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Reckoning With the Kingdoms of Amalur

If Reckoning makes good on early appearances, it could be something special.

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I always feel like a total jerk when I try to reduce new games down to simple equation, but in the case of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the combination of these two specific things makes for a pretty exciting notion.

What if you took an Elder Scrolls game and added a solid foundation of combo-based attacks? As far as I'm concerned, the big stumbling block in games like Oblivion was its funky, stilted melee combat. It certainly didn't make that game unplayable, but it was something you sort of had to put up with in order to get to all the amazing quests. So what if you tossed in a more fluid system that feels like something slightly closer to a God of War-like character action game? Cool, right? Yeah, it actually looks like it could be very cool.

The demo I saw opened with a bit of in-town exploration in the city of Rathir, with a showcase of the ability to pick the pockets of various townsfolk. As you might expect, this requires a bit of stealth, and if you're spotted, the guards aren't exactly happy about it. Getting caught by guards pops up the game's dialogue wheel with multiple options on it. You can start a fight by resisting arrest, lose some XP by opting for jail time, or pay a fine to clear your crimes and get a fresh start on things. From there, the mage/rogue mix found himself a quest. Specifically, a man in town wanted you to go after his daughter, who went out to stop the Ljosalfar elves from infiltrating Rathir, which is inhabited by the Dokkalfar elves. Elf-on-elf violence, man.

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Things pick up in a cave, where you find the guy's daughter and agree to help her find three switches that will stop the invading elves. Yeah, hitting switches. Heavy stuff. But this still gave us a good look at the game's combat, which allows you to equip two weapons at once and sort of switch between them on the fly, but the real combos come from putting points into mastering specific types of weapons. So, for example, if you drop a ton of points into daggers, you'll be able to mash out much longer combos by slamming the dagger button. It's not all mashing, though, as you can delay some button presses to branch your combos or hold the button down to charge up some attacks. Other weapon types include things like hammers, swords, and chakram--which are crazy sharp hoop-shaped blades. Different attacks can launch enemies up into the air, setting up juggle opportunities.

Like when you're pickpocketing, stealth can be a factor in combat. Toggling your sneak mode on puts meters above enemy heads that let you know how close they are to detecting you, and getting up close and nailing someone behind without being seen leads to stealth kills. You can also use abilities to regain a stealthy edge, like smoke bombs that confuse nearby enemies.

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It's hard to get a feel for character building during such a brief demo, but it at least sounds pretty cool. The game, in case you haven't been keeping up with it, attempts to use a class-free system that lets you grow into something that resembles a class by putting points into the aspects of the game that interest you. So if you want to go straight mage, you can pump your spellcasting full of points. If melee is more your speed, there are plenty of weapon skills to use. Or you can use some mixture of all of these. As you grow, the game will present you with destinies. These are fates that you can equip by visiting a fateweaver, and they give bonuses to the stats used by each particular destiny. So if you're building out your stealth skills and your spell abilities, you might find yourself presented with the "shadowcaster" destiny. Equipping this replaces your default dodge move with a blink-like teleport and adds to your elemental damage. You might find yourself with multiple destinies, and you can swap these out as you see fit.

It's hard to say how the overall game will turn out without seeing more of the story and the quests that go along with it, but a lot of the right pieces appear to be falling into place. I was already paying some attention to Reckoning, but getting this new look at it has definitely moved it up a few slots on my radar. It's due out in 2012.

Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

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the8bitNacho

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Edited By the8bitNacho

This kind of game could feel pretty weird if the God of War-style button mashing brings that franchise's mass of enemy hordes with it. The great thing about Oblivion and Fallout 3 is that the number of enemies the player faced at any one time was pretty controlled. It was enough to make you feel heroic, but never super-human.

I don't know that I want to feel like Kratos transversing the country-side. Kratos should be slaughterin Greek gods, not rescuing some dude's daughter.

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FreakAche

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Edited By FreakAche

This game sounds amazing! And there's an Elder Scrolls veteran involved! 
 
Also, is it safe to say that the wonderful time of year known as PRE-3 has now begun?

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RogueBomber12

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Edited By RogueBomber12

I saw it at PAX East and it felt like what Fable combat tried to be but in a huge oblivion world. Also I loved the art style and the game preformed  well and looked good even that early.
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EmuLeader

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Edited By EmuLeader

The last time an article/video was posted of this everyone was complaining about how mediocre it was bound to be and didn't look interesting at all.  Now, suddenly, people are taking more notice.  Since the Salvatore name was dropped the first time, it piqued my interest, and I have continuously been hoping this would turn out really well.  Glad to see Jeff has a good opinion on it so far, from what he's seen.  It keeps my hopes up.

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chewii101

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Edited By chewii101

Let's hope this game is good. For Rich's sake. 

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xpgamer7

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Edited By xpgamer7

Sounds like it'll be better as a full game, and you can't experience that in a demo.

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Kyreo

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Edited By Kyreo

Elder Scrolls meets Combo based combat?  I'm listening.

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JohnPaulVann

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Edited By JohnPaulVann

Don't like the design. Don't like GOW. Fuck this game. 

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FesteringNeon

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Edited By FesteringNeon
@RogueBomber12 said:
I saw it at PAX East and it felt like what Fable combat tried to be but in a huge oblivion world. Also I loved the art style and the game preformed  well and looked good even that early.
That's funny I immediately thought of Fable, but with a little more Bethesda thrown in. (Which by all means sounds ambitious)
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purexis

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Edited By purexis

I've got hiiiiigh hopes.

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TaintedGlory

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Edited By TaintedGlory

This game looks like it's going to be awesome! I just hope it's not all hype. 

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Vargeth

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Edited By Vargeth

This sounds pretty exciting! I'd love an open-world GoW.

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superpow

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Edited By superpow

I reckon It's time for some reckoning.

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Claude

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Edited By Claude

I saw a demo of the game played on the official site. The only thing I didn't like and for some reason it really bothered me, was how weapons would just appear when you switched to that specific weapon. During the demo the protagonist had a big ass sword and then with a click of a button a big ass hammer during the same fight. That bothers me for some reason. 

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n0nametaz

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Edited By n0nametaz

Looks like if fable and oblivion had a love child.