Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

 PC
User Score
6.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1215 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 614 out of 1215
  2. Mixed: 345 out of 1215
  3. Negative: 256 out of 1215
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  1. PenetratorGod
    Aug 20, 2023
    6
    It's an average game. Everything about the game is just average. It can entertain you for a while if you give it a chance, but it takes way too long to explore and finish the whole game. The game is made too long to be interesting. With a shorter and smaller experience and a good deeper story, it could have been a more memorable game. They tried to make too big a game and didn't work onIt's an average game. Everything about the game is just average. It can entertain you for a while if you give it a chance, but it takes way too long to explore and finish the whole game. The game is made too long to be interesting. With a shorter and smaller experience and a good deeper story, it could have been a more memorable game. They tried to make too big a game and didn't work on the details enough. Too much empty and poorly thought out content to fill the game. There were too many changes of ideas during the development of this game and you can feel it while playing. It had potential and good ideas, but they were only on paper. They couldn't reflect that in the game.… Expand
  2. Geralt123
    Apr 17, 2023
    7
    Overall I had some fun with the game, but it is really enough for me to do only some side quests. It is a good game, no more and no less.

    Pros - Nice art style - Combat is satisfying, especially in mid game and end game - Badass skills - Overall story is ok but not the greatest in the world. - Fast Travel - Quick save and quick load work very well - Good skill system - Variety    Overall I had some fun with the game, but it is really enough for me to do only some side quests. It is a good game, no more and no less.

    Pros
    - Nice art style
    - Combat is satisfying, especially in mid game and end game
    - Badass skills
    - Overall story is ok but not the greatest in the world.
    - Fast Travel
    - Quick save and quick load work very well
    - Good skill system
    - Variety of weapons
    - You can swim

    Cons
    - Graphics look dated although art style is good
    - Invisible walls, only at certain points you can drop down from a ledge
    - Side quests are lame (mostly fetch or kill quests)
    - Ingame map looks ugly
    - Inventory management is a pain
    - Feels like an MMO for 1 player
    - All villages look the same
    - All dungeons look more or less the same
    - Repetetive fights    … Expand
  3. Ratingss
    Mar 20, 2023
    5
    This game is a lot like Fable, even the music sounds the same, it just hasnt any of the little things that made Fable so unique back then.
    When i first played this in 2012 i ran into a game breaking bug and gave up. It never was a marvel but the graphics still hold up well, just do yourself a favor and turn off the awful post processing.
  4. Infearno666
    Sep 12, 2020
    7
    Buy this over the remaster. Use ENB if you really want the improved shadows.
  5. Mobile
    Sep 26, 2018
    6
    ENG RU
    Probably one of the longest single rpg with elements of mmo, that's just not enough peta.
    At first it is interesting to explore, listen to dialogues, to pump the character, to beat out new equipment and to carry out the next quest about the help to peasants and not only. But when you spend on the implementation of all of the above in the first location and you still do not know,    ENG RU
    Probably one of the longest single rpg with elements of mmo, that's just not enough peta.
    At first it is interesting to explore, listen to dialogues, to pump the character, to beat out new equipment and to carry out the next quest about the help to peasants and not only. But when you spend on the implementation of all of the above in the first location and you still do not know, but guess how it can be delayed and whether you need it. And it becomes not so interesting to run back and forth, perform the same type of job, run through the same dungeons and listen to all the chatter that you pour into your ears and this applies to the main plot, which is also safely skipaesh. For a single game too "big world", a lot, a lot of jobs, the same type of village, the same applies to enemies. Comes the realization that the game is certainly good, exactly until you realize how big and empty at the same time. Personally, I do not want to sit for half a hundred hours, or even more just running around doing tasks, knock out clothes and other delights of mmo, to which I am absolutely indifferent. Definitely the game is interesting and unusual in its own way, but it is not worth the time and heaps of everything, and the graphics could make it prettier, and not in the "style" WOW.
    Наверное, одна из самых долгих single rpg с элементами mmo, вот только очень не хватает peta.
    По началу интересно исследовать, слушать диалоги, прокачивать персонажа, выбивать новое снаряжение и выполнять очередной квест про помощь селянам и не только. Но когда ты потратишь на выполнение всего выше перечисленного в первой локации и ты еще точно не знаешь, но догадываешься, насколько это может затянутся и нужно ли тебе это. И становится уже не так интересно бегать туда-сюда, выполнять однотипные задания, бегать по одинаковым подземельям и слушать весь треп который тебе льют в уши и это касается основного сюжета, который так же смело скипаешь. Для single игры слишком "большой мир", много, очень много заданий, однотипные деревушки, тоже самое касается и врагов. Приходит осознание того, что игра конечно хороша, ровно до того момента пока не понимаешь, насколько велика и пуста одновременно. Лично мне не хочется сидеть пол сотни часов, а то и больше просто бегая выполняя задания, выбивать шмотье и прочие прелести mmo, к которому я абсолютно равнодушен. Однозначно игра интересна и по своему необыкновенна, но она не стоит того времени и нагромождения всего, да и графику могли сделать посимпатичней, а не в "стиле" WOW.    … Expand
  6. GolovA
    Sep 11, 2017
    7
    BARELY Made it into the green.

    Story-wise - a meh. Weak. And it's a huge factor for an RPG. Here's a sample of the writing: "She's not a God. She's much, much worse!" While silly things take away from submersion (such as bodybuilding models, who are supposed to portrait 70 year-old wise and weary men), the gameplay and mechanics (character development, skills, combat system) are    BARELY Made it into the green.

    Story-wise - a meh. Weak. And it's a huge factor for an RPG. Here's a sample of the writing: "She's not a God. She's much, much worse!"

    While silly things take away from submersion (such as bodybuilding models, who are supposed to portrait 70 year-old wise and weary men), the gameplay and mechanics (character development, skills, combat system) are pretty solid.
    A bit Buggy, has quite some backtracking, and finally - no matter how good the Voice Actors - voicing the game with just three of them simply does not work. Hire more actors! Hell - hire me - i'll voice a monster or something!

    Suggestions for further playing:
    Divinity II, Dragon Age: Origins, Shadowrun.

    En Resumen:
    Weak on Story, Good in Mechanics.    … Expand
  7. Rem
    Mar 20, 2017
    6
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had the tools to create a truly unique rpg. With highly revered members involved in its development, Reckoning manages to be far from bad, but it commits a sin of a similar magnitude, it's boring. It's boring in its world design, characters, lore, and eventually its combat. It makes solid first impressions but ultimately overstays its welcome by a long shot.Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had the tools to create a truly unique rpg. With highly revered members involved in its development, Reckoning manages to be far from bad, but it commits a sin of a similar magnitude, it's boring. It's boring in its world design, characters, lore, and eventually its combat. It makes solid first impressions but ultimately overstays its welcome by a long shot.

    The plot isn't terrible, and instead has a good setup. You're resurrected from the dead and discover you're fateless in a world bounded by fate trapped in the middle of a war between mortals and evil immortals named the Tuatha. Beyond that, the story tries desperately hard to fall back on the lore these developers have created and it becomes a pitfall. The crazy amount of jargon the game requires you to remember makes it cumbersome to connect the story threads together. You'll be scratching your head as you hear "House of Ballads, Winter Fae, Mel Senshir, and The Great Cycle for the nth time. The biggest problem with the storytelling is that its always exposition heavy. Rather than seizing the opportunity and exploring the amount of lore they crafted for this universe, the characters that inhabit it tell rather than show. They lack interesting depth, most of them feeling outright boring. It doesn't help that most of them are assigned one character trait and even that's a stretch. The people that inhabit this universe exist solely for the purpose of either spewing something you already knew/could infer or giving you quests. By God, the amount of quests in this game is absolutely massive, so much so that it's a negative. It's not so much the amount, but rather how much of it is mundane and is a variant of either a "go here fetch/kill this" sort of quest. Even the people handing you the quests all feel the same. You accept quests not to learn more, but only to rid the exclamation point from your map and to gain some exp.

    The saving grace of this game is strangely the combat, which is great for an RPG. It's a satisfying blend of number crunching and skill for the first dozen or so hours. Building your character is also enjoyable, with the mix of skill trees, abilities divided among three classes, and destinies that you choose and develop that provide passive bonuses. It's significantly better and instantly more enjoyable than most open world RPGs because of how responsive and fluid it is and how you always feel the impact of your strikes. Despite this, the combat and skill system eventually fizzle out towards the end because enemies don't quite scale to your level as you progress, ultimately making the game laughably easy towards the end. Creating your own weapons and gear is remarkable, giving use to most items in the world and the ability to name your own gear is a nice bonus. Loot is constant and while a good amount of them you just sort to the junk pile, the variety of weapons ensures that you can tinker with any playstyle you desire, so far as to providing stealth as a valid option at times, which works well enough. Wanna be a stealth mage? A pure warrior? All three? It's up to you, and it's refreshing and why I kept pushing through the end despite any setbacks. Other than that, gameplay is relegated to exploration and talking to people the former of which is spent in fairly open MMO like zones peppered with enemies and loot and the latter being drowned in exposition and a dialogue wheel that has little effect on the outcome. The former is much enjoyable, but outside of combat, the game offers nothing else to keep your interest for very long.

    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on the visual end, is a decent looking game. While the textures and geometric detail are nothing to marvel at, the color palette and art style is striking, for the first several areas. Eventually the overly WOW inspired look becomes monotonous, and its not until near the end does the setting shift enough to ease your eyes of the overstaying colorful palette. The music is even more forgettable, consisting of terribly vanilla RPG tracks that is serviceable at best. One good note I can point out is that Kingdoms of Amalur is generally bug free, keeping the experience as polished as possible and it runs like butter, a nice bonus.

    If I told you that you can easily spend over 60 hours in this game, you might imagine a thoroughly engaging game throughout, but truth be told, a good chunk of that time was spent in autopilot, breezing through battles and skipping every piece of dialogue after the 20 hour mark. There is obvious love and hard work put into this project, but Kingdom of Amalur's main weaknesses of poor writing and the general averageness of everything else besides the combat ultimately keeps the experience from becoming anything more than vanilla. It might not be bad, but it sure can be boring.    … Expand
  8. dnnblue
    Jan 11, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. we need surpport korea language. today 2017 year.
    I hope we can build up mutual trust through communications like this.
    we cordially ask you to think again before filing an official complaint report.    … Expand
  9. nensen
    Dec 2, 2016
    7
    Feels like single player wow with different mechanic and RPG elements, that is all. Story is ok but kind of "cliche". Game is too easy on hardest difficulty so it does not provide enough satisfaction.
  10. Greywolf2001ca
    Dec 24, 2015
    6
    This game is a decent hack'n'slasher with a decent story.

    There character building is good enough to continue playing without getting bored.

    They call this a role-playing game, but it's actually a hack'n'slasher power-gaming one with a linear story.

    I don't think you should pay any more than 10$ for the complete game.
  11. Honeybadgers
    Nov 16, 2015
    6
    I wanted to like this game more, the multi class system, the genuinely original plot, generally fun combat, all are absolutely smothered underneath a thick layer of grind and mostly terrible side quests. I feel like a streamlined approach would have made this a much better game, with almost none of the side quests and more time spent with the core characters. I love the New way that elvesI wanted to like this game more, the multi class system, the genuinely original plot, generally fun combat, all are absolutely smothered underneath a thick layer of grind and mostly terrible side quests. I feel like a streamlined approach would have made this a much better game, with almost none of the side quests and more time spent with the core characters. I love the New way that elves and immortal races are put forward, but feel like all the great ideas were just ground into boring dust with respawning enemies and a pretty poor interface and map for the multi quest style. Combat got very tedious, and while counterattack and blocking fishing felt nice, a lot of the combat got too clustered and messy to actually pull any smooth combos off, as you are far to easily interrupted, and enemy casters are literally the most frustrating thing i have ever seen in a video game. It mostly boils down to a button mash. I felt damage math was too complex, as I'd land a flurry of attacks for essentially no damage, only to have the next flurry take off eighty percent of a monster's life, so the damage system needed simplifying or better ways to communicate damage. Crafting was mostly junk, and the stealth is absolutely garbage. Overall, i don't think this one is worth playing, because while there were two excellent boss battles and a nice little story, it takes far too long to tell it and by the end, you simply won't care. I put fifty hours in, beat the last boss, and uninstalled it immediately.… Expand
  12. dyspeptic
    Feb 20, 2015
    7
    Platform: EA's Origin :(
    PROS: + Oversaturated colors look really pretty + Combat can be rewarding with a controller (some skills make it dumb, though)
    CONS: - Story so hollow the best thing about it is the "skip" button - The "over-levelling" problem in which monster levels are permanently set when you enter a new area is obnoxious: you have to be careful not to "discover" new locations    Platform: EA's Origin :(
    PROS: + Oversaturated colors look really pretty + Combat can be rewarding with a controller (some skills make it dumb, though)
    CONS: - Story so hollow the best thing about it is the "skip" button - The "over-levelling" problem in which monster levels are permanently set when you enter a new area is obnoxious: you have to be careful not to "discover" new locations too soon or monsters will be too weak when you return - Really only one subquest that repeats ad-nauseam - About 10 monsters which also repeat ad-nauseam, they get more health but don't even bother with reskins

    Starts fun with good character skill progression, but once you master the good skills you are in a hurry to end the game (I always seem to be ready to finish about with about 4-6hr main questline still remaining) . In other words, there isn't consistent interest throughout the game, the repeating side quest is a rehash of "go to location X and kill/interact with Y" and the main quest is barely different: the main quest is as thin on reasons to go to new locations as the side quests are. At the end you'll be thinking, ok it's a new continent, but so what? Enemies, quests, abilities and shops are all the same...

    On the other hand, some of the individual game mechanics stay solid the entire game--don't try combat without a controller, though. It is doable but not actually fun.    … Expand
  13. yo_mama_so_fat
    Oct 22, 2014
    7
    Reckoning is a game that took me by surprise. Went into this game expecting very little and I was pleasantly surprised. This might be one of the most beautiful games I've played in a while.
  14. tekki
    Oct 19, 2014
    6
    Pros:
    1. This is a long game, probably the longest RPG ive ever played at 100+ hours with the DLC (i bought as a package on steam)
    2. Good world for such a large game, nice voice acting, face animations and the towns do feel lived in. 3. heaps of enemies, loot and quests. wonderful range of ways to craft items, one fo the best crafting mechanics out there. Cons:- 1. the game    Pros:
    1. This is a long game, probably the longest RPG ive ever played at 100+ hours with the DLC (i bought as a package on steam)

    2. Good world for such a large game, nice voice acting, face animations and the towns do feel lived in.

    3. heaps of enemies, loot and quests. wonderful range of ways to craft items, one fo the best crafting mechanics out there.

    Cons:-

    1. the game is not well balanced, on hard, the second half of the game is a stroll. loot became redundant once you max blacksmithing, the items you create are few levels more powerful than legendary items.

    2. quests are tedious, most if not all the quests are about fetching smoething or killing someone. pair this with the game being too easy, a lot of quests becomes very tedious.

    3. story is almost non-existant, nothing really happens, even if it does you dont care about the character.

    i would say that this game offers great value, you can kill a lot of things, loot a lot of stuff and have plenty of quests. Sadly this great value diminishes or dilutes the gameplay, its like drinking very cheap coffee during an event. you dont really like it, but it offers something to help you stay awake    … Expand
  15. Keth
    Sep 20, 2014
    5
    This isn't a terrible game. I really liked the character creation/development; it feels open and let's you mix and make the character you want to play. -- However, there are some downsides. Yes, the graphics and acting are kinda low for a game this recent. The story is interesting but not gripping. The side-quests are, well, side-quests. -- It's the combat that get's me. Slow reaction toThis isn't a terrible game. I really liked the character creation/development; it feels open and let's you mix and make the character you want to play. -- However, there are some downsides. Yes, the graphics and acting are kinda low for a game this recent. The story is interesting but not gripping. The side-quests are, well, side-quests. -- It's the combat that get's me. Slow reaction to commands, unresponsive, too many uninteruptible, undodgeble things. You will burn through potions like water. There are fights that will unload on you no matter how much you try to evade. The combat is pretty, fun animations, cool executions, but that's about it. I really don't think I can finish this one. I'm tired of being mad at the control.… Expand
  16. Ixoziel
    Sep 20, 2014
    6
    This game is very fun at first... you'll probably wonder why the user score is quite low. It has very few bugs, especially for being such a massive game, it has a ton of items and a ton of customization. Your choices have some impact on the story, which is nice. It's kind of like Skyrim meets Darksiders without the puzzle elements. There's tons of dialogue, and the story is interesting.This game is very fun at first... you'll probably wonder why the user score is quite low. It has very few bugs, especially for being such a massive game, it has a ton of items and a ton of customization. Your choices have some impact on the story, which is nice. It's kind of like Skyrim meets Darksiders without the puzzle elements. There's tons of dialogue, and the story is interesting. The combat is fantastic. So why am I giving this a 6? When I was about 30% finished with the game, boredom hit me like a freight train.

    This game is massive. You can easily get 150, maybe even 200 hours out of the game on your first go through. The problem isn't the breadth, it's the depth. There are very, very few enemy designs. You will see the same 6-7 enemy designs in almost every zone. They arn't even recolored. There's only so many times that I can fight "Giant Spider" and "Venomspitter" while suspending disbelief. These two in particularly are nasty offenders... they're even in the DLC zones. Going into a new zone starts to lose its novelty when you see the exact same boggarts, red legion bandits, threshes, and giant spiders as you saw in the last 5 zones. They could have at LEAST recolored them or changed some proportions.

    The zones are also fairly unimpressive. The camera is oriented towards the ground, in kind of a second-person view, so you don't see the sky much (which is a good thing because it's not visually impressive). Many zones look exactly the same. There are a few exceptions, such as the Sidhe, but you're left wondering why the 10 forest zones weren't merged into one.

    The game is extremely easy. I'm playing on hard and havn't come close to dying. I havn't felt threatened by any mob so far... if anything becomes remotely challenging, you can activate fate mode and do double damage while slowing down time.

    You can craft gear that's drastically better than anything that drops at your level. You can easily max blacksmithing and sagecrafting at level 20 and make greens that are better than the epics you find. this only makes the game even easier, although it's easy enough just using gear you find. To make matters worse, you can max out blacksmithing and sagecrafting, make what you want, then reset your talent points and put those into other things. You don't really need gold other than training, so that's never an issue.

    The talent trees have major problems. You end up having to waste points in specializations for weapons you don't even use just to advance to higher tiers. Some talents make earlier actives utterly pointless (looking at you, archer multi-shot). Why do I need to waste points in Faeblades when I just want to use daggers?

    TLDR, this game could have been a masterpiece if they had invested more time in fleshing out the individual features. It's like they had one team that did everything... they worked on creatures, got bored, worked on environment, got bored, and then released the game when they were done. Or they just hired one person to do the monsters (the diversity is THAT bad).    … Expand
  17. lazergabo
    Sep 13, 2014
    6
    soooo boring... i played like 20 hours... and still bored... weak char customization.. small skill tree,, isn't a Rpg game.. is a casual game.. is not the worst game... but still have a lot of aspects to improve... the story is fine... you are the Nobody who is the best of the best, born to be god... .. but the game is weak... the strong point is the fighting system and visual fx... butsoooo boring... i played like 20 hours... and still bored... weak char customization.. small skill tree,, isn't a Rpg game.. is a casual game.. is not the worst game... but still have a lot of aspects to improve... the story is fine... you are the Nobody who is the best of the best, born to be god... .. but the game is weak... the strong point is the fighting system and visual fx... but even that is repetitive… Expand
  18. MethosTR
    Aug 18, 2014
    7
    Perhaps the only game that has become the problem of a state's taxpayers (State of Rhode Island) due to its developers going belly up...

    Is this a sign of what lies within this game with a troubled history? Let's find out. First of all, I want to stress that this isn't a BAD game by any means. It's just not a GREAT game. The premise of the game is essentially generic fantasy trite    Perhaps the only game that has become the problem of a state's taxpayers (State of Rhode Island) due to its developers going belly up...

    Is this a sign of what lies within this game with a troubled history? Let's find out.

    First of all, I want to stress that this isn't a BAD game by any means. It's just not a GREAT game.

    The premise of the game is essentially generic fantasy trite with an interesting element added in. Due to a "quirk" in a scientific experiment, your character is no longer bound by any kind of fate. In a very fate-driven world such as Amalur, this essentially makes you a "god" among men. Very cliche, but the premise and story are functional... they serve their purpose of providing a framework for all the time you'll spend going around killing ugly things and collecting phat lewtz.

    The graphics are stylized but also dated from a technical standpoint. Heavily reminiscent of that MMO That Shall Not Be Named. Essentially nothing special here.

    The gameplay is the strong point of the game, in a weird way. The combat system is fluid and fast-paced, offering a visceral experience as you decimate hordes of foes, and the stealth system is solid in its execution. However, as far as gear goes, this game will give you a distinct feeling that you are playing an MMORPG by yourself. This is especially reflected in the game's gear progression.

    However, the class system is very solid, offering a lot of flexibility in the way you want to trick out your character.

    All in all, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an average run-of-the-mill RPG with a fun, fast paced combat system and wide assortment of MMO-cliched loot.    … Expand
  19. NOSEARCHIMI3
    Aug 15, 2014
    6
    The first thing I noticed was the camera was controlled like in WOW. The game itself was very much like Oblivion with a better combat system for swordplay, and a worse combat system for bows because I couldnt switch to first person mode. It seemed like a console game because of the autoaim for bows and magic. There was less immersion because I couldnt snipe my enemies in first personThe first thing I noticed was the camera was controlled like in WOW. The game itself was very much like Oblivion with a better combat system for swordplay, and a worse combat system for bows because I couldnt switch to first person mode. It seemed like a console game because of the autoaim for bows and magic. There was less immersion because I couldnt snipe my enemies in first person mode. The dialogue was good, because there was a mix of voices. The lockpicking was equal to oblivion but less immersive than skyrims lockpicking system. There was also a system for alchemy, forging, and lifting curses. I found myself soon overpowered when I wasnt using a sword. The game limited me to one style of play. While this gave the game an element of strategy, I wanted to use a bow, but couldnt because I put all my stats into improving swordplay (on leveling). Because I was stuck doing one style of play I got bored and quit.… Expand
  20. blade01
    Jul 31, 2014
    5
    I will not write a long review, ill keep it short.This game can easily be described as generic and lazy!Visuals are ok, sometimes great!The problem is:Everything looks the same.There are some presets(desert for example) but thats it.The world is big, too big.Its not filled with good content.Not one quest is memorable.Not one character is memorable.If you search a great story or epicness,I will not write a long review, ill keep it short.This game can easily be described as generic and lazy!Visuals are ok, sometimes great!The problem is:Everything looks the same.There are some presets(desert for example) but thats it.The world is big, too big.Its not filled with good content.Not one quest is memorable.Not one character is memorable.If you search a great story or epicness, you wont find it here.The world is static, nothing changes, ever!The crafting system is interesting at first, and far too strong.Everything youll find will be crap compared to what you can craft.Boring.All in all not worth a buy, sorry.Entertains the first hours, suckz pretty quickly after that.… Expand
  21. HenryBukowski
    Jul 30, 2014
    7
    I like this game ( I think)
    An immersive and enveloping CRPG (albeit one with the larger than life swords which swing rather too quickly) but this sums up rather well the niche the game makes for itself in terms of stylization and aesthetics. It's colourful, unique, even beautiful to look at. It looks very much like Fable, and there's no doubt that this look has divided people.    I like this game ( I think)
    An immersive and enveloping CRPG (albeit one with the larger than life swords which swing rather too quickly) but this sums up rather well the niche the game makes for itself in terms of stylization and aesthetics. It's colourful, unique, even beautiful to look at. It looks very much like Fable, and there's no doubt that this look has divided people. Personally I think that, in a market where making your game look as cartoon-like as Borderlands is a perfectly valid aesthetic to go for, it doesn't make any sense to describe the KoA graphics as 'rubbish'. It's somethinjg different for the market and that's a good thing.

    Combat is pleasing, tactile and involving. There are particular 'moves' you can pull off but you do this by way of button combinations rather than pressing a particular button, and in this regard the game differs from many RPGs. At times against lesser enemies you could argue that the combat descends into button bashing, whereby you don't need to do anything other than clicking continuously until your enemy is dead. However, when you face multiple enemies and strongly enemies who can take your hits without flinching, this criticism isn't applicable.

    The world? I know what people mean when they describe it as 'generic'. It's not different in any meaningful way, for the genre. It's very big, confusing, and I don't think the lore is communicated very coherently at all. There's too much splurged at you, and I felt that this was compounded by the size of the world, and the huge number of quests.
    As this world was a new entry for video games I strongly believed it would have benefited by being smaller, with fewer (but longer and more immersive) quests. I found myself overwhelmed after 8 hours because the world opened up like crazy, where before I'd been happy enough getting to know the characters and settlements in a smaller area.

    I could go on with more pro's and con's but in short I think it's a strong enough game which had bags of potential but in some senses feels too chaotic and confused to give you a coherent narrative. Open world is all well and good but at the end of the day its usually the main story which compels you and drives you forward, and it never quite hooked me in KoA.
    Having said this, there's lots of fun to be had here and you will experience excellent combat and discover some lovely settings. Well worth the money I bought it for.

    P.S I don't believe having the Fae all voiced by Irish actors added anything to the lore. In fact it somewhat detracted from the image of the Fae as an Arcane Race and made it all feel a bit too real for my liking.    … Expand
  22. Vaerik
    Jul 13, 2014
    6
    Entirely mediocre
    I enjoyed this game for the first 10-15 levels. At level 15 I started to get bored. Everything had an element of "sameness." The combat was the same pattern. Maybe I'd mix things up by throwing in a lightning bolt or an arrow instead of killing that monster with my sword. Maybe I'd do the QTE finishing move for extra experience. Overall, it quickly became boring, though.    Entirely mediocre
    I enjoyed this game for the first 10-15 levels. At level 15 I started to get bored. Everything had an element of "sameness." The combat was the same pattern. Maybe I'd mix things up by throwing in a lightning bolt or an arrow instead of killing that monster with my sword. Maybe I'd do the QTE finishing move for extra experience. Overall, it quickly became boring, though.

    The problem is that the world is too generic. The characters are too generic. The quests are too generic. It's all been done before and it's all been done better.

    Pros:
    Character customization: you can play how you want to play: big bruising warrior with greatsword or massive hammer. bored with that, pay some gold and become a mage who blasts through everything in its path
    Item crafting: the gear you can make yourself quickly becomes more powerful than anything you can find. not only is the crafting system kind of interesting, it is valuable
    Challenging (at first): while your gear is mediocre and your level is low, the game poses a threat to the average gamer. The problem is that this quickly fades.

    Cons:
    Repetitive: every area of the forest is like every other area of the forest. Every area of the plains is like every other area of the plains. The quests are similar, the "ambushes" are predictable, the whole thing just gets... dull.
    Long: Normally this is a pro. I love a game that is a good investment for the money, but due to the repetition, it's just... tedious.
    Awkward: The inventory system is very annoying. The "dispel" system to open magical locks is horrible. The lockpicking system quickly gets old. The quests are all the same.
    Travel: Running from place to place is horribly boring, and though fast travel is implemented, it's done in such a way as to force you to run everywhere FIRST. Great, so you go see the world. The world (after the first 20 hours or so) is BORING. Sorry.

    I really wanted to like this game. I did at first. It just became an exercise in WANTING to like it long after I'd stopped actually liking it.    … Expand
  23. CrimsonEwok
    Jul 6, 2014
    5
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a game that tries hard to imitate other games like Fable or Dragon Age, but it never really seems to find it's own identity. Like many other reviews stated it feels like an offline mmorpg but without the friends. The main quest and the side quests are often boring and are often void of any decent dialog or variety in activities(boring fetch/kill quests thatKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a game that tries hard to imitate other games like Fable or Dragon Age, but it never really seems to find it's own identity. Like many other reviews stated it feels like an offline mmorpg but without the friends. The main quest and the side quests are often boring and are often void of any decent dialog or variety in activities(boring fetch/kill quests that are all to similar) . The dialog wheel which is present in this game is largely at waste and I found myself skipping as much of the dialog as possible. So if you are expecting something deep to hold your attention this is not it. The combat is the only thing that is pretty good/decent in the game, but eventually it gets kind of repetitive without anything of interest in the world to explore(nothing feels worth raising a weapon for). This game receiving praise from reviewers is surprising it is mostly mediocre IMO. If your looking for something different maybe try Dragons Dogma instead they both came out around the same time and DD has some admirable features.… Expand
  24. Halilady
    Jun 3, 2014
    6
    The game is okay in my opinion, it's not horrible but it's also not the best game I've played. It's nowhere near Skyrim but it tries to be. There might as well not be a choice system because your choices don't really have that big on an affect on the world. The graphics are cartoonish, like Wizard101 but with a lot better graphics (same style) most of the quests involve fetching and/orThe game is okay in my opinion, it's not horrible but it's also not the best game I've played. It's nowhere near Skyrim but it tries to be. There might as well not be a choice system because your choices don't really have that big on an affect on the world. The graphics are cartoonish, like Wizard101 but with a lot better graphics (same style) most of the quests involve fetching and/or killing stuff. It's so so in my opinion, and isn't like Dragon age 1 or 2. The camera is weird, it's either zoomed in too close (you can't zoom out) or randomly switches to extra far away when enemies are approaching. There's also no method of targeting an enemy and spells hit a random enemy you are facing, which is annoying.… Expand
  25. MultiMayhem
    Apr 30, 2014
    7
    This is not a bad game, by any means, however it does not add anything new to the genre and simply seems to strive on what other games have done (and, in some cases, better). The world is your typical fluffy elves world, filled with green forests, sandy deserts,... which is inhabited by humans, elves and everything you've already read about in Lord of the Rings.

    Combat is fun, fluid,    This is not a bad game, by any means, however it does not add anything new to the genre and simply seems to strive on what other games have done (and, in some cases, better). The world is your typical fluffy elves world, filled with green forests, sandy deserts,... which is inhabited by humans, elves and everything you've already read about in Lord of the Rings.

    Combat is fun, fluid, and more hack'n slash oriented. Nevertheless I had fun playing the game. While it does not add anything new, it does deliver on its premise: a decent RPG. And that's what it is: decent, but nothing more.    … Expand
  26. azarielrdm
    Feb 21, 2014
    7
    I purchased Kingdoms of Amalur on Steam as a complete package for $11.99 which included all of the DLC and finished the main story in 53 hours. As with most games I play, I finished all the side quests I came across.

    Graphics – Great I loved the graphics in KOA. There is a strong a vivid use of color and the world is filled with detail. Animations are fluid and my PC never once    I purchased Kingdoms of Amalur on Steam as a complete package for $11.99 which included all of the DLC and finished the main story in 53 hours. As with most games I play, I finished all the side quests I came across.

    Graphics – Great
    I loved the graphics in KOA. There is a strong a vivid use of color and the world is filled with detail. Animations are fluid and my PC never once stuttered the frame rate from a constant 60 fps. The environments could have used a little more variety as by endgame you will grow tired of the same recycled assets.

    Music – Fair
    The music in KOA is well orchestrated but the songs lack depth and variety. More songs would have been a plus as a large amount of time is spent in each area before going to the next and this can have you listening to the same loop for many hours at a time.

    Cinematics – Good
    Picture the same dialogue cutscenes as KOTOR or Mass Effect. The dialogue itself is very well written but unlike the Mass Effect series, you may not find yourself delving into the various conversation options. The characters and their backgrounds just weren’t interesting enough for me. The choices during conversations also lacked the Mass Effect style feeling of autonomy. You could make good or evil choices but it never mattered much. “Quick Time” events in combat are a cool sight to see.

    Story – Good
    As RPGs go, this story is original and kept me interested enough to finish the game to see what happens. I did not grow attached to any of the side characters or find them interesting. This game is really all about you. The main villain(s) were menacing but far from the kind of evil we love to hate.

    Control – Great
    I had no issues with the controls. They are very simple and easy to learn. The UI was easy enough to use. The awkward camera may startle you at first but you quickly get used to it.

    Gameplay – Fair
    I played as a melee class so your experience may vary. Combat in the beginning is fun but quickly grows stale. All I really had to do was click mouse 1 until everything died. Even on the hard setting, combat becomes too easy as you gain better weapons and armor. You completely overpower everything and I did not die once the entire game. I also never needed any of the consumable items with the exception of a very rare healing potion.

    Content – Good
    There is plenty to do here and the game’s zones adjust to your level so you are free to do as little or as much as you want to for side quests. The loot you find is very rewarding in the beginning of the game but by the middle, I was scrapping everything I found for parts. I had over five million gold with nothing to spend it on.

    Value – Great
    For $12 I had 53 hours of fun. The game is huge and kept me playing until I finished. I did not feel inclined to play through the DLC quest lines. In my opinion, they weren’t worth it.

    Recommended – Yes
    I recommend this game for the price I paid. In my opinion, this game is worth $20 or less. It is currently $19.99 on Steam without the DLC.    … Expand
  27. SquishyEye
    Feb 9, 2014
    5
    This is a horribly overrated game, and it has no value aside from a vast world and semi-legit voice acting. If you're looking for a single player game of the same quality as a free-to-play MMORPG, then you may enjoy this, other than that - don't waste your time and money.
    Combat and movement mechanics are horrid: if you're standing on a hill - your attacks go perpendicular to your    This is a horribly overrated game, and it has no value aside from a vast world and semi-legit voice acting. If you're looking for a single player game of the same quality as a free-to-play MMORPG, then you may enjoy this, other than that - don't waste your time and money.
    Combat and movement mechanics are horrid: if you're standing on a hill - your attacks go perpendicular to your character, so if an enemy is right in front of you and you're theoretically targeting them - your projectiles go right above their heads (or into the hill at their feet, if you're below them). There doesn't appear to be a way to cancel your long-charge combo attacks, so if you see a new enemy jump out from the side of the screen while in the middle of a combo - you're screwed, forced to just sit there and helplessly watch yourself getting hit. The game is completely 2D as far as the movement plane goes, there is no jumping aside from a few designated spots (with a special animation). Smallest rocks on the ground have huge collision boxes, making you walk all the way around them instead of over them, (and i'm not exaggerating - some of those rocks are maybe 3 inches tall, it is incredibly dumb that your character constantly gets stuck on them trying to walk past.).
    Leveling-up mechanics (skill and ability trees) and inventory management are pretty much straight from Dragon Age (and i'm sure a bunch of other much older games, but Dragon Age is the first one that comes to mind), so nothing original or unique there. I'm not exactly criticizing re-using old techniques, but just emphasizing the fact that there isn't anything ground-breaking which would make up for all the bad things.
    Graphics are at a World of Warcraft level. Considering how old WoW is, i'm sure that says a lot.
    And to top it all there are game-breaking bugs that there is no way to get around, aside from reloading a much earlier save game at the beginning of a quest line and trying again (hoping the bug won't happen again). I would have even forgiven not being able to complete that particular quest and just moving on to others, but this game didn't even let me do that - i was just stuck in one place with no ability to go anywhere.
    Overall - really badly made game. A 6 out of 10 *at most*. And if it wasn't for the slightly-above-mediocre art/music/writing, i wouldn't have given it more than 4 out of 10.
    And i can't believe the critic score is 8, this is the first game I've played with a metascore score so far away from the score it actually deserves.    … Expand
  28. omegacat
    Feb 5, 2014
    6
    The leveling system and combat is pretty fun. Reminiscent of Darksiders. However, I never felt like your class goes very far to stand on its own. As a rogue, opportunities for stealth kills are few and far between, and the leveled indoor areas with their narrow hallways rarely present an opponent with a turned back, making stealth seem useless at times. Mages are difficult to keep atThe leveling system and combat is pretty fun. Reminiscent of Darksiders. However, I never felt like your class goes very far to stand on its own. As a rogue, opportunities for stealth kills are few and far between, and the leveled indoor areas with their narrow hallways rarely present an opponent with a turned back, making stealth seem useless at times. Mages are difficult to keep at optimal spellcasting range, as many enemies can close the distance very quickly, or even instantly. Hilly terrain makes line of sight a constant problem. In the end, most fights turn into a melee fest, regardless of your chosen class.

    I enjoyed the crafting system, and it was nice to be able to craft actual superior items, and not just junk. The skills are intuitive and while there are some skills that seem pretty unused, there are none that absolute necessities, and you are free to choose the ones best fit your character or playstyle.

    My biggest gripe with the game is the inventory. It is terribly organized, with no options to even organize it yourself. You'll find your inventory space slowly getting smaller until you scroll through hundreds of crafting items looking for junk that crept into your bags over time. Add a clunky interface where buttons may have different functions depending on which way you are using your inventory (crafting, buying/selling, containers)

    All in all, this is a good game, and I've enjoyed it.    … Expand
  29. Gary14
    Jan 25, 2014
    7
    This game is nothing like you think , cuz this game is the best , it started when "us" were reborn in a well of soul and we started all the way from there to the darkness's camp and base so we stared as anything we want from being a human , a "Dokklafar" ( like an elf ) , etc. And we travelled to know/learn fate , and you can be as a army , magic leader , all sort of that and please use aThis game is nothing like you think , cuz this game is the best , it started when "us" were reborn in a well of soul and we started all the way from there to the darkness's camp and base so we stared as anything we want from being a human , a "Dokklafar" ( like an elf ) , etc. And we travelled to know/learn fate , and you can be as a army , magic leader , all sort of that and please use a good gaming pc to play it
    :-)    … Expand
  30. Atsuri
    Jan 7, 2014
    5
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a so-so game, sometimes even good, but it fails miserably at trying to be something it will never be.

    Pros: - Good variety of side quests - Ability to join numerous factions and enjoy related storylines - Ease in grasping game mechanics and flexibility in changing playstyles - Intuitive combat system with an emphasis on dodging/blocking and chaining    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a so-so game, sometimes even good, but it fails miserably at trying to be something it will never be.

    Pros:
    - Good variety of side quests
    - Ability to join numerous factions and enjoy related storylines
    - Ease in grasping game mechanics and flexibility in changing playstyles
    - Intuitive combat system with an emphasis on dodging/blocking and chaining attacks

    Cons:
    - Bland, generic, uninteresting characters, which look almost like clones
    - Uneven, exaggerated voice acting
    - Disappointing, generic main plot
    - Console-specific gimmick strongly tied to the main plot (Reckoning Mode)
    - Bright WoW-ish graphics completely misaligned with the dark theme of the main plot and frequent brutal finisher animations
    - Poorly executed, generic skill tree
    - Oversimplified mechanics crafting, lockpicking, sneaking and performing stealth kills
    - Generally low difficulty even on hard mode catered more to younger, casual gamers, but conflicting with the age requirement (18+ in Europe)
    - Uneven difficulty of challenges very easy lockpicking versus extremely hard dispelling (which has a time-lag bug sometimes rendering it impossible to complete)
    - Uneven difficulty of enemies some are ridiculously easy, while others can constantly and unrealistically home-in their attacks into the player character
    - Stagger on every received blow (be it player character or enemy) leading to stun-locks on both sides
    - Lack of player character voice-over or even simple mimicry during cut-scenes and dialogs
    - Etc, etc.

    If for some reason you still want to play KoA: R, I suggest buying it at cheaper than 10 euro/dollars. For more you can simply pickup Skyrim, which is far superior with all of the available mods, at random sales. I really tried to like this game, but the number of ludicrous mistakes on the developers' part make KoA: R not worth one's time.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Best PC Game of 2012
24
#24 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
18
#18 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. PC PowerPlay
    Apr 5, 2012
    60
    Fast and flashy combat in a shallow fantasy world. For the solo MMO player only. [Apr 2012, p.62]
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  2. CPUGamer
    Mar 27, 2012
    80
    For all the things that don't work well, the exciting combat and deep world make KAR a very worthy game to play. It's a shame Electronic Arts is doing such a poor job of promoting it, as there is enough here to make the foundation of a very solid franchise.
    Read full review
  3. PC Gamer
    Mar 21, 2012
    74
    Great combat and mountains of loot can't compensate for Amalur's generic world design and familiar story. [May 2012, p.72]
    Read full review
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