It was September when we returned to the landscapes and the never forgotten lore of Faelandia. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning review was helpful in bringing back to everyone's memory the intrinsic qualities of a damn unfortunate title. Released back in 2012, the fantasy action RPG now also lands in its version for Nintendo Switch, complete with all the old additional content and ready to welcome even abrand new expansion, expected by 2021.
So if you are one of those who want to recover a pearl of the past, or simply cannot do without your portable Faelandia, this Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning for Switch review is the one for you.
The Hero's Journey
If your need is to deepen every single narrative and gameplay aspect, we would like to refer you to the review of the original, inevitably more complete and in-depth. However, if we want to give a location to the plot, what we can say is that we are in the shoes of a being returned from the dead, the first fully successful in this undertaking, and our goal will be to shed light on the events that have to do with the world of Faelandia and above all on the our destiny, central to the whole narrative.
Our inscrutable nature is such that not even the visionaries are able to read the future that awaits us and this translates into a playful way also in the possibility of choosing a multitude of different roads from the point of view of specialization, some available immediately, others unlocked only with time.
L'initial editor, which allows us to choose race and aesthetic traits is quite narrow, clashing strongly with the extreme depth of almost every other aspect. And it is precisely through personalization and the freedom to continue our path that is outlined in all respects for the hero's journey. To be honest, it must unfortunately be pointed out that the failure of the development studio and the impossibility of working on the MMORPG that should have been the background to the whole story, are the triggers for a series of important lore deficiencies. At the same time, the world of Kindoms of Amalur is so dense and full of details, writings and dialogues that there is really a lot of meat to satisfy for all palates. This aspect also brings negative sides: the most important of which is the fluctuation in writing. There where the main quest it is however enjoyable and interesting, albeit in its linearity, the same cannot be said of the secondary ones, probably daughters of that basic MMO setting that fills the world with hundreds of quests of almost nothing substance.
The pride of action rpg
If the MMO soul just mentioned limits some narrative aspects of the experience single player, the same cannot be said of combat system, still today among the best of its kind. Together with Dragon's Dogma it represents probably the best expression of western action rpg, with a number of fighting styles, types of weapons, combos and skills that could make anyone pale. The strong action vein obviously distances him from the classic RPG as well as from the MMO itself, but he is capable of giving truly satisfying fights, as well as never being bored thanks to the possibility of constantly varying the approach. Whether you use a sword, a stick, a hammer or even a long-distance bow, Kingdoms of Amalur will know how to pay you back, even after a difficulties unfortunately still too elementary today.
From this point of view THQ tried to take cover from the first exit which had almost everything wrong with regard to the balancing. Where the various dungeons set their own level on the basis of that of the player at the time of the first access - effectively destroying the progression - now each zone returns to level itself every time we access, allowing a more satisfying degree of challenge and also best loot. Pushing the bar even higher, the guys at THQ have also added a modality Very difficult. This, however, to be honest, did not convince us very much. It almost seems that the work has been limited to raising the parameters of a bit of everything that moves on the screen, without thinking about the balance of the various situations.
The world is still overwhelming from the point of view of extension, although it is less striking than when it came out. Despite this, the variety in the environments, the amount of crazy dialogues and the different paths that can be taken, make it an experience capable of lasting tens and tens of hours, even reaching the three figures quite easily.
Amalur su Nintendo Switch
It took several months for the porting on Nintendo Switch. We cannot deny that even today we are surprised to see this type of titles run on portable, even net of the presence of the cloud that has cleared the mobile experience and of a work that certainly does not scream a miracle for thetechnical aspect. It would be unfair if we said that the game runs at the same level as the PC version, but it is also true that in recent months we have been used to porting to the Switch that is really at the limit of the embarrassing. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning instead defends itself, predictably sinning where the PC version also sinned.
From a technical point of view, in fact, the game remains almost identical, significantly increasing the visual horizon, but touching almost zero textures and models. It is true that the style - very close to a World of Warcraft - still allows you to digest a certain technical backwardness. At the same time, as we already said months ago, an operation closer to that made with the remake of Destroy All Humans would certainly have been more appreciated. We realize that the latter represents a much more contained overall experience and this is probably the aspect that has stopped THQ from thinking of making a real remake.
From the point of view of fluidity, even if the game loses something in the docked version, it remains more than enjoyable in the portable version, however suffering a lot of inadequacies, exhausting. This last aspect is really frustrating, also and above all given the amount of detachment situations, present at every change of area, but also only when you enter any inn.
Comment
Tested version Nintendo Switch Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Resources4Gaming.com8.0
Readers (5)7.8
Your voteIf you are orphans of Kingdoms of Amalur there is no better time to return to Faelandia, also and above all in view of the new expansion that will arrive in the course of 2021. We cannot say that we are totally satisfied with this remastered, but the fault is not to be blamed. affect the port on Switch, but the entire project. Exactly as we did six months ago, however, we do not want to penalize more than necessary a title that has already lived a troubled and unfair past, leading to the end of a team and a project that would have deserved a very different fate. On the other hand, if you will be able to digest some distortions due to age and low budget, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning still remains one of the best action rpg of our time, and sorry if it is little.
PRO
- Back to Faelandia
- Superfine combat system
- Seeing it running on Switch is still a joy
- Technically very backward
- Disastrous uploads
- Secondaries worthy of the worst MMO fetch quests
