This Year in RPGs: February

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (released February 7th, 2012)

One of the more sad stories from the year is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Not sad because the title was bad by any means, but sad because developer 38 Studios went out of business after making it.

At its worst KoA was a bit derivative of an Elder Scrolls title, but at its best it succeeded where those titles failed. It had interesting lore going for it (penned by renowned fantasy author R. A. Salvatore), aesthetically pleasing art style and combat that was, dare I say it?, more fun than Skyrim.

So what happened?

Making games is an expensive business. Or rather, it can be for those titles at the top. Games dubbed AAA titles because they have the highest budgets and the largest developers behind them. 38 Studios wanted to swim with the big boys, and so they sunk a large amount of money into development so that they could be competitive against the current industry leaders. For a new developer with no established IPs or franchises to fall back on, everything was riding on the success of the first KoA. The title, while not a commercial flop per se, did fail to meet sales expectations. 38 Studios had taken out a number of loans to finance the game's development, including loans from the state of Rhode Island where they were based, and when they were unable to pay back those loans, had no choice but to declare bankruptcy.

Which is unfortunate because KoA was so promising. It had an interesting world and solid mechanics behind most of its concepts. It just didn't set the gaming world on fire. Maybe the gaming population (whom I pretentiously dubbed "interactive entertainment enthusiasts" yesterday) was still wrapped up Skyrim. Or they just weren't ready to tackle another massive open world with a slew of quests again quite yet. Also disappointing because the developer had expressed interest in creating a MMO as a follow-up to KoA. That project will probably now never see the light of day. Such is life in this industry. (True Fantasy Live Online ~ Never Forget).

Anyways, back to the game.

Worth playing because a bunch of people poured their hearts and souls into, then promptly lost their jobs. Worth playing because if you're a fan of RPGs, there aren't a whole lot of original series being created anymore, and who knows how long until we get another fresh IP? Worth playing if you're a fan of the idea of an Elder Scrolls game, but you can't stand Bethesda's buggy coding. And worth playing because you might as well help the state of Rhode Island earn back some of that $75 million.