Now, Kaiko seems to be at work on another project set in an established IP. That’s as per the careers page on the studio’s website, which lists a number of open positions that it’s currently looking to recruit for. Interestingly, the page mentions that the developer is working on “an original game based on a high profile THQ Nordic IP in the action-adventure genre.”

That doesn’t necessarily narrow it down by much, if we’re being honest. THQ Nordic has a vast library of IPs, and the brief aforementioned description of the project provided by Kaiko doesn’t do much to overtly point at any one of them in particular. That said, the fact that it is described as an “action-adventure” game would suggest that it’s not referring to action RPG series Kingdoms of Amalur.

In addition to the aforementioned remaster, Kaiko has worked on a number of other expanded re-releases for THQ Nordic in recent years, including the likes of Red Faction: Guerrilla ReMARStered, Darksiders: Warmastered Edition, and Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition. The developer also made a new and original expansion for Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning titled Fatesworn.

That expansion is out now- and it’s a pretty meaty one. New gameplay mechanics, new weapons and armour, a new environment to explore, new story content and quests to dive into, and new Chaos Dungeons throughout the game’s world are just a few of the headlining additions that Fatesworn brings with it. There’s also a new soundtrack composed by Grant Kirkhope, which is a huge bonus as well, while the level cap has also been raised to 50. Check out the expansion’s launch trailer below.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning and its Fatesworn expansion are both available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The story sees the Fatesworn taking on the Niskaru and the forces of Chaos in one last battle. Along with a new environment called Mithros which consists of tundras and caverns, there’s also the city of Crownhold to explore. There are 25 new Chaos dungeons have also been added to each region in the game, providing procedurally generated challenges.

The Main Quest will take over six hours to complete but along with an increased level cap (to 50), new Twist of Fate cards, side quests and faction quests, and new enemies, there are 21 new weapons and shields. You can also acquire new accessories like rings and amulets, and encounter a new trader that will sell blind equipment boxes with rare set items. Stay tuned for more details en route to the expansion’s launch.

In the meantime, it provided another update on one of the new locations that players will visit – the Chaos Realm. Strange rifts begin to appear throughout Amalur with various twisted creatures emerging forth and causing trouble. Their origin is the Chaos Realm, described as a “warped, inverted version of our own natural world.” Along with “ravenous beasts”, players will have to deal with “tangled pathways” and “tainted magic.” Oh and new enemies have emerged in the Eldrith Mountains so there’s that.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Check out our official review here for more details. A release date for Fatesworn has yet to be announced but stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

Kaiko recently took to Twitter and confirmed that it is currently “wrapping up the final stages of production” on Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning’s upcoming expansion. They’ve also shared a some backstory and lore details on an in-game location, along with a screenshot- a town named Gale Crossing, which will presumably be featured in Fatesworn. You can read all about it through here.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. No specific release date for Fatesworn is currently known. We’ll keep you updated on any new details that come our way though, so stay tuned.

It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally ready to give you a peek behind the curtain of #ReReckoning’s upcoming DLC.

Wrapping up the final stages of production, we’d like to share a preview of Fatesworn. Introducing: Gale Crossing!

Read more: https://t.co/lEc1GkQmUK pic.twitter.com/P0FyNsTC4L

— Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (@ReckoningGame) September 6, 2021

Embracer Group has been on an overwhelming spending spree for some time now, tapping up game development studios left, right and centre. Of the many, many teams the holding company has acquired, quite a few of these have been notable names, including the likes of Little Nightmares developer Tarsier Studios, Metro developer 4A Games, and most recently, even the likes of Aspyr Media and Gearbox Entertainment.

It’s been clear for some time that they don’t have plans to stop any time soon, what with having raised nearly $900 million for even more acquisitions earlier this year- and more acquisitions they have made indeed. The company recently announced that it’s picked up four more teams- Belgium-based Appeal Studios, who’re currently working on an open world sci-fi action-adventure game; port experts Kaiko, who’ve worked with Embracer label THQ Nordic on a number of titles; German studio Massive Miniteam; and Sweden-based Frame Break, who’re currently working on a new co-op focused IP.

Meanwhile, THQ Nordic has also established Gate 21 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will “enable THQ Nordic to have world-class 3D characters using the most advanced character and facial rigs in development projects.”

Collecitvely, the four acquisitions cost roughly SEK 124 million. THQ Nordic now has a whopping 68 internal studios with more than 7,100 employees across over 40 countries.

Earlier this year, Embracer Group said that it plans to complete development on over 70 premium games by the end of the current fiscal year, with the second half of 2021 more releases from them than usual. Read more on that through here.

THQ Nordic confirmed recently that Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning would be coming to Nintendo Switch on March 16th. It won’t just have a digital release though – Switch players can also pick up a physical edition. Even better is that the full game will be available on the cartridge with no downloads required.

There could still be patches that need downloading at launch but for those picky about conserving space on their Switch, not having to download chunks of the game is good news.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning released last September for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, providing a remastered version of the 2012 action RPG with all of its DLC. Check out our review for it here.

New content will be making its way to Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning later this year with the Fatesworn expansion. It will have over five hours of new content, and sees the player dealing with disruptions in the Weave. Stay tuned for additional details and updates in the coming months.

There will be both, a digital and a physical edition available for the Nintendo Switch version of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning. The physical edition will have the FULL game on the cartridge, NO downloads are required. #ReReckoning pic.twitter.com/uWKeF6EPoU

— Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning (@ReckoningGame) January 20, 2021

The rise of THQ Nordic over the last few years and their parent company, Embracer Group, has led to the return of a lot of games and series I imagine many never expected to see again. One of those came last year with Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, another one of THQ’s remasters with a goofy name to boot. The game came to PC and consoles in 2020, and you’ll be able to take it on the go soon, while the promised new expansion will be coming down the road.

The company released an announcement trailer for the Switch version, which you can see below. It looks pretty solid and might shape up to be a potentially good port. If you recall, when the game was announced, it was also said that a brand new expansion was going to be made, called Fatesworn. In the description in this trailer, it is said that will come, presumably to all versions, later in the year.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The Switch version will launch on March 16th. You can read our review of the game in full through here.

Now, thanks to new IP owners THQ Nordic and remastering studio Kaiko, the massive fantasy RPG has another time to shine in the sun with Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, to give fans of the original a chance to dive back into its rich setting, and those who had never played it before the chance to experience its vast role playing systems firsthand. And while Re-Reckoning does a good enough job of capturing the strengths of the original release, it’s hard to give any of that credit to the remastering work done here. The game itself has been brought over as is, after all. In fact, as far as the remastering work is concerned, Re-Reckoning is a bit of a disappointment.

"While Re-Reckoning does a good enough job of capturing the strengths of the original release, it’s hard to give any of that credit to the remastering work done here. The game itself has been brought over as is, after all. In fact, as far as the remastering work is concerned, Re-Reckoning is a bit of a disappointment."

In the lead up to the game’s launch, trailers and screenshots have given the distinct and worrying impression that there isn’t much of a visual upgrade to look forward to here. Back when Amalur first came out, its lighting and its excessive usage of bloom didn’t feel too egregious- but that was 2012, and this is now. Re-Reckoning doesn’t do much to change or update those aspects of the visuals, and while it’s possible that the developers left that untouched to retain the original game’s art style and visual aesthetic, what it does more than anything else is make things look a bit too washed out.

Any remaster – especially one of a nearly decade-old game – should try and sharpen up the visuals and add more detail to assets and environments. It’s kind of the bare minimum. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning doesn’t do that, and if it does, it doesn’t do it enough to be remotely noticeable. Textures often look bland, like they’re made out of clay. Characters’ faces are also lacking in detail, with their hair in particular looking particularly unappealing. Their lip syncing and animations, too, are a bit too rough, almost as if they’ve been ripped right out of a 2012 game without having been touched up even in the slightest. In fact, that’s exactly what may have happened. Don’t get me wrong, in isolation, Kingdoms of Amalur has a charming look, thanks mostly to its art style and the authentic design of its fantasy world and the creatures and people that inhabit it- but it looks no better than it did in 2012, which seems to be the exact opposite of what you’d want a remaster to do.

There are other ways Re-Reckoning’s technical aspects disappoint as well. Being a game that first came out in 2012, Kingdoms of Amalur’s open world wasn’t a seamless one, and entering and exiting buildings, towns, settlements, dungeons, and the like is usually accompanied by a loading screen. Obviously, I didn’t expect the very design of the open world to change and become seamless in a remaster, but I was hoping that that loading would at least be as minimized as possible. Load times are far too long though, and given how frequently they pop up, they end up feeling more than a little annoying.

"In isolation, Kingdoms of Amalur has a charming look, thanks mostly to its art style and the authentic design of its fantasy world and the creatures and people that inhabit it- but it looks no better than it did in 2012, which seems to be the exact opposite of what you’d want a remaster to do."

Thankfully, though the remastering work here done feels minimal, the game itself is as strong as it has always been. Kingdoms of Amalur remains to this day one of the largest fantasy open world RPGs I’ve ever played, and the sheer depth of mechanics and breadth of activities on offer is as impressive in 2020 as it was back when the game first came out. The world of Amalur is huge, full of unique places to see and explore, and every place you go houses so many engaging stories to dive into, so many quests to undertake.

The quest design itself is far from the most inventive – it feels rather MMOish, in fact – but I find those issues easy to forgive because of how captivated I was by this world, and how willing I was to explore every nook and cranny of it. Kingdoms of Amalur is overflowing with rich lore and backstory that truly makes its world come to life, and I was more than happy to undertake even the most mundane of quests if it meant getting to explore more of it and learning more about its history, its conflicts, its peoples, and its factions.

The build variety, too, impressed me yet again, just as it did many years ago when the game first launched. Kingdoms of Amalur may not have as many role playing opportunities as something like Skyrim, and player choice isn’t as much of a big deal in terms of how the narrative unfolds, but the meat and potatoes in this game is really the combat, and as far as that is concerned, the game gives you a vast array of options to build your character how you see fit. There are three main archetypes here – warrior, rogue, mage – but with plenty of loot to discover, weapons to use, and various ways to level up and progress your character, Kingdoms of Amalur gives you an impressive amount of control over progression.

"Thankfully, though the remastering work here done feels minimal, the game itself is as strong as it has always been."

Another one of the game’s biggest strengths is combat- it was something that drew universal praise when the game originally launched, and happily, the combat feels just as punchy, responsive, and slick now. Regardless of whether you’re a brawler who likes to get up close and personal, a rogue who likes to attack with light and fast strikes, or a mage who likes to deal elemental damage from a distance, combat in Kingdoms of Amalur is always incredibly satisfying, and never gets dull. It is disappointing, though, that the game can be a bit too easy at times, especially as you level up more. This was an issue with the original release as well, and though it feels less egregious here thanks to balancing work done by developers Kaiko, it’s still a bit of a problem.

In the end, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is the perfect representation of this underrated diamond in the rough’s strengths- because it’s brought over the original game almost exactly as is. As a remaster, it doesn’t do nearly as much as it should on a technical level, which is definitely a disappointment. If you’ve never played this game before, or if you want to dive back into it but don’t have access to an older copy, Re-Reckoning is easy to recommend- but only because the game itself is as good as it is. If you were hoping for an impressive visual upgrade, this isn’t it, and those who already have access to a copy of the original game should probably save their money.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Letting players loose in a massive fantasy world and then letting them be whatever they want has always been Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s biggest strength, and THQ Nordic have been highlighting that with some of the trailers for its upcoming remaster. After having focused on the Might and Finesse skill trees for the warriors and rogues respectively, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning’s newest trailer focuses on the Sorcery path for all the mages out there.

The trailer, as you might expect, showcases some of the many magical abilities that the game gives to its players, highlighting what a magic-focused build can look like. As has been the case with this remaster so far, the footage shown in here doesn’t look too technically impressive – it doesn’t look like much of a remaster at all – but the punchy combat that the original release was known for looks intact. Take a look below.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is out for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on September 8. It will be receiving a brand new expansion, called Fatesworn, in 2021.