Retrospective Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Kingdoms Of Amalur was naive in both design and development, but filled with charm.

- Robert Zak

With a lore-rich world created by legendary fantasy author RA Salvatore, and a meaty, full-bodied art style courtesy of Spawn artist Todd McFarlane, Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning was an ambitious but mismanaged project, going through several iterations before settling on the game that was released in 2012.

For all its problems, there was an optimism running through Amalur’s development and design – a sense that the RPG genre was in flux and there to be moulded into something new by those brave enough to try.

The early 2010s were a sleepy era for fantasy RPGs. The Witcher 2 made some waves on Xbox 360 with its excellent nonlinear storytelling, but it was nothing like the force its sequel would become. Dragon Age II lacked the ambition of its forebear, and the great CRPG revival that would reveal a latent desire amidst gamers for deep, hardcore experiences was still a few years away. Then there was Skyrim which was, well, Skyrim: a singular undying behemoth that existed (and continues to exist) in its own dimension, beyond all competition.

Home run

So when 38 Studios, founded by former Major League Baseball star Curt Schilling, got to work on Amalur in 2010 there was plenty of wiggle room to experiment with the RPG formula; it was like a half-written tome waiting to be filled. From the magical Disney-like soundtrack composed by Rare legend Grant Kirkhope, to the combat that broke the apparent unwritten rule that combat in an RPG couldn’t be too fun and action-oriented, Amalur wanted to be a more accessible twist on a traditionally esoteric genre.