Kingdoms of Amalur: Fatesworn DLC – Review
The sheer fact that Fatesworn, the new expansion for Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning exists is somewhat of a miracle in itself. While we understand the decision to revive a game from 2012, actually adding new content to it was a bold move, especially keeping in mind that Fatesworn was announced before Re-Reckoning launched. Nevertheless, THQ Nordic delivered on their promise, and we’re getting new Kingdoms of Amalur content for the first time in almost a decade. We quite liked what Re-Reckoning had to offer, so we were eager to discover what was new. Is Fatesworn worth picking up or should you stick to the base game?
Of course, we’re not going to rehash what we’ve said in our full review of the base game. Aesthetically, Fatesworn doesn’t differ all that much from what we’ve seen in Re-Reckoning. Granted, yours truly originally played Re-Reckoning on the Switch, but given that Fatesworn isn’t available on Nintendo’s hybrid console, we had to move to the PC version to experience Fatesworn. This meant that there was a slight increase in visual fidelity compared to what was presented to us a few months ago, but this had more to do with the platform and less with any changes that came alongside the new Fatesworn content.
The meat of the Fatesworn expansion lies in the new campaign, which is accessible after completing the main story. It’s a hefty chunk of content that will take around 6 hours to complete if you rush through it, but in practice, you’re getting way more bang for your buck than a single afternoon’s worth of content. This is in part thanks to the sheer amount of new sidequests, dungeon sets, and Chaos portals, which give you access to 25 Chaos Realm dungeons, and these are spread out over both the Fatesworn world and the old world. New dungeons are procedurally generated, so exploring them feels fresh every time.
The new storyline sees the player-created protagonist known as the Fateless One sent to Mithros, a brand new region in the West, by the Fateweavers. As it turns out, this mountainous region is the theatre from where the cult of Telogrus is preparing for the arrival of the God of Chaos. This malevolent deity is set on destroying destiny itself, releasing people from the bonds of Fate. Of course, it is up to the Fateless One to step in and prevent the God of Chaos from executing his foul plans. While the story relies a bit too much on familiar tropes to our liking, it does fit into the original main story seamlessly, rather than feeling like something that was tacked on to squeeze money out of the existing player base.
Although THQ Nordic made a lot of fanfare when it came to the new features, we didn’t quite feel like there were truly significant changes to Re-reckoning’s gameplay loop. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because we quite enjoy the core mechanics of the original game, even if they feel slightly dated. Granted, there is still plenty of new content in the form of equipment and an increased level cap. There’s also an addition that is perhaps most important for completionists: a faux lootbox mechanic (which doesn’t gobble up real money) that offers a new way to complete rare item sets, and thus getting the game to 100% completion a lot easier. Even so, most of what is considered ‘new’ feels like more of the same rather than improvements. That’s not a bad thing if “the same” is already good though. If you keep your expectations in check, then these additions are definitely worth it; but don’t expect Fatesworn to shake things up tremendously.
Arguably the biggest change in Fatesworn comes in the form of the all-new Chaos mechanic: you’ll need special Chaos weapons to take on enemies from the Chaos realm, but instead of picking these up from random drops, you’ll need to craft them yourself using Chaos cores. These weapons are then subsequently used to break through the armor worn by Chaos enemies, and once you’ve finished chipping away their defenses, you can switch to your normal weapons to take them out. It’s an interesting mechanic in theory, but needing to craft special weapons and then basically having to take out an enemy twice, once to destroy their armor and then again to actually kill them, felt tedious in practice. Despite being touted as the main new mechanic, we felt like we could’ve done without this addition.
All in all, Fatesworn delivers an impressive package, and if you loved Re-Reckoning, then picking up this new expansion seems like a no-brainer… unless you’re a Switch owner. We’re a bit confused as to why the new expansion isn’t available on that platform, especially since it doesn’t seem to be pushing the game’s limits, and that it’s available on the PS4 anyway. We’re also not sure whether double-dipping on the base game is worth it to experience the new content -you’d need to push your way through the entire 40-hour campaign again to play Fatesworn, for starters. This also applies to anyone that played through Kingdoms of Amalur’s original release: if you haven’t picked up Re-Reckoning yet, then Fatesworn by itself seems like a very poor argument to take the plunge, at least if you factor in the cost of the base game.
Conclusion
If you had any issues with Re-Reckoning, then Fatesworn won’t convince you otherwise, but if you loved Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, then you should pick up Fatesworn as soon as possible. You’re getting an awful lot of bang for your buck here, and what is being offered here is consistent with the quality of the base game, rather than feeling like a quick cash grab. It may not be a perfect expansion, due to the rather tedious Chaos mechanic, but it’s definitely something that was worth waiting for all these years. Here’s hoping Switch owners get their chance to visit Mithros soon as well.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Fatesworn DLC - Review,
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