One of gaming's most underrated RPGs is waiting for you to try for free

Origin is offering Electronic Arts' wonderful role-playing game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning free for 48 hours, with the full price of the massive adventure now down to $9.99.

Amalur was released in 2012 to generally approving reviews. Its Metacritic average is 81 percent. But the game was a commercial flop. It is mostly remembered now for bringing down developer 38 Studios, owned by former baseball star Curt Schilling, followed by a horrible mess of legal and political entanglements

Amalur came out just a few months after Skyrim, at a time when Bethesda's masterpiece was still being played by many RPG fans. It failed to convince the public to make room in their lives for another all-engrossing fictional experience.

What is often forgotten is just how good this game is, in its own right. If you are the sort of person willing to be sucked into an engrossing, beautiful, complicated and layered fantasy world, this deal ought to be tempting. Just as a place to explore, from verdant forests to windswept plains, it's a gripping experience.

Origin is also offering a free week on Battlefield 4, if that is more your line. Amalur has featured in a number of Steam special offers (and will likely do so again.) It currently sells there for $19.99.

While we often complain about a lack of original worlds in video gaming, here is one that weaves together some great writing, characters who speak like real humans, and scenes with a comfortably grand Tolkienish setting. It offers boundless variety in terms of story and side-quests while allowing the player lots of freedom to take their own character in new and interesting directions.

The combat is intuitive and smooth, there's a never-ending supply of loot and opportunities to craft. None of these aspects of the game are entirely perfect, and the art-style, admittedly, may not be to everyone's taste, but overall it's well worth your time, if you are looking for a fully satisfying role-playing experience.