One of the most amazing parts of the videogame industry to me is its ability to pull a sleeper right out of the blue and bring it to the forefront of gamers’ excitement. Countless times have the industry been thrown a curve ball of gaming excellence with further emphasis coming from the great indie movement. Well, who would know better about throwing curve balls than Big Huge Games’ former legendary pitcher and founder, Kurt Schilling.
Ever since the formation of Big Huge Games, Kurt Schilling’s visionary videogame studio, Digitalchumps has been on the inside about its existence. From the time our own Nathan Stevens bumped into Kurt at CES a few years ago to the two Reckoning events, we’ve been able to get a look at the intimacy between the company’s developers and their games, as well as the overall passion of the group to make something they also would enjoy (something that sounds quite indie despite the studio’s generous funding from their owner and partnership with EA).
Last February, Nathan went out and visited the company’s studio in Baltimore and got an exclusive preview of their upcoming game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. With little known about the game up to that point, most of what the small crowd was shown was new material that had never been seen. From the game’s RPG/Action mash-up gameplay to the enthralling lore developed specifically for the game, Nathan had a lot to rave about over the intricacies of the game and left us with an extremely detailed analysis of everything there was to know of the game at that point.
However, despite the fact that the game delivered in all accounts in principle, it’s difficult to make any conclusions about its success at such an early stage. At the event, the game was pre-alpha and with no hands-on gameplay, those there were only able to make assumptions about the game’s overall picture. Months later at E3, gamers still were not allowed any hands-on gameplay with the game and despite all of the accolades it received, only some of the gamers’ hopes were reassured through an explanation of its wide array of depth while retaining the crucial elements of both the action and RPG genre.
Just 3 months later, however, Digitalchumps was invited to yet another Reckoning event at the Big Huge Games Baltimore studio and I was lucky enough to be the one to head over for the demo. Armed with only the knowledge I could muster via internet media (seeing as how I hadn’t attended the first event, nor could I make it over to the Reckoning demonstration at E3), I can say that I was genuinely indifferent about the game beforehand, knowing that it looked good but also that nobody had actually played it yet. Luckily, I join about 20 others in playing a solid 5-6 hours of gameplay from the beginning; I would be one of the first to be able to make actual judgments about the game’s mechanics, design, and fluidity.
Background
In case you’re unfamiliar with the game, I’ll try to give a brief introduction into the game (I’ll make it brief though since the major purpose of the event was to introduce the world to the gameplay so if you want a more detailed explanation, check Nathan’s detailed report.
The whole project was first seen as a kind of experiment by the mass public: The entire Amalur universe is backed by 10,000 years worth of history created by renowned fantasy author, R. A. Salvatore; its art style designed by Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn; music composed by Grant Kirkhope, creator of all of the original Rare titles’ soundtracks; and direction overseen by Ken Rolston, lead designer of Elder Scrolls titles Morrowind and Oblivion. Sure, the game had a few different big names working on the project, but until something was fleshed out, it was easy to be skeptical about the final product (I know I was).
What originally was meant to be an MMORPG quickly became a massive single-player RPG in the vein of the above mentioned Morrowind titles. However, to make the game truly unique, Big Huge Games set out to create an RPG with better action mechanics than we’ve traditionally seen in such massive games. Attempting to preserve both the depth of RPGs and the precision of action games proved to be a difficult bill to undertake but the determination of the team was nonetheless quite promising. As months have passed over the last year, the game has revealed the level of depth we can expect from expansive RPGs but the second part of the puzzle was the game’s gameplay and if it actually did live up to the hype from the PR folk. Luckily, I can tell you that for the most part, the gameplay is extremely strong and lives up to the God of War style of action gameplay that they so often referenced.
Starting Out
When I reached the Baltimore office (which took us a short 5 minute walk to reach from our hotel), I enjoyed the studio immediately. Though it was professional, it also felt like the kind of place where you could spend the weekend and not feel like you’re stuck at work (a few of the developers admitted that they had spent the last few days there working on the game to make sure it was perfect for us). From the arcade (which I can’t remember what game it was) to the pool table and board games, it felt relaxed enough to breed creativity between the members of the team.
After signing the non-disclosure agreement and consuming a lovely breakfast of Einstein’s Bagels, we were allowed to claim the spot in which we would spend the next several hours experiencing the game. Hopped up on coffee, I began my journey with the game on an Xbox 360 (we had the choice between console and PC though I couldn’t tell if there was anyone who actually got to experience the PC version). One of the first things we were told, however, was that the PC version seamlessly switched between mouse/keyboard controls and 360 controller controls which made the PC version sound like the definitive version to purchase in case you’re on the fence and your computer can run the game well enough (though I guess you’d miss out on achievements but who care about that 😉
What I really liked about the demo was that the experience with the game was really touted as whatever we wanted it to be. Typically at larger trade show events such as E3, we’ve come to expect a much more pressured experience with games due to time constraints where media/gamers want to get through as quickly as possible and the PR/developer tries to push you through to get to parts they want you to see. Because we had several hours with the game and it has an expansive, open world, the developers basically told us to do whatever we wanted during our gameplay (and they would occasionally chime in if needed or if we had a question).
To begin the game, you can choose from casual, normal, and hard difficulties. I chose normal in the interest of getting a small sense of the challenge while still being able to reach as far as I could within the limited amount of time (though if I were at home, I’d be tempted to start on hard for the sake of it). Though I didn’t die through most of the experience, there were moments in the game where I died frequently (many times wouldn’t be a problem if I actually owned the game because they were often related to a lack of healing items, which is something I refused to go back to get in the interest of time). Also, it’s nice that you can change the difficulty at any time during the game if you so choose, so that you don’t feel like you’re stuck 100 hours in on a difficulty that you don’t like.
After choosing your difficulty, the game begins in a cut scene where two gnomes are wheeling a body off to be dumped into a pile. This body turns out to be you and before they lift the cloth revealing its appearance, you’re given the ability to choose a number of attributes and appearance features. Here are details of the classes you can choose:
Classes
Almain: “The Almain are a warlike and religious nation of a storied origin. Many Almain come to the Faelands seeking freedom while honoring the traditions of their homeland.”
Racial Bonuses: Blacksmithing +2, Alchemy +1, Persuasion +1
Varani: “Hardened by the high seas, the Varani are just as frequently pirates and mercenaries as they are shrewd merchants. They favor swords and daggers as seaworthy weapons.”
Racial Bonuses: Mercantile +1, Detect Hidden +1, Lockpicking +2
Ljosalfar (bear with me on this one, it doesn’t sound right but here’s what my notes say ;-): “The Ljosalfar are a proud and ancient people from the frozen lands of the north. Ljosalfar judge themselves fit to divine right from wrong under wind, sun, and sky and mete an even-handed justice.”
Racial Bonuses: Dispelling +2, Sagecraft +1, Alchemy +1
Dokkalfar: “Dokkalfar are renowned as sophisticated students of magic and diplomacy. While they do not shy from conflict, they prefer to resolve disputes subtly and with grace, or efficiently, in silence.”
Racial Bonuses: Stealth +2, Sagecraft +1, Persuasion +1
Being the sensible gamer that I am, I immediately recognized that the creating a pirate-ninja-assassin would be awesome so I chose the Varani class to make my character stealthy. Next, I was given the ability to choose an extra focus to give my character a “Patron Bonus” and truly make my character unique. Think of this like a permanent bonus that gives your character his/her own style of gameplay. Here were my choices and their effects:
Wisdom: +10% Mana
Love: +5% Health, +1% Chance to critical hit
Death: +1% Chance to critical hit, +8% critical hit damage
Fate: +5% Mana, +5% Mana regen per second
Mischief: +6% Poison Damage, +6% Poison resistance
None: +1% Experience Bonus
I figured that the best way to experience the demo would be to gain as much experience as possible so I chose the +1% experience. Finally, to finish off the character customization, I was given the ability to modify everything about my character’s appearance. To begin, I chose from 5 preset looks to start the character off. Then, I could modify his face, skin tone, eye color, eyeshadow color & darkness, and stubble color and intensity. I tried my best to create a cool looking character as quickly as possible but after I was done, I clearly failed (he had a flowing, emo haircut, and one horned ear-ring but nonetheless he was my character).
