Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

 Switch
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 27 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 4 out of 27
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  1. aleqhz
    Mar 20, 2021
    8
    Excellent game. Plays very similarly to the PC version, runs at 30FPS, very few FPS drops which are -for me at least- not very noticeable or bothering for a switch-port.
    About the game itself, great fantasy setting, awesome soundtrack and the battle system is fun.
  2. Shantum
    Mar 22, 2021
    2
    I would love to give thus game a high score because I was absolutely loving it for about 16 hours... until a Faction quest repeatedly caused the game to crash... and then the story questioned broke in the same way, making it impossible to combine. I tried going back to earlier saves before those quests but got the same. Results. Patch the game!
  3. DizavidHZ
    Mar 29, 2021
    0
    How on Earth are people able to rate this game so highly? Not because it's bad, as it's actually quite good; I always felt KoA didn't get its fair shake. No, I'm curious how people are rating the Nintendo Switch version as anything but a zero, let alone 8, 9, and 10s, as the game is hopelessly bugged and broken.

    First off, a faction quest began dropping more crashes than it was loot.    How on Earth are people able to rate this game so highly? Not because it's bad, as it's actually quite good; I always felt KoA didn't get its fair shake. No, I'm curious how people are rating the Nintendo Switch version as anything but a zero, let alone 8, 9, and 10s, as the game is hopelessly bugged and broken.

    First off, a faction quest began dropping more crashes than it was loot. Specifically, certain dialogue breaks the game, as once you find a dialogue option that causes a crash, it always will, at the exact same time, on the exact same syllable spoken at the time. Then the final boss for that faction decided she stood no chance against me, and crashed the game anytime I try initiating the final dialogue she gives before her fight. You can't even skip through it; the crash comes almost immediately. This was highly aggravating, but it was a faction ie side quest. Plenty of more unbugged game to play.

    Then I decided to give a codex to an elven king. This is FAIRLY early in the main story. An entire cutscenes triggers, and crashes in the first spoken sentence. Again, it will crash at the EXACT same moment. In case you missed the key words MAIN STORY, let me reiterate that. This is the main story. The cutscene has a long, silent beginning so you CAN skip this one, at least. However I consider that even less of a fix than skipping the previous incident: at least that was something option. This is, ONE MORE TIME, main quest, ie they absolutely did not do any form of QA on this as it's kind of impossible to miss and it happens early in the main story. Or, much more likely, QA testers discovered it but were ignored bc quality is fine and dandy but ship dates pay bills.

    In all seriousness I have to assume other, more positive reviewers are just fans of the game as a whole and were optimistically showing it some love, as I cannot convince myself this is a rare, isolated case. I've found two other dialogue sections the crash happens on. That's just too many and too virulent to be rare. I do love this game and I hope the rereleases help give it the boost I always thought it deserved.

    However, as of the current date (3/29/2021), do NOT buy the Switch port. Not only is it basically unplayable outside of watching skipped scenes on Youtube as if you're playing off a scratched PS1 disc, but it's VERY obvious quality was either low on the list of goals or missing entirely. Buy another version, or better: Wait if you can. Make them actually bother to fix their mess before you pay them for the clean floors.    … Expand
  4. Grimmush
    Apr 9, 2021
    2
    Terrible port. 40 euros and the game is a mess in terms of stability. Constant crashes on some quests, known from the previous version, with the most mind numbing workarounds/reason -- dialog lines or inventory items, or equipment.

    On one occasion, to get passed one crash I had to go and purchase a low level suit of armour (Iron armour) and equip that to be able to avoid a dialog    Terrible port. 40 euros and the game is a mess in terms of stability. Constant crashes on some quests, known from the previous version, with the most mind numbing workarounds/reason -- dialog lines or inventory items, or equipment.

    On one occasion, to get passed one crash I had to go and purchase a low level suit of armour (Iron armour) and equip that to be able to avoid a dialog crash...

    On top of that, 0 improvement from the previous version released in 2012; same horrible menus/UI, bland combat, terrible inventory system, low quality audio (you need to play this on almos max volume to hear the dialogue/sounds). The Reddit page of this is full of people having the exact same crashes -- so these aren't even isolated cases -- how the hell this thing got through testing I have no idea!

    Seriously, this got released for almost full price (40$/euros), for the exact same game released ~10 years ago, with the exact same issues.

    Same issues with the other ports by THQ Nordic... (Darksiders 2 was another buggy mess with constant crashes).

    Never buying another THQ Nordic game again!
    Avoid like the plague -- not just this one but all THQ Nording ports... maybe try it when it's under 20$, but definitely NOT worth 40$.    … Expand
  5. Joes
    Mar 18, 2021
    10
    Es un excelente juego tiene mucha duración y buen sistema de batalla recomendación
  6. JRice
    Dec 5, 2021
    6
    The game starts strong, with beautiful graphics, an interesting story, intuitive questing and variable character builds.
    After some hours it becomes clear though, that Amalur is fundamentally flawed:
    The world is lifeless and sterile, the battle system is repetitive, and the character developement doesnt feel interesting... It still is a decent game, but overshaded by the great RPGs    The game starts strong, with beautiful graphics, an interesting story, intuitive questing and variable character builds.
    After some hours it becomes clear though, that Amalur is fundamentally flawed:
    The world is lifeless and sterile, the battle system is repetitive, and the character developement doesnt feel interesting...

    It still is a decent game, but overshaded by the great RPGs of recent times...    … Expand
  7. Hadonis
    Apr 21, 2021
    9
    WIth latest patch this is a good port of one of the greatest A-RPG. Battle system is intresting and uniqe for the genre. Quests are well written and the plot is quite interesting.
  8. Bnois
    Apr 15, 2021
    7
    Full of magic and dialogs, the game is the fantasy RPG I was dreaming about as a kid.
    But the amount of bugs is... overwhelming
  9. nortoons
    Mar 17, 2022
    9
    This is a very well-done, engrossing game that really scratched a certain itch for me. First off, playing the Switch version, I rarely encountered any crashes or serious bugs, so either those issues have been patched, or I got very lucky. But, I put around 120 hours into this game and I believe it crashed only twice. It auto-saves regularly so I was able to get back on track very quickly.This is a very well-done, engrossing game that really scratched a certain itch for me. First off, playing the Switch version, I rarely encountered any crashes or serious bugs, so either those issues have been patched, or I got very lucky. But, I put around 120 hours into this game and I believe it crashed only twice. It auto-saves regularly so I was able to get back on track very quickly.

    What spurred me to buy this game in the first place was my desire to find a single-player game that was similar to World of Warcraft. For me, this game was it. The combat isn't really like WoW, but there are a lot of similarities in other aspects of the game. Blacksmithing, alchemy, lockpicking, questing, melee & caster classes...there's plenty to go around. It's always fun to level up and choose new skills and abilities to make your character stronger.

    The story is top-notch, although it doesn't really break any new ground in the world of high fantasy. You pretty much know what to expect: Elves, dwarf-like gnomes, forest fae, gigantic swords and hammers, staves with magical powers, and a powerful, menacingly evil foe commanding a giant army bent on destroying all that is good in the world. If you're in to that kind of setting, you will surely dig this game.

    There's loot stashed in every nook and cranny on the map. Half the fun of this game is exploring and finding treasure. Sometimes the treasure isn't much, and sometimes it's an epic new piece of gear. I do really wish there was some sort of transmog system, though, because once you get the best gear in the game, you're stuck with the way it looks whether you like it or not. However, one thing you're not stuck with is what class of character you'd like to play. It's easy and relatively cheap to respec your character from say, a stealthy, back-stabbing rogue to a sword-wielding warrior armed to the teeth. Or, perhaps you'd like to try out the caster class and see what it feels like to deal magical damage from afar. Disappointed that you put so many points into alchemy, when it feels like blacksmithing or sagecraft would be more useful? No problem. Visit a fateweaver, pay some gold, and try something new.

    I personally don't mind the graphics, but some people may feel a bit put-off by the now-outdated look of the characters and scenery. The music is great and timeless, though. I suppose I wish there was a little more variety in the enemies and NPCs you encounter; there isn't much difference no matter where you go. NPCs are either elves, gnomes, humans, or a sort of human/elven fae, and aside from the short stature of the gnomes, they are all pretty similar. You're going to encounter wolves early in the game, and you're going to encounter wolves late in the game. The giant, hulking trolls are eventually replaced by giant, hulking two-headed Ettin, who are eventually replaced by giant, hulking demonic monsters. Ultimately, they are still big, single-minded enemies who behave about the same way and require about the same strategy. I didn't mind it too much, but some more variety would have only made it better.

    All in all, I had a great time with this game, and it was a fantastic value for the money, as I managed to find it on sale for only $15. Honestly, even if I had paid full price I would still feel like I got my money's worth. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves high fantasy, or action RPGs in general, especially if you're looking to scratch the itch of a WoW-like offline, single-player game.    … Expand
  10. mtkf
    Oct 30, 2021
    8
    Not as good as Skyrim or the Witcher, but def scratches that hack and slash RPG itch. It's an old port, but I never played it when it came out and bought it on a whim and have already sank over 24 hours into it.
  11. Vinzkill
    Jun 10, 2022
    10
    This game deserves more appreciation. I still find the graphics impressive even though its a remaster of an old game. Gameplay is nice. Rpg element is nice. Will update if I encounter bugs and crashes that the others are talking about. But for me so far so good.
  12. Ripper36
    Jul 13, 2021
    9
    I have to say after almost 100 hours playing this game i must say "bravo" Yea it was not a huge upgrade like other remakes but i enjoyed this port on the Switch alot. Fun game!
  13. Truegamecritic
    Dec 14, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't praise this game enough. This is a fantastic open-world RPG with great graphics, amazing colors, and fun story. Being new to Kingdoms of Amalur Reconing and Re-Reconing , I have no frame of reference when it comes to the playability on other consoles. But this game stays true to classic RPG fashion and gives the player control over difficulty, camera angle, and other settings to create a good experience for everyone.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Shindig
    May 27, 2021
    70
    How much you get out of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is really going to depend on what you expect from it. It’s a familiar fantasy action RPG, but comforting in that familiarity and easy to just lose yourself in. It may have been overshadowed by the games that have followed in its footsteps in the decade since Reckoning first came out, and Open World: The Game has well overstayed its welcome by now, but Kingdoms of Amalur finds the right balance of simple fun and routine yet satisfying RPG loops to make that format work, even today.
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  2. Starbit
    Apr 25, 2021
    80
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning brings back to our day a marvelous RPG but instead of remaking it, this remaster adds some improvements to the original formula, rather than trying to rejuvenate its appearance. The result, which includes all the original game's extra content, is an effort whose gameplay experience fits perfectly today, and whose frantic combat and vast world to explore will captivate both the players who know the original and those discovering it now.
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  3. Switch Player
    Mar 25, 2021
    60
    Despite being labeled a remaster, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning shows signs of its age and rocky development history. It has enough qualities to appeal to fans of western RPGs, but only if you’ve already played the better options available.
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