Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo bugs fixed in final game, claims dev

Developers run a huge risk when releasing a pre-launch demo, which is probably why many don't.  A few bugs from a build that was created "three months ago", might have turned a few people off from Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.  But Big Huge Games lead designer Ian Frazier has vowed that the finished game is "in much better shape" than the demo, which was not created by the studio.

"There's a lot of tension about the demo, which we didn't build in-house," Frazier told Eurogamer. "It was branched off our code about three months ago. It got a lot of bug fixing. We sent them what we had, but there are a lot of bug fixes they didn't get. So we're all nervous, like, the demo's really buggy.

"But all the time the demo was worked on is time we spent de-bugging the main game. It should be clear from the reviews the main game is in way better shape. That's been a source of nervousness."

Overall, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has received really positive feedback, with the biggest complaint focusing around the game's buggyness.

"We're very not happy about that. But at the same time, the feedback overall has been really positive. Given the bug situation I'm incredibly happy with how positive the reaction has been."

Frazier went on to say that the final game won't be bug free, but "it's pretty darn solid".

"Final code will show it's way better across all three platforms than the demo build. The demo didn't see the advantages of the last home stretch of bug fixing, which is a little bit painful."

You should be able to judge for yourself, as the game is set to release on February 7th.  Check out our playthrough of the Kingdoms of Amalur demo below.