Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Preview

We have another hands-on preview for 38 Studios and Big Huge Games’ Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, coming from the folks at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who seem to have had the chance to play the PC version of the title. Here’s a sampling:

Victorious, I emerged in the city the castle looked over. A bustling market, merchants of every description and agitated persons with exclamation points hovering above their heads vied for my attention. Finally let loose in the open world, I dutifully ignored the main quest marker and embarked on a series of small adventures, first in the city itself and then in the rolling green hills outside it. My first adventure was to crouch unseen to steal some much needed health potions from an alchemist, be caught red handed, enter into combat with the city guards who I just fought alongside with and was summarily thrown into jail. Hero of the people, that’s me.

I could have waited out my sentence in return for an XP hit, Elder Scrolls style, but because I’m not a total wimp I picked the lock of my jail cell, sneaked through the guard’s quarters, stole back my equipment and hightailed it out of there, Elder Scrolls style. Reckoning really does owe a lot to that series, but that’s unsurprising, as the lead designer of Morrowind and Oblivion, Ken Rolston, is the executive designer on Reckoning. It plays much slicker than those, however, and not just because combat is straight out of God of War the general minute-to-minute wandering feels more like Dragon Age.

That’s reflected in the quests. After speaking to a concerned citizen in the city’s hospital about groans from the basement, a spot of catacomb exploration revealed the good doctor who healed me earlier has a sideline in necromancy research. She offered to share her findings with me if I silenced the witness. I of course attacked the foul witch, she raised a catacomb’s worth of dead things, and then I died. After reloading I went and stabbed the helpless sick patient to death inside his hospital room, which turned out to be a much easier fight. Then I stole medical supplies from the wounded. Hero of the people!