In some ways, this approach makes Reckoning even worse than the older games it hopes to improve upon. One of the crucial elements of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a signal example for story-based role-playing, is the knowledge that any other character you encounter in the world can be attacked. And in the instances when you're sent into a dungeon to fight a particular group or species of enemies, it's safe to predict that very soon after players will discover a village where the supposed enemies live, hear their sympathetic side of the story, and, if one so chooses, abandon an old affiliation for a new one. The point of combat in a game so made is not to make the player feel hyperbolically powerful, but to make them feel like they should be thinking carefully about who it is they've chosen to attack. Reckoning's ardor for action and guttural empowerment squelches any such subtlety for the sake of immediate gratification of one's adrenal gland.
