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In a world where fate controls everything, you die and come back to life without one.
I don't want to spoil any more of the story. But I will say that it has some very interesting ideas and it sounds like it could have been an epic tale. But the game does not tell the story very well and you won't feel very drawn in by it, with the exception of a few big story moments. Not much else to say about it.

Graphics

The game looks like the offspring if Fable and World of Warcraft had a child.
It has gorgeous, over saturated environments and some unique monster designs. It's very colorful and you will often find yourself being distracted by the bright environment. However, NPCs and some other objects look pretty unappealing up close with bad textures and little detail. You will also notice some draw distance glitches but its very rare. Some of the character models are just copies of one another with different colored skins as well as some monsters. Also, the facial animations are pretty bad, but they can be hilarious sometimes and offer a few laughs. It can take away from the game at times but it's not too much of a problem considering most of the game looks great. For the sheer size of the game it is very stable.

Gameplay

-Combat-

Take combat elements from God of War and RPG elements from Fable and you get Kingdoms of Amalur. It blends fast combat with a moderately deep RPG system that works very well. The combat is fluid and feels natural and is definitely where this game shines! Great swords and hammers feel heavy and powerful while daggers and faeblades feel lightning fast and sharp. You get two weapon slots and four slots for magic and other abilities. this makes it very easy to string together insane combos. I use a great sword and daggers with a touch of magic and stealth to deal with enemies. An example of this, I see some enemies so I sneak in and get the back stab on one of them for an instant kill. As soon as the others notice me and close in, I use my daggers to quickly chip away their health. Switching between enemies for combos is quick and easy. After they are nearly dead, I bust out my great sword and pummel them into the air then quickly cast my might ability called "quake" to send huge rock spires out of the ground finishing off my targets. That may sound like a lot but it all happens so fast and it feels incredible.

-Leveling-

Like most other RPGs, leveling is very addicting in this game. Every time you level up you get one point to spend on your main skills and three points to spend on your abilities. Your skills are things such as blacksmithing and stealth. While your abilities define what kind of player you are. There are 3 ability trees. Might, Finesse and Sorcery. You can put points into one skill tree, two of them or even all three. For instance, you can spend your points in might and finesse to be a heavy hitting rogue. Go in for the back stab with daggers then smash your enemies with a war hammer. Depending on how you spend your points you will unlock destiny cards that give you bonuses towards your stats. For example there is a destiny card called "Archmage" that you unlock if you spend 109 points in sorcery. if you equip this card you will gain some bonuses and buffs that can be very helpful for a mage player. You can also unlock hybrid cards for players that like to be a jack of all trades. Another important thing to note is that some weapons and armor can not be used unless you have enough points in the right ability tree. This leveling system works very well and makes it worth your while to get every last bit of experience that you can.

-World-

In my opinion the game is an open world game. From the start of the game, right after the tutorial, you are free to roam wherever you please. But the game seems to hold you back at times. For Example I was exploring a new part of the world when I saw some creatures I had not yet encountered. I play a rogue type character so I went in for the back stab, which usually kills with one blow. I ended up only taking a sliver of health off the enemy. I was then swarmed and killed within 10 seconds. To me this is kind of upsetting. I think it would have been better to have a level scaling system for the enemies in the game. While the game is still technically "open world", it seems to contradict itself by making you avoid exploring a lot of areas whenever you want. Don't worry though, the game is huge and you will find plenty of places to explore.

-Questing-

Aside from the main story quest, there are a lot of side quests. I mean A lot. But they are mostly your typical "kill this monster" or "go get this for me" quest. There are some interesting ones but they are pretty rare. All the quests worth doing though because you will be awarded with some great items.


-Loot-

There is a ton of loot to be found in this game. On top of that, you can upgrade a skill called "detect hidden" which lets you discover even more loot. You will find a lot of replicas and most of the weapons have the same skin only with different effects during the first 10 or so hours of the game. There could have been maybe just a few more different weapons skins, but its just a minor complaint. But exploring for ordinary loot and selling it to make some quick gold so you can buy that powerful great sword never gets old. Although finding a lot of normal loot seems boring, that's what makes finding very rare loot so exciting. Weapons, armor and accessories are color coded to determine rarity. Kind of like Borderlands. It's a familiar system that works very well.

-Crafting-

There is a pretty extensive crafting system in the game. As you level up you can put points you earn into blacksmithing so you can make your own weapons and armor and name them to your liking. The crafting system is very easy to use and deep so newcomers should have no problem at all while RPG veterans will also have fun with it.

-Alchemy-

This also works a lot like blacksmithing. You can put points towards your alchemy skill so you have a better chance of harvesting plants and so you can make more potent potions. A really neat feature is the option to experiment with the ingredients you have. So say you don't have any recipes for any potions or poisons. You can simply select "experiment" and combined any ingredients you want. If you successfully make a potion the recipe will be added to your list. You can also buy recipes or find them in loot. This system works very well.

-Sagecraft-

Sagecraft is the ability to make gemstones and combine them with your equipment for various effects. If you put a lot of points into your sagecraft skill, you will have a better chance to loot more powerful shards and gems and combine them for even greater effects. Like the blacksmithing and alchemy system this one also works very well and is very accessible.



Controls

The controls in this game are amazing. They make chaining together combos a breeze and the button mapping works great. The only complaint I have is with the camera. You can change the sensitivity speed of your camera which is a nice feature. But the camera will sometimes sway around to an odd angle so you can't see your enemy. the camera uses a "smart" system to auto-lock onto enemies when they are nearby. This generally works well and you can simply change targets simply by moving the camera in their direction. But it doesn't always work the way it's supposed to and it can mess up a combo or even get you killed. So the controls are very well done with the exception of some camera issues.


Conclusion

In my personal opinion this game is a must have for any western RPG fan. If you are a fan of Fable, love the combat style of God of War and like finding a crap load of loot then I would highly recommend this game!


Final Rating

8.5 / 10

It could have used some polish here and there. Also, a multiplayer mode similar to Fable 3's would have been fantastic.