Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Preview

Next in line with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s coverage is PC Gamer, which offers us a one-page preview for 38 Studios’ open-world RPG. The preview mainly covers the combat system, and the author voices some worries as to how it’ll translate to keyboard and mouse. Sampling ahead:

EA Partners Producer Ben Smith has just finished showing me a demo for upcoming action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. He was playing it on a PC, using an Xbox controller. He’s the second of Kingdom’s high-profile developers to state the game’s combat a key feature works better on a controller.

(I think that the combat really sings on the controller,) Ben states, before realising who he’s said that to, (and the team’s done a really fantastic job of getting a PC control scheme which we’ve user tested a few times now; and continue to learn new things to make it better. It’s actually pretty good.)

He carries on. (It comes very close to giving you all the things at your fingertips that you would have on a controller.) He hesitates. (It’s not. I don’t think. as good. well, I don’t know if that’s the right word. It’s not as. fluid or responsive. but it is good.)

Kingdoms of Amalur is no regular RPG. Developers Big Huge Games has broken away from traditional fantasy fighting systems, and implemented a combat style more akin to hack-and-slash titles such as Devil May Cry or God of War. (We feel that fighting and combat is really where we stand out in the genre,) explains Ben. (We don’t take our inspiration from what other RPGs are doing. Instead, we looked at action games.) A bold move, and one that may not translate so well to the mouse and keyboard.