Said to be a marriage of God of War and Oblivion next, 38 Studios and Electronic Arts action RPG will hit the stores next week. Combined with the talents of comic artist and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, best-selling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore and designer for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Ken Rolston. It’s 38 Studios first game. A studio created by former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling who named the studio after his jersey number. But is this team’s single-player RPG going to be a strike out or a home run?

You control a nameless warrior who is the first to wake up from their death after being placed in Well of Souls. With no recollection of who you are, you venture through and find out that you are the first ever “fateless one”. Every character has a predetermined fate but yours is a blank slate yet to be established. This is the world of Amalur.

Customization is a key feature in this game – visual customization of facial features and tattoos and choosing the gender and one of the four races for your character – two humans and two elves. You can even choose a patron god – each with their own perks – or you can choose none of them and build up your own. You will be choosing your own classes, unlike other titles giving you an option what to play as. Instead, over time, you will fill out a skill tree with three branches: might, finesse, and sorcery. And thus, you can choose precisely what aspects of what class you would like. You can even change and build up another branch if you devoted a lot of time on another. As I stated earlier,  “customization is a key feature”.

The combat is violent, exaggerated and bloody, influenced from God of War. The fighting seamlessly works out. You can switch between weapons and abilities with a press of a button to tear down several foes. You can sneak up and perform stealth kills and use a ranged weapon such as a bow.  There are quick time events to finish off foes and an ability called “Fate Shift Kills”.

It’s not hard to believe that the world of Amalur is heavily worked upon and will be expansive, R.A. Salvatore wrote a 10,000 year back story for it and his efforts are in the plot of the game. The title was originally supposed to be an MMO until the studio purchased Big Huge Games. The demo was fun and impressive. Cheers to 38 Studios and it’s team.

Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning will be released, next Tuesday, February 7th.