Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single-player action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Ken Rolston acts as the game's executive designer, R. A. Salvatore created the game universe and lore, with Todd McFarlane working on the artwork, and Grant Kirkhope creating the musical score. It was developed by 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. The game was released on February 7, 2012 in North America and on February 9, 2012 in Europe. The first public demonstration was at the Penny Arcade Expo East 2011 on March 11, 2011.
==Gameplay==
Kingdoms of Amalur features "5 distinct regions... 4 playable races, and 3 class trees with 22 abilities per tree." The four playable races are the Almain (civilized Humans), the Dokkalfar (Dark Elves), the Ljosalfar (Light Elves), and the Varani (nomadic Humans). The player starts off as a "blank slate", but can afterwards choose a class among the three available in the game, which are called Might, Finesse, and Sorcery; they correspond to the fighter, rogue, and mage classes respectively. The player can invest in a skill-tree system to unlock various "destinies", which act as the class system for the game. Combat is based on the timing of button presses, similar to an action RPG, with occasional quick time cutscenes like those in the God of War series. The combat includes a new rage system known as fate which allows players to enter a berserker state called "Reckoning Mode" to quickly dispatch a number of enemies, earning an experience bonus. The player can also "Fateshift" a single enemy during this state which will allow them to perform a brutal finisher following the rapid pressing of a random button, this will also dispatch all other enemies weakened during this time. The player has the ability to interact with all NPC's and most items of the environment including swimming. Lead combat designer Joe Quadara emphasized that "twitch skill is only going to get you so far. Strategy and proper RPG playing is going to get you farther." 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling said that the style of the game would be a marriage between God of War and Oblivion.
==Plot==
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning follows the story of a mortal known as the "Fateless One", who having died before the game's outset, is revived in the experimental Well of Souls by the gnomish scientist Fomorous Hugues. The first and only succcess of the experiment, the Fateless One must escape the facility when it comes under attack by the Tuatha Deohn, a subsect of the immortal Winter Fae, who are currently waging a "Crystal War" on all the mortal races in the name of their new god "Tirnoch". Having escaped the facility, the Fateless One - having no memory of his life before his death - learns of the intriacies of the world he has returned to by the Fateweaver Agarth; Agarth explains that every individual in the world of Amalur has a predetermined fate and that Fateweavers' like Agarth are able to read this fate, predicting the circumstances surrounding the eventual death. Having been fated to die (and fulfilling that fate), the Fateless One's return from the death has taken them out of "Fate's weave"; their's is the only life in the world without a predetermined end.
Beginning a quest to uncover the truth surrounding his death, the Fateless One soon learns that by interacting with the wider world, the fate of others can be changed as well, saving Agarth from his fated, "lonely" death at the hands of a native creature; earning the personal attention of the King of the Tuatha Deohn, Gadflow. It is eventually decided that the only way the Fateless One can uncover the truth of his death is by locating the scientist who revived him, Fomorous Hugues, who went into hiding following the Tuatha attack on his labratory.
Meeting with Hugues patron, a gnomish Templar named Ligotti Octienne, the Fateless One is directed to a former laboratory as his, deep inside the gnosmish territories of Detyre, where the two are subsequently ambushed by assassins sent by Octienne. Surviving the ambush, the two make plans to publically reveal Octienne's betrayal and, in hand, prise the location of another gnomish scientist, Ventrinio, who Hugues believes might know the details surrounding the Fateless One's death.
Travelling to the gnomish city of Adessa, the Fateless One confronts Octienne and forces his true allegiance into the public, learning that Ventrinio was previously spirited away by him to the region of Klurikon, deep behind Tuatha Deohn lines. In order to reach him, the Fateless One is directed to the Alfar city of Rathir, and then on to Mel Senshir, the besieged Alfar city in Klurikon and the centre of the Crystal War. Once again defying the dictates of Fate, the arrival of the Fateless One and his allies breaks the siege and turns the tide of the war in favour of the Alfar, earning him the moniker of 'Siege-Breaker'. Together with Alyn Shir, an Alfar who admits to knowing the Fateless One in his previous life, and Cydon, one of the few immortal Winter Fae unaffiliated with the Tuatha Deohn; the Siege-Breaker locates and confronts Ventrinio, who reveals that they had previously entered Alabastra, the centre of Gadflow's empire, in an attempt to collect the valuable prismere crystals which not only powered both Fomorous' and Ventrinio's own respective Well of Souls', but guide the Tuatha armies.
Determined to return to Alabastra, the Fateless One and his allies, Agarth, Alyn Shir, Cydon and Ventrinio help spearhead the Alfar counter-attack through Klurikon and into Alabastra. Splitting up, each made their way into the heart of Gadflow's kingdom, with the Fateless One eventually happening upon Alyn Shir and a now-dead Ventrinio; Alyn Shir reveals the truth behind the Fateless One's death, and it's connection to Tirnoch, the new Tuatha "god".
She reveals that both the Fateless One and herself are members of a non-descript organisation dedicated to protecting the secret of Tirnoch's existence from the wider world, silencing any who might learn of her existence and ensuring her imprisonment not be breached. It was Tirnoch, a dragon (creatures with the power to rival that of Amalur's gods) who, having seen the previous determination of the Fateless One to ensure her secret be kept, despite knowing he was fated to fail and die, helped revive him through Fomorous Hughes Well of Souls, freeing him of the dictates of Fate which would always prevent her from eventually escaping.
Deep beneath the Bhaile, capital of the Tuatha Deohn and former home to the Winter Fae the Fateless One fought Tirnoch and managed to ensure her imprisonment once again. He awakes several days later in the city of Rathir and learns from Agarth that Alyn Shir had rescued him from the rubble of Bhaile, before disappearing; Agarth also reveals that following the battle, many Alfar soldiers had aproached him for readings, but that he had been unable to provide, indicating that all were now free of the dictates of Fate.
===Setting===
Reckoning is set in the Faelands, one of the Kingdoms of Amalur and home to the immortal Fae of the Summer and Winter Courts. The Faelands are divided into a number of separate regions; the forests of Dalentarth, the Plains of Erathell, the canyon territories of Detyre, the marshes of Klurikon and the crystal kingdom of Alabastra. Throughout the Faelands exists settlements belonging the the mortal races; the human Almain and Varani, the Ljosalfar and Dokkalfar; light and dark Alfar (elves) respectively, and the gnomes. It is these mortal races that the Gadflow's Tuatha Deohn - corrupted Winter Fae - seek to exterminate in their "Crystal War", not only in the Faelands but in the neighbouring kingdoms as well.
Before the arrival of the Fateless One, it was well known that the Tuatha Deohn were fated to win their war against the mortal races.
===Characters===
*The Fateless One - a mortal fated to die in the Bhaile, capital of the Tuatha Deohn, but is returned from the death to exist outside of Fate's weave,which also grants him the ability to change the fate of others.
*Alyn Shir - a Dokkalfar and former associate of the Fateless One before his death. She intitally refuses to reveal the truth behind the Fateless One's death, for fear that the secret of Tirnoch became known throughout Amalur.
*Agarth - a Fateweaver and associate of Fomorous Hugues; after escaping his fated death whilst in the company of the Fateless One, Agarth aids his new ally in his quest to uncover the truth.
*Fomorous Hugues - a gnomish scientist and overseer of the Well of Souls experiment, which seeks to replicate the process of continual rebirth experienced by the Fae.
*Gadflow - a Winter Fae and king of the Tuatha Deohn, loyal subject of Tirnoch and instigator of the Crystal War.
*Tirnoch - a dragon of immense power with the ability to defy Fate and the subject of Tuatha worship.
==Development==
38 Studios, owned by former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, originally began developing the Amalur universe for use in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), codenamed Copernicus. After acquiring Big Huge Games in 2009, the studio decided to transform the project into a single-player role-playing game (RPG), as Ken Rolston and his team had already been working on an RPG while Big Huge Games was part of THQ. Currently, there are still plans to expand the Amalur universe into an MMORPG after the release of Reckoning.
==Marketing==
A playable demo was released on January 17, 2012 for Windows (Steam and Origin only), Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Playing the demo unlocks special items for use in the full version of the game as well as in Mass Effect 3. The demo quickly garnered attention for being, according to Curt Schilling "way more buggy than anything anyone should ever release", with wide-ranging glitches affecting even the simplest gameplay.
On February 7, 2012 netcaster Sean "Day9" Plott held a day long streaming event called "Day of Reckoning" where prominent netcasters from the gaming community would share livestreams of the game on the Online Video Platform TwitchTV. Studio 38 promoted the event by offering free game keys for netcasters to give out throughout the day and organised raffles via polls from their official website. Sean Plott was joined by Felicia Day early in the day and had live interviews with R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane, Ken Rolston and Curt Schilling as the event progressed.
==Downloadable Content==
===The Legend of Dead Kel===
On March 20, 2012 Electronic Arts released downloadable content as a companion to the game, with exclusive features. The additional game content, entitled The Legend of Dead Kel, gives players access to a new continent called Gallows End, adding over 15% more landscape to the game, with new quests and side quests. There are also a number of new enemies, a new dungeon type called Dverga Fastings, and dozens of new items. The add-on also opens up what EA is calling “the ultimate player housing.” Instead of players using a small hut to store their belongings, they are offered a large estate with several buildings and many servants who have their own side quests.
===Teeth of Naros===
Additional downloadable content entitled Teeth of Naros has been announced for an April 17, 2012 release. The new content focuses on a new race of beings called the Kollossae, a new region called the Teeth of Naros as well as the floating city of Idylla.
==Reception==
The few reviews published before the release of the game were positive: IGN gave it a 9 out of 10, praising its customizable gameplay, gorgeous environments, and engrossing story, while criticizing the game for some minor technical issues. Official Xbox Magazine awarded the game 8.5 out of 10 and said "it's a great RPG nonetheless." Gamespot gave it a 7.5, praising the gameplay and visuals, but felt it was too generic. Xplay's Adam Sessler gave the game a 2.5 out of five stating it had bugs and the landscape wasn't crafted well.
After release, reviews were generally good but polarized with a large difference between highest scores and lowest scores. Gametrailers gave it an 8.3 out of 10. Joystiq gave the game a perfect score of 5/5, praising everything the game had to offer. Edge gave it 6 out of 10, and felt that the game did not reinvent anything, and had several issues, writing that "Reckoning’s appeal soon wanes" and that "Reckoning never quite balances accessibility with the depth expected from an RPG either". Digital Trends felt that the game did not reinvent anything, and had several issues, but liked the combat system.
On March 10, 2012, it was projected by NPD that the game sold over 330,000 physical copies in the US.
==Online Pass==
An article on Destructoid spurred an online controversy when it revealed on January 27, 2012 that the game includes an online pass which contains seven single-player quests. Fans of pre-owned games became outraged of this decision, but 38 Studios boss Curt Schilling defended Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's online pass on the game's forum website saying the Day 1 DLC was to be free for buyers of a new copy of the game, "promoting early adopters".
==Links==
*Official website
*38 Studios official site
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