Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning

Okay.... A few things to say here. I have started and stopped playing the original version of this game a few times, and then did the same with Re-Reckoning a couple more times, but got distracted every time and stopped. After talking with my son about the game recently, I decided to throw myself into it 100% and play it through. And i did. The whole base game, and it was great. I really really enjoyed it. The first DLC, Legend of Dead Kel was okay... It got really into the whole Task thing with a vengeance, but yes, I finished the main story and most of the rest of the content. Then came Teeth of Naros. That one I actually really enjoyed. So my hopes were high for Fatesworn. Understand, of course. I had deliberately NOT read any reviews on the subject. I should have read reviews. It's basically almost a game itself, or maybe a copy of one? A certain Elder Scrolls one. With gates. You know, portals? You have to close? yeah.... I got really tired of all the repetition, and today, decided I am taking a break from the game for a while. There's nothing WRONG with the DLC at all, but it does feel like a game all to itself. Maybe, after a break for a bit, I'll go back and finish it. Maybe. But for now, I say, definitely play the base game. it's still good, even after all these years. And play the DLC at your leisure, knowing that last one is basically a sequel. In other words, plan to take a break in between. :D

Jesus this game is long. Listen, I liked it a lot honestly, but this was my first thought by the end.

The short version is that this game was originally supposed to be an MMO, and it REALLY FEELS LIKE IT. Not always a bad thing, however. I liked the wandery vibe of the exploration. I really loved the way the skill trees work, with three trees to spec into and unique Fates with their own abilities for different combinations of them in addition to the single-focus ones. I want to fuck the greatsword moveset in this game. It slaps. That being said, MMOs can feel like chores, and this definitely got there a few times. Particularly in the post-game expansion where you are tasked with essentially closing 25 Oblivion gates now placed around the world. Now, this was a side quest and COULD be skipped and I ultimately really loved the insane weapon I was able to craft at the end of it, but it took like 5 hours of gameplay to do it and it had no dialogue or story of any kind during that whole time. Good thing there's podcasts.

At the end of the day, this is an upscale of a janky old RPG with a troubled development cycle. Some of us are just into that kinda shit. I'm not gonna hard recommend this to anybody any time soon, but I liked the game well enough and had a lot of fun along the way. I gay married a Winter fae witch queen, became concubine to a cocky ship captain, and was betrothed to a foreign diplomat (not to mention the implied sexual history with a world-class assassin). All of whom were women. My choices in this game somehow gave me a lesbian Conan the Barbarianesque power/adventure fantasy tale. I do have to give it praise for this. It fucking rules.

Early in my playthrough I said the game feels somewhere between Diablo 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, and I meant that in a good but flawed way. I think I was right, but I'm not gonna be able to explain why.

its like if fable and skyrim had a baby. i played it on the 360 when it first came out and have repurchased it again and again. switch, steam, playstation. its legit my favourite game ever. its graphics are charming and surprisingly well done for its release date. the scenery is stunning. charming characters. good weapon and magic systems. mix and match for combat styles. i honestly think the only reason its not a more well known game is because it released at the same time as skyrim and got buried by it and unlike skyrim it didnt get relesed 1000 times to stay relevant. if you like skyrim or fable give it a go, i doubt youll regret it.

Ellen was right.
Good game. Very similar to Reckoning, but the visual clarity and DLC make this the better purchase.
Everyone needs to play this, if only to hear the horrible attempts at Scottish and Ainmhi the wolf-man.

This review is based on 100% completion and 89.5 hours of gameplay.
Recommendation:
Would I recommend this game? Absolutely. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable old-school RPG. Sure, it has its faults and you can definitely feel its age, but the classic experience it delivers more than makes up for that. The pros definitely outweigh the cons here. If you’ve enjoyed classic RPGs like Dragon Age, KOTOR, Fallout, or Oblivion, there’s a very good chance you’ll enjoy your time with this game too.
The game is massive — the base game map is huge, and each bit of additional content adds even more areas to explore. There are heaps of quests and tasks that’ll keep you busy. While they mostly fall into familiar categories like exploring, killing, and collecting, each quest is done in a way that keeps things feeling pretty fresh and engaging. There's also a mountain of lore to dig into if you're into that sort of thing — and even if you're not, the gameplay on its own still holds up quite well.
Gameplay-wise, I found it enjoyable overall. It’s definitely a bit clunky and sometimes unintuitive, but it’s generally solid. All the mechanics feel like they’re from the era the game originally came out in, so it can feel dated, but it’s still fun. You’ve got a decent range of weapons, skills, and abilities that let you play your own way. The game loosely follows the classic RPG archetypes of warrior, mage, or rogue — but you’re free to mix and match however you like. There’s loads of gear with different stats and bonuses that add even more room for customisation. You can also respec if you want to try something different, just keep in mind that it gets more expensive each time — though gold is pretty plentiful, so it’s not too much of a problem.
The story is really well done. I genuinely enjoyed it — from the main questline in the base game through to the side quests and all the DLC content. It’s all interesting and well-written, and there’s a ton to sink your teeth into. The sound design and music are also solid — I only had a couple of small issues, like the music cutting out abruptly every now and then, but nothing major. Overall, the narrative and audio are both handled really well.
Visually, the game is definitely on the more dated side — even with it being a remaster. That said, it still looks decent for what it is. The armour, environments, and enemy designs are all nicely done — just don’t expect anything mind-blowing. It looks good, but in a retro way.
Now, onto the bugs — and yes, there are quite a few. Some are minor, but others can be more serious, like ones that lock you out of quests or require you to reload an earlier save. Personally, I followed a guide that pointed out some of the known bugs as I went, and I only ran into one major issue where I got stuck behind a door after a cutscene I wasn’t meant to be near. To be safe, I’d definitely recommend saving often — especially before starting quests. That way, you’ve got a backup if something goes wrong. But again, in nearly 90 hours of gameplay, I only had one real issue, so it's not unplayable by any means.
All in all, this is a solid pick if you’re looking for an RPG with that classic old-school feel. There’s a tonne of content to get through and, for the most part, it’s really well made. I think the base game is worth its price, but I’d definitely recommend picking up the Fatesworn DLC too — so the bundle is your best bet. And since it’s an older title, it does go on sale quite often, so if you can, I’d say wait for a good discount and grab it then.
Achievements:
You’ll need the DLC for 100% completion. There are some missable achievements and a few bugs that can prevent certain ones from unlocking, so I’d definitely recommend following a guide.
There’s a fantastic guide by “Allgorhythm” on TrueAchievements that I followed and would highly recommend if you’re aiming for full completion. It walks you through everything in a really straightforward way and helps you avoid potential pitfalls with bugged achievements. You can check that guide out here.
Most of the achievements are tied to story progression, completing quests, hitting certain milestones, or playing on specific difficulty settings. There are also some tied to finding all the lore stones, completing faction questlines, and making certain choices in the game — so it’s definitely worth reading ahead a little if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything.
There are also a handful of achievements related to gameplay mechanics, like using specific abilities, crafting, or reaching high skill levels in certain trees. A few of these can be a bit grindy, especially near the end, so again — having a guide to help plan things out really makes the whole process a lot smoother.
The Fatesworn DLC adds its own set of achievements, which follow a similar pattern — story progression, collecting new items, and completing the new content. These are fairly straightforward if you’re already committed to going for 100%, and they blend well into the base game’s systems.
One thing to keep in mind: due to the bugs I mentioned earlier, there’s a small chance that some achievements might not trigger properly even if you’ve met the requirements. This isn’t super common, but it’s still frustrating when it happens. Making regular manual saves and backing them up can really help avoid losing progress or needing to replay long sections.
All in all, if you're into achievement hunting, this is a fairly easy completion — not super difficult, but it does require some time, planning, and a bit of patience. The guide mentioned above makes the whole thing much more doable, especially if you want to get it all done in a single playthrough.
For more in-depth yet straight-to-the-point reviews, feel free to check out my curator page here.

There is a lot to like about Kingdoms of Amalur, and it seems tailor-made for me. I love side quests in games. I'd rather engage with the core mechanics and complete tasks than sit through cutscenes and fight unique gimmick encounters like a lot of main story missions tend to be. This game has a ton of side quests, and they're good too. Not just pieces of paper on a notice board to go kill boars, but with their own stories and characters.
The graphics are extremely nostalgic in a way that evokes the best memories of the 360 era. Memories is the operative word here, because this game (the remaster on PC) looks the way you think 360 games looked. The well-aged semi cartoonish art style and the vibrant colors are here. The terrible frame rate, draw distance, load times, blurry textures etc. are not.
The amount of voiced dialogue is impressive, and it's utilized well. You can ask NPCs a lot of questions, and the important thing to note is that the game is not overwritten. Answers are usually only a few sentences in length so I actually end up listening to all of it instead of skipping to the point. Unlike a lot of games, when you complete missions people react to the changes you've caused in the world. Not just the quest giver with one line of thank you, but everyone in town. And when you return days later, they'll have new comments on how their lives have been since your last visit. If you've met new people or gone to new places, you can ask characters you've met before about that. It feels very natural, is incredibly immersive and makes completing quests feel worthwhile.
The UI is one of the best controller-centric RPG UIs I've seen. It flows very smoothly from one menu to the next, with smart QoL decisions to minimize unnecessary button presses and time spent in the menus, so you can manage tons of loot and quests without it taking up too much time to bother.
However there is a big problem: the combat. It's so unfortunately dull and repetitive, at least on a melee character. I might've done myself a disservice by playing on Hard, which seems to make the enemies tankier and hit harder. But it's not difficult either and I haven't died since the very early game, so I wouldn't want to make the game easier still. Even with a suite of abilities unlocked you end up mainly standing in place mashing the attack or ability keys and spamming mana potions while waiting for the enemy HP bars to slowly go down. It's pretty easy to stunlock enemies and even if they manage to attack it's coreographed 2 seconds in advance so failing to roll in time would require taking your hands of the controller.
I know it's cliche to bring up Dark Souls when discussing games not even that similar to Dark Souls, but I really feel like the past 15 years of Souls-likes have redefined what passable combat is in a third-person action RPG. Even stock standard AAA slop now has decently fun action combat. I guess that wasn't the case when the original Kingdoms of Amalur came out and I haven't read any old reviews, but according to Wikipedia this game was "praised by critics for its combat design" which baffles me. Maybe this was acceptable in 2012. It's not in 2025.
It's a game I would love to play all the way through for the world and the atmosphere, but actually playing it for more than a few hours feels like is a chore. I might come back to it from time to time on the Deck, on which it performs very well at 90fps on max settings, with the occasional stutter spike when loading new regions of the overworld.
PS. Remember to save any time you find a good item. The game autosaves when you enter new areas, but the overworld and dungeons can be huge and saving inside them sporadic. The game seems to re-roll items in chests when entering new areas (note: the autosave is placed BEFORE exiting the old area) and when killing enemies, so keep that in mind.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a remastered return to one of the most underrated RPGs of the early 2010s, a game that combines rich world-building, deep lore, and dynamic combat in a way that few Western RPGs dared at the time. Originally released in 2012 and developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, the game had the unfortunate fate of being overshadowed by financial controversy. However, with THQ Nordic’s 2020 remaster, the game has been given a second life on modern platforms, including Steam, where it still holds up as a sprawling, rewarding action RPG with unique strengths and persistent flaws.
The most immediate aspect that sets Kingdoms of Amalur apart is its world and lore, created in part by famed fantasy author R.A. Salvatore. The Faelands, the main setting of the game, are a tapestry of high fantasy tropes infused with original twists—immortal fae, cyclical destinies, warring factions, and a protagonist who exists outside of fate. This central premise—that your character is “Fateless” and can choose any destiny, unlike the rest of the world bound to predetermined paths—serves both as narrative foundation and gameplay mechanic. It allows for a flexible class system that encourages experimentation and rewards hybrid builds, whether you favor brute strength, arcane finesse, stealthy tactics, or any combination of the three.
Where Re-Reckoning truly excels is in its combat system, which remains one of the most fluid and satisfying in the genre. Unlike many contemporaries with clunky or turn-based fighting, Amalur’s combat is real-time, fast-paced, and responsive. Each weapon type has distinct combos, animations, and timing, and the inclusion of dodge-rolls, parries, and special Reckoning attacks creates a rhythm more reminiscent of action games than traditional RPGs. The remaster doesn’t overhaul the combat significantly, but it tightens performance and smooths out frame rates, making battles more enjoyable and visually coherent than in the original.
Graphically, the remaster is a mixed bag. While the art direction—a colorful, almost painterly style reminiscent of World of Warcraft—still holds up, the textures and character models feel dated despite the HD facelift. Lighting has been improved slightly, and there are modest enhancements to shadows and environmental detail, but it's clear that this is not a remake, merely a cleaner version of a game that’s now over a decade old. That said, the vibrancy of the world helps mask some of the aging visuals, and many areas, like the luminous forests of Dalentarth or the desolate plains of Detyre, remain visually striking thanks to smart environmental design.
The game’s content is impressively vast. With dozens of hours of quests, crafting systems, faction storylines, and loot hunting, Re-Reckoning is easily a 50+ hour game for those who dive in. However, this volume can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword. The side quests are numerous, but many are repetitive or generic fetch-and-kill tasks that blend together without the narrative richness seen in more curated RPGs like The Witcher 3 or Dragon Age: Origins. Still, the faction storylines—particularly those of the House of Ballads and the Warsworn—are often standout arcs that offer meaningful choices and interesting lore.
One of the improvements in Re-Reckoning lies in the revamped difficulty balancing and loot progression, which addresses some complaints from the original version where players could become too overpowered too quickly. The remaster includes a new “Very Hard” mode and adjusted enemy scaling to keep the challenge more consistent. Unfortunately, the game still lacks certain quality-of-life features common in modern RPGs—limited inventory space remains a nuisance, and the user interface, while serviceable, feels clunky and dated.
The audio design remains effective, if unremarkable. Voice acting ranges from solid to stiff, with some standout performances buried among flatter deliveries. The soundtrack, composed by Grant Kirkhope, adds grandeur and emotional texture to the world, especially during faction quests and boss battles. The ambient sounds of the world help anchor the fantasy setting, even if some towns and interiors lack the ambient life you might expect from an open-world RPG of this size.
Ultimately, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning succeeds as both a nostalgic return for fans and an intriguing discovery for new players. It may not have undergone the dramatic transformation that some remasters receive, but the underlying quality of the original game still shines through. With its fast, enjoyable combat, flexible class system, and rich lore, it's a compelling experience for anyone hungry for a meaty single-player RPG. However, its dated visuals, repetitive quests, and uneven pacing may deter players looking for a more modern or streamlined experience. Still, for those who can embrace its old-school charm and dig into its depth, Amalur remains a world well worth exploring.
Rating: 8/10