Amalur beckons once again. THQ Nordic will seemingly continue its string of remasters with Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, an upgraded version of the only release by Curt Shilling's ill-fated 38 Studios. First spotted earlier today on the Microsoft Store by eagle-eyed gamers, the previously unannounced release is listed for an August 11 debut.
THQ Nordic originally acquired the franchise in September of 2018 alongside the assets for the unfinished sequel and Project Copernicus, the never-made Amalur MMO. At the time, it seemed inevitable that we'd see the game shined up and released on modern platforms. However, back in 2018, THQ representatives were less sure that this would come to pass. Speaking with Eurogamer, the company stated that they'd need EA's permission to rerelease the game, as the original came out via the EA Partners program.
At this stage we 'only' acquired the intellectual property. Given our track record, we know what the burning questions (remaster, remake, port to current-gen systems etc.) are, but we decided do not answer those specifically as we tend to put our heads together first and then do our homework, and only start to talk about anything once we feel confident and very familiar with the franchise.
With the leaked store page now available and Electronic Arts' name nowhere to be seen, it seems that EA's existing publishing rights have been taken care of. Re-Reckoning's description promises new visuals and "refined gameplay," meaning that we could see more than a straight port. The game is only listed for an Xbox One release and doesn't feature Xbox One X enhancement of any kind, although all of that and the release date could change considering the nature of this leak.
TechRaptor has contacted THQ and port developer Kaiko and will update this story with any update from them regarding the release status of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning.
