Just when Ken Rolston thought he was out of the videogame biz, the creators of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning pulled him back in.

After serving as lead designer of the acclaimed Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Rolston retired. But when his friends at Big Huge Games told him they wanted his input as a “lead creative visionary” for their new RPG, to be published by Electronic Arts, he couldn’t resist getting back into the game.

In this Wired.com video, Rolston recounts the story of how he became involved in creating Reckoning, to be released early next year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, then tells us what differentiates it from other role-playing games.

In a word: combat. He’s not just whistling Dixie, either. Wired.com tried the game at a preview event and found that slashing orcs and setting people on fire felt really good — not quite as good as a straight-up action game, but not the sort of sluggish half-measures that you typically associate with RPGs.