GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

God of War vs Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

God of War is an action-adventure action-RPG game from Santa Monica Studio (2005) while Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an action-RPG open-world game from Big Huge Games.

Quick answer: God of War rates higher, 8.6 to 7.6 on the GamingPickz Score.

God of War

2005 · Santa Monica Studio

8.6GamingPickz Score

$49.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

· Big Huge Games

7.6GamingPickz Score

Not listed

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

God of War is filed under Action-Adventure and Action-RPG. In contrast, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning under Action-RPG and Open-World.

God of War

His vengeance against the Gods of Olympus years behind him, Kratos now lives as a man in the realm of Norse Gods and monsters. It is in this harsh, unforgiving world that he must fight to survive… and teach his son to do the same.

Description from its Steam store page

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

The minds of New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston have combined to create Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a new role-playing game set in a world worth saving.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

God of War

No Wikipedia detail on file.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Plot

Setting and characters Reckoning is set within the world of Amalur, with the game's events taking place across the Faelands, a land separated into two distinct territories by a great river. All things in the Faelands follow a destined path dictated by the Fate Weave, which can be read and reported by gifted individuals dubbed Fateweavers. The current age is referred to as the "Age of Arcana", a time when unknown magic is beginning to manifest. (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Over its first two months on sale, Reckoning sold over 400,000 copies not counting digital sales, a figure referred to by NPD Group as impressive. In the United Kingdom during its first week, the game reached the top of sales charts, surpassing the previous lead Final Fantasy XIII-2 . By July 2012, the game had sold 1. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

God of WarKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
GamingPickz Score8.6/107.6/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (96%, 184,172)Very Positive (88%, 13,009)
Critic aggregate93/10081/100
Price$49.99Not listed
Install size70 GB
Steam Deckverifiedplayable
Released2005
DeveloperSanta Monica StudioBig Huge Games

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

God of War vs Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    God of WarAction-adventure action-RPG game
    Kingdoms of Amalur: ReckoningAction-RPG open-world game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    God of WarAction, Story Rich, Mythology
    Kingdoms of Amalur: ReckoningRPG, Fantasy, Open World

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    God of WarScore 8.6 · 96% on Steam · 93 critic
    Kingdoms of Amalur: ReckoningScore 7.6 · 88% on Steam · 81 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    God of War184,172 reviews · 70 GB
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning13,009 reviews

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    God of War$49.99
    Kingdoms of Amalur: ReckoningNot listed

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    God of WarVerified
    Kingdoms of Amalur: ReckoningPlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

God of War takes 2 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

God of War and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC
  • PlayStation

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: God of War (GamingPickz Score 8.6)
  • Better on a Steam Deck: God of War (verified)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: God of War (184,172 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

ActionSingleplayerStory RichAdventureThird PersonRPGHack and SlashOpen World

Where they differ

God of War is also

MythologyCombatViolentGoreSouls-likeEmotional

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is also

LootMagicCharacter CustomizationControllerSandboxCrafting

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, God of War is demanding, for players who want a challenge. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

God of WarKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Minimum GPUNVIDIA GTX 960 (4 GB)
Minimum CPUIntel i5-2500k (4 core 3.3 GHz)
Minimum RAM8 GB
Install size70 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: God of War · Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 12 accessibility features for God of War and 1 for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are God of War and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning in scope?

God of War has drawn 184,172 Steam reviews and installs in 70 GB. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has drawn 13,009 Steam reviews.

Is God of War or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning better?

By the GamingPickz Score, God of War rates higher (8.6 to 7.6). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, God of War or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Should I get God of War or Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning?

God of War rates higher, 8.6 to 7.6 on the GamingPickz Score. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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