After handing herself over to some of Tanta Prav's minions at the end of the previous section, Chapter 8 of Forspoken begins with Frey standing trial for the murder of Tanta Sila. As one might expect from a case that's being presided over by a madwoman, the resulting proceedings are far from fair, forcing Frey to defend herself with her magic rather than her words.
At just fifteen minutes in length, The Truth Will Out is one of the shortest chapters in Forspoken, with pretty much every second of it made up of either cutscenes or combat. There are no side activities for players to indulge in here, nor are there any opportunities to venture from the critical path.
Trial by Water
Chapter 8 begins right where the previous one left off: with Frey being escorted to the chambers of Tanta Prav. Upon her arrival, she's told that she's to stand trial for the murder of Tanta Sila, though isn't really given any opportunities to defend herself against these accusations. Tanta Prav, the woman who is presiding over the proceedings, is as unhinged as the recently deceased Sila. She speaks mostly in rhymes and also has a bit of a Gollum/Smeagol thing going on inside her head.
Eventually, after quite a bit of rambling, Frey is sentenced to a trial by water. For those curious as to what this entails, it's effectively a battle gauntlet against a few waves of enemies inside a giant ball of water. First, players will need to defeat some Unjust Enforcers, which they can do relatively easily using Sila's magic. After that, they'll have to kill a large group consisting of Canis Dirus and Syntheras, both of which are weak to Frey's magic.
The final wave of enemies is made up of Pitiless Arbiters and Unjust Enforcers, the latter of whom spawn on the ledges high above the player. Though they can be targeted from the ground using Frey's magic, it's best to use the Zip ability with the golden beams on the walls to get up to the enemies' level and then pick them off using Sila's magic. Then, players can use Sila's magic to deal with the Pitiless Arbiters without having to worry about getting sniped from above.
How to Defeat Tanta Prav
With her minions defeated, Tanta Prav decides to dish out justice using her own two shackled hands. Unlike the previous Tanta, Prav only has two phases, the first of which is incredibly simple. Though players will need to remain on their toes to avoid getting hit, they'll be able to tear through her health bar pretty quickly using Sila's magic. There'll also be moments where Prav's multiple personalities begin arguing with one another, at which point, players can pelt her with Frey's magic for some easy damage.
Once her health bar falls to around 40%, Prav will begin playing around with gravity, which leads to Frey falling into a pool of water. Players should get out of the water as soon as possible, as they're incredibly vulnerable while swimming and will take a lot of damage when Prav freezes the water if they're still in it. Luckily, players can use the Zip ability to get onto one of the platforms almost instantly, so even if players do fall back into the water by mistake during what's left of the fight, getting back out again is incredibly simple.
Though Syla's magic remains the best form of offense here on paper, getting close enough to Prav to actually use it is far from simple and will likely lead to players falling back into the water. As such, it's better to just use Frey's magic to snipe Prav from distance, though players can get in close for a few melee attacks in the moments after Prav freezes the water if they really want to. They won't need to, however, as unlike in the Tanta Sila fight, Prav's health bar doesn't refill for her final phase, so it shouldn't take too long to finish her off one way or the other.
Once Prav's health bar has been completely depleted, she'll die in a rather anticlimactic manner. Frey's cuff will then absorb her magic, after which, Prav's enchantments will be broken and the giant water ball in which the battle took place will begin to collapse in on itself, marking the end of the game's eighth chapter. After being shown a screen detailing Prav's magic and skills, players will be prompted to save their game before moving on to Chapter 9, Breaking Point.
Forspoken is available now on PS5 and PC.