A. Salvatore craft a clear and complex story and you get Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Play the game for a little over ten minutes and you will feel yourself being sucked in my the pristine design and excellent storytelling.
The first thing to note is that all the screenshots were taken by me from direct gameplay and they looks fantastic. The cave dwelling texture nerds spared no expense in creating a unique and lovely look for the game. The lighting is spot on and the game oozes with that nerdgasmic fantasy ambiance that will capture the hearts of RPG fans across the land. It holds its ground as an original style by not pushing for extreme realism like a Elder Scrolls game, but not becoming too stylized like League of Legend or World of Warcraft.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning also has a brutal combat system. Being a RPG veteran I can tell you that it kicks ass. Encounters are reminiscent of Dragon Age II; extremely fast paced while utilizing a dynamic skill/spell toolset that can let you deal out some hardcore ass kicking. Reckoning cranks up the pace to reflect modern platformers like God of War or Dante's Inferno, without becoming a repetitive thumb/wrist killer. My favorite aspect was the missile system. I spent most the demo kiting enemies with a main course of bow and arrow followed by a dessert of good 'ol lighting.
The setting of
Amalur is quite impressive. It reminds me of
World of Warcraft, where I can run off and just craft items, explore caves on a whim, or focus on the quest grind. Expansive comes to mind. The world is filled with magic and gives you that gut warming sense of wonder just by walking around and exploring.
Another thing I am happy to report is that in the opening cinematic there was some awesome beheading and a decent amount of violence. You won't have to worry about pink and green sparkles flying out of enemies as you run then through in Reckoning. I guess there is some sparkling from spells, but mostly blood. Yay for M rated RPGs!
Overall I suggest you check out the demo on any platform. It deserves a playthru. Let me know if you think I am crazy and the game sucks, because I would love to hear some critiques. It was hard for me to find flaws. On a side note
R.A. Salvatore is my favorite author and I have been reading his books since I was 13, so my heart is already in a positive place when it comes to
Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning. I honestly wish there was a game like this for the Drizzt franchise.
Happy slaying!
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