Leaked 'Kingdoms of Amalur' trailer shows 'Project Copernicus' MMO in action

Leaked Project Copernicus trailer reveals Kingdoms of Amalur's MMO side.

38 Studios and its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, dubbed Project Copernicus, may be dead forever. But that massive fantasy world may have one last message for us from beyond the grave: A leaked, unfinished announcement trailer.

Posted by Kotaku today, the Project Copernicus trailer offers our first glimpse at gameplay and the bigger, more beautiful expanses of the Kingdoms of Amalur.

In the leaked trailer for the game titled simply Kingdoms of Amalur, we see areas of 38 Studios' fantasy world previously revealed in screenshots and a more modest fly-through trailer of the role-playing game's environments. Placeholder narration speaks of the circle of life – death and rebirth in the world of Amalur – and the united forces of the MMO's kingdom needed to battle eternal evil. We get our first look at Amalur's races – human, dwarf, elf and ogre – in combat against a massive demonic foe.

38 Studios, headed by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, crumbled in May after it failed to make payroll and loan payments to the state of Rhode Island. The company laid off its entire staff and declared bankruptcy, all but ensuring a return trip to Amalur via Project Copernicus will never happen.