⚔️ Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning – Fatesworn DLC | Xbox Series X | Review | 7/10 | "It Began As A Mistake" ⚔️

It began as a mistake.

I first played Kingdoms of Amalur almost a decade ago, whilst I enjoyed it – I had expected something with a darker edge after learning of Todd McFarlane’s involvement, something with a more bite and personality. That said, it has often popped up in my mind over the years, and I occasionally felt the inkling that I should revisit the game without my initial prejudices, now knowing that the game was light in tone – I’d clearly approach the game more fairly and take more from the experience. Thus, when I was offered the DLC, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity – I’d get to dive back into the world of Amalur without replaying the base game, and so I began installing.

And thus began the mistake.

For, dear readers, I am what the Aztecs used to refer to as a ‘thick man’. As the game was installed, it dawned on me that I had originally played and completed the game on PS3. I had no save file on my Xboxes and so would need to play through the forty-hour main campaign to get to the post-game Fatesworn DLC... and over the busy Christmas period. Hence the slight delay in getting this review out to you all (sorry Lilian!).

Moving on from my stupidity, I’m pleased to say that the Fatesworn DLC is good fun – with a few caveats – and fits well with the base game.

Set in both the mountainous, wintry caps of Mithros and the Chaos Realm, Fatesworn pits The Fateless One against Telogrus, a man who claims to be the God of Chaos and a master of destiny – all very well in keeping with the themes touched upon in the original game.

After a couple of small visual artefacts – which, oddly only seemed to happen in the initial area of the DLC – it was smooth sailing. The writing, voice work and tone all match the game released almost a decade ago, and as well as a raised level cap, new areas, monsters, items etc. crucially (for me) – the loot drops had been more balanced, I found myself less irritated by clicking on bested enemy corpses to find items that had been rendered useless to my character twenty levels ago, a huge relief that removed a great deal of tedium.

A final word of warning,  one of the new enemies – a heavy knight – is a massive damage sponge, so be prepared to sigh whenever you see one.

As mentioned above, the Chaos realm is often visited here, and in it are new/reskinned enemies that can only be beaten with chaos weaponry, which can only be crafted with items found in the said realm, it adds some nice variety – and I’d also highlight the more modern sensibilities as to level design, areas seem less sprawling and crammed with more to do, occasionally this makes the mini-map overly busy but mostly, it just feels more practical and ‘realistic’ in terms of layers and settlements. That practicality is stretched somewhat in terms of some quests that feel like artificial extensions of game time but I just begrudgingly accept those in games of this ilk, quite frankly. Following all quests available will easily net you over a dozen hours in this new expansion.