What we know:

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an upcoming action role playing game from 38 Studios and Big Huge Games, set to be published by Electronic Arts at the beginning of February.

While most gamers haven’t heard a lot about Reckoning, largely because it’s an all new intellectual property coming from studios that don’t have a lot of experience in the industry, the game should definitely be on the radar of many people, even if they’re not actual gamers.

RPG fans should know that Ken Rolston is the game’s executive producer, the man who previously lead Bethesda while it created critically acclaimed titles like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind or TES IV: Oblivion.

Fantasy and comic book fans should also know that the universe of Reckoning was created by famous author R.A. Salvatore, while its visuals were masterminded by Todd McFarlane, the creator of popular comic book characters like Spawn.

While this all-star cast might not win over every gamer, Reckoning also feels great, as we have revealed after our Hands On session with the title at GamesCom 2011, thanks to a variety of features, from its dynamic combat to the unique Destiny Card system.

Reckoning takes a fresh approach to character classes and attributes, as players, while progressing through the game, unlock Destiny Cards that augment certain abilities. Instead of choosing your class at the beginning of the story, you unlock bonuses depending on your play style. If you like to kill things with your swords, then cards such as the Warrior will be unlocked soon. Sneakier players, on the other hand, will unlock cards like the thief or the rogue, augmenting their powers.

Why it matters

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is among the few all-new properties that’s released at the beginning of the year so it’s important to remind the gaming industry that innovation is more than welcome instead of tired old sequels.

What’s more, it’s a fantasy role playing game that takes risks and tries to do things differently. So, after you’ve finally logged in your hundredth-or-so hour in Skyrim, perhaps it’s time to see what other RPGs feel like.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be out for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 7, in North America, and February 10, in Europe.