A lot of the trailers that Luminous Productions and Square Enix have released for Forspoken focus on the game's magic system, and for good reason. Frey Holland may have been whisked away from Earth and dropped on Athia without warning, but as a sorcerer, she's a natural. In Forspoken, players will have tons of ways to obliterate their enemies, whether they prefer pelting foes with rapid-fire stones or crushing the enemy in an explosion of ice. Luminous and Square Enix may not have gone into great detail about how spellcasting works yet, but Forspoken clearly affords players a lot of liberty in their spellcraft.
While Forspoken seems to put power in the player's hands through magic, that design also raises questions about enemy design. While it's important to make players feel powerful, it's also important to design enemies that make Frey's strengths feel worth using. If Frey's magic constantly overwhelms everyone she comes across, then Forspoken's combat will grow dull, but if Forspoken enemies can easily push through Frey's attacks, then players will feel disempowered and frustrated before long. Luminous Productions needs to craft each type of Forspoken enemy carefully, making sure that they all pose a reasonable threat, even in the face of Forspoken's elaborate magic system.
The Challenges Facing Forspoken Enemies
Forspoken's magic seems particularly threatening to the smaller enemies that Frey will come across. Many of Frey's spells seem to be area-of-effect spells, dealing damage in wide swaths of Frey's battlefield, which means she's innately well-equipped to clear out hordes of fragile foes in an instant. One Forspoken gameplay clip shows Frey kiting effortlessly around a group of zombie-like enemies, pelting them with spells. Hordes of weak but coordinated enemies are a valuable class of threat in action-adventure and action RPG titles like Forspoken, so Luminous needs to make sure enemy hordes aren't overwhelmed by Frey's spells all the time.
The bigger Forspoken enemies, such as the dragon showcased in an early Forspoken trailer, also need to be designed carefully in the face of the game's emphasis on magic. On the one hand, Frey might run circles around enemies like the dragon thanks to her long-range and high mobility. On the other hand, if Forspoken's biggest enemies are just as fast as Frey and give her no room to breathe, then boss battles might turn out to be more stressful than fun. Big enemies need ways to occasionally close the gap and pose a threat at a distance, rather than busting through all of Frey's spells, making the player feel helpless.
An Even-Keeled Combat System
A magic-heavy combat system means Forspoken raises some unique balancing questions, but there's still hope for balanced combat. Hordes of fragile enemies can still endanger Frey if Luminous comes up with unique ways that they can approach her, whether enemies suddenly swarm her from all directions at once or sometimes drop in from overhead. Big Forspoken enemies should manage to put up a fight against Frey too, in spite of Forspoken's flashy movement system, so long as they have their own ranged options and area-of-effect attacks that can catch Frey out and help them close the gap without feeling unstoppable.
On the whole, Forspoken's combat looks like it'll have some pretty brilliant moments. Luminous and Square Enix has teased climactic battles with the tyrannical Tantas, whose magical powers are sure to give Frey a run for her money. Even so, Forspoken's combat needs to shine outside of Frey's battles with her magical equals. All of the monsters that roam Athia need to be worthy opponents who are challenging but satisfying to defeat. The value of Luminous' innovations in magical combat will be measured by what it's like to put that magic to use.
Forspoken releases May 24, 2022 for PC and PS5.
