During a visit to Big Huge Games' studio, Editor-in-Chief Darryl Gangloff was among the first group of people to watch a demo of this upcoming action RPG. Learn about the game that sets the stage for the MMO.

Exterior region, combat and towns

Once we were done with the tutorial dungeon, Nelson and Fridley showed us Dalentarth, the first exterior region in the game. There are five huge regions in the game, and each one contains five to 10 sub-regions. Dalentarth is warm and inviting with its gorgeous trees, lush grass and sunny skies. “R.A. Salvatore always says that this place needs to feel like home,” Nelson said. “This has to feel like a world worth defending.”

Now's a good time to mention that Salvatore has written 10,000 years of history for the Kingdoms of Amalur universe. “He's been a huge help to us developing plots and characters,” Nelson said.

To show off the new region, Fridley used his executive producer powers to level up the character, who was now wearing some shiny new armor and wielding an epic hammer. He waded into combat again, which truly looked impressive. He was using magic to pull enemies toward him and then demolishing them with his hammer. The action would randomly slow down so you could watch everything happen in intense detail. “Notice the exaggerated pauses. That's Todd's influence,” Nelson said.

Suddenly, Fridley killed the enemy using a massive slow-motion attack that required some rapid button-mashing to complete. “That was called a fate shift kill,” Nelson said. “One of the things we learn is that the player has the ability to change his fate, things around him and maybe the world.” More details on fate kills will be released in the future, but from the demo it looks like you can expect to use one every few battles.

We continued to tour the Dalentarth region as Nelson explained that everything in the game is handmade by the team. For example, all of the trees are hand-placed. The NPCs have their own schedules. There is a day and night cycle, so lights will turn on in towns in the evenings and more people will be asleep or at the pub. “It adds a layer of reality,” Nelson said.

Fridley made his way to a town, where you can complete traditional RPG tasks such as begin quests and sell items. There is also crafting in the game, and we were shown Sagecrafting, which is where you take gems and slot them into weapons and armor. “You can turn a regular sword into a flaming sword. Everything is better in the game when it's on fire,” Nelson joked.

Quest-givers are shown on the map as exclamation points. Nelson emphasized that there are a lot of quests: faction questions, hundreds of side quests and numerous discoverable quests. “We encourage players to explore off the beaten path. We want you to look for the fun stuff. It's worth seeing every nook and cranny, “ he said.

Fridley followed Nelson's advice and wandered down a small dirt path to take a look at some ruins. They were built by a race that is no longer a part of this world. “It's important to make sure that the world feels like it has a history, “ Nelson said. “Nothing goes in the world without a purpose.”

Fridley's character then walked right into a Banshaen serpent. The huge creature spit out three eggs, which hatched into Murghan minions. As the minions worked together to aid the Banshaen, Fridley decided to kill off the little guys first before demolishing the Banshaen with an epic fate kill move.

The mage class and a troll boss battle

Following the Banshaen battle, it was time to check out the Urul-Tusk dungeon. The character switched to a mage build, which led to a brief discussion on classes. “We don't really have traditional character classes in Reckoning. We have a destiny system, which plays to how the class analog works,” Nelson said.

Characters have three ability trees: Might, Finesse and Sorcery. Rather than being assigned a class, players swap out abilities to follow their destiny. “Most RPGs make you choose your class too far in advance. If you make the wrong choice, it sucks,” Nelson said. “We want you to have all the choice in the world.”

With the mage destiny equipped, Fridley had new bonuses and abilities at his disposal. Instead of rolling like a warrior, mages teleport. Their talisman “shield” doesn't mitigate damage as much as a warrior's shield, but it sets enemies on fire.

A mage in Reckoning is definitely not a typical glass cannon. You can cast ranges spells, but you can also dive into battle. Fridley showed off the mage's chakram weapons, which is comprised of a pair of throwing discs that look like something out of Tron. I can safely say they'd be my weapon of choice as a mage.

The combat with the mage was incredibly fluid. He ported around, casting spells and throwing his chakrams at kobolds. At one point, Fridley cast a huge AoE Meteor spell to showcase the offensive damage of the class.

Finally it was time to take on the Rock Troll boss. It's important to note the important role that music plays in Reckoning. The original song that played during the fight truly set the mood, and I'd purchase the soundtrack right now if it was available.

The troll pounded the ground with his huge club, so Fridley utilized a combination of teleportation and ranged spells to take down the beast. “He hits hard. As a mage, you really don't want to be hit by this guy,” Nelson said.

And with that, the demo and our first look at Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was over. If you're a fan of single-player fantasy RPGs like Fable and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, it's safe to say you'll want to keep an eye out for Reckoning when it comes out next year. The graphics are gorgeous, the storyline is interesting, the combat is intense, and the music deserves a standing ovation.

Of course, those of you looking forward to information on the upcoming MMO may be interested to know that the game will look nothing like Reckoning. It will be set in the same universe, but the art style will be completely different. Until we hear more about the MMO, we'll definitely be keeping our eye on Reckoning.

Darryl Gangloff, Editor-in-Chief