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There is an elegance in simplicity, sometimes there’s no need to get a gourmet meal when a good old fashioned Hamburger will be just as good, if not more satisfying. Kingdoms Of Amalur is a fantastic example of a game that doesn’t try anything new but absolutely nails its fundamentals. While it doesn’t reinvent the formula, it’s fantastic combat, interesting lore and solid RPG mechanics means it’s an incredibly easy game to get into and a very comfortable experience for anyone who is after a solid RPG experience.
Interestingly, the story starts with your own death, the opening cutscene is your character being dumped into a mass grave along with all the other corpses. You are revived as ‘The Fateless One’, free from the shackles of fate, which in the world of Amalur is an actual tangible force that dictates the futures of everyone, you are released into the world to be its saviour.
Waking up in a pile of dead bodies is probably the darkest the tone of Amalur gets, the world is very much a Noble Bright one and its clear from the very beginning that you are destined to save the world; the villain is an evil, bald, red-eyed, pale elf who wears full black metal plate, and uses necromancy, he also has a goatee. He is a walking cliche, but this game sets out to reinforces the fantasy tropes that we know and love, instead subverting them, it’s refreshing in a world where subversion of expectations is fashionable, it’s a welcome sight to see a game that commits to drawing upon its fantasy roots instead of denying them.
The story is a bit cliche, but that doesn't mean it isn’t written well, the story takes you on a classic hero arc with all the usual routines. Show up at small village, solve all their problems and move onto the next one, you will pick up an insane amount of side quests along the way, which is by no means a bad thing, there is plenty of content, however a few of the side quests do verge into fetching territory, but on the whole they have good enough variety to keep you wanting more. The world itself looks and sounds great, bright colours backed by a mystical soundtrack do a good job of transporting you into a magical fantasy land, and the lore is amazingly done, by fantasy author R.A Salvatore, Amalur is an amazing place to get lost in.
The cliches go beyond the setting and are reflected in the game itself, there are three skills trees: Strength, Finesse and Magic. Each tree has plenty of skills to choose from and building a character is satisfying, this game isn’t a punishing one, so you’re encouraged to experiment; suboptimal builds will not hold you back (however the remaster has included a new ‘very hard’ mode for those who enjoy more souls-like gameplay). There is also a cheap respec available if you want to reroll your characters.
Using these skills in battle is an absolute blast, the combat in this game punches well above its weight; the animations are smooth, and there are plenty of weapons to choose from. The way it works is similar to the older God Of War games, you will be dodging and blocking as well as using potions and any abilities you’ve unlocked. There are the usual swords, daggers and, bows but there are also wands, ‘faeblades’ and even chakrams as well as plenty of other weapons. There are a vast variety of spells and combat moves, they are all animated remarkably well, and feel smooth, responsive and weighty. Dodging and blocking feels fair and while the way you build your character is important, equally so is mastering the flow of combat, which will vary from class to class.
The mix of magic and martial abilities are great fun, and every combat encounter is an absolute joy. The combat does an amazing job of tying together all the composite elements of the game and making it greater than the sum of its parts. The multitude of side quests feel more fun than usual because there always more fights to be had, even if it just traversing through a forest to fetch something. The story is enhanced because of all the combat encounters along the way. Exploring the world is exciting because there’s always a chance you run into enemy mobs to let loose on. All the classes play so differently in combat that it adds replayability as you will want to experience the different forms of fighting that they offer.
A drawback of the combat however its camera, which can sometimes swing to strange angles and can obscure enemies which can be frustrating. Other pitfalls of this game are as I briefly mentioned earlier, some of the sidequests as mere fetch quests, and there can be a lot of running around collecting things. Although this is offset by the enchanting world and brilliant combat. Graphics also show their age a bit, the remaster hardly improves on the graphical fidelity, instead it improved the enemy scaling and loot levelling; however, for a 10 year old game the art style still holds up, the lighting is good and combines with the graphics and the soundtrack to create an utterly enchanting, fairytale like world. In terms of size, the world is plenty large, it is also further inflated because by the lack of a mount, however for those who don’t want to run around everywhere there is a generous fast travel system for teleporting round the map, which is convenient, and good when you need to tidy up the many side quests in this game.
The easy fast travel system, along with the respec option mentioned earlier, are perfect examples of Kingdoms Of Amalur not wasting your time. This is a game that respects your time, and it never tries to test your limits as a gamer, and while there are a lot of sidequests, none are essential and will affect the ending of the game, meaning you won’t get stuck in an endless grind of quests if you don’t want to. The combat is crisp and there are plenty of potential builds, all of which will work. Combined with the extensive loot and crafting system, there are plenty of solid systems to get lost in, this is a classic RPG and while it doesn't experiment or push the boundaries of the genre, it is perfect if you're looking for a pure and undiluted RPG experience, it’s easy to pick up and because it doesn’t require too much thought, it is a warm and snuggly game that is easy to get lost in. For the new gamer it is the perfect gateway into the genre, for the seasoned RPG veteran, it is like putting on a lovely pair of old slippers.
