Forspoken is an Isekai game starring a young woman from New York City. Frey was orphaned as a child and went through several disasters throughout life. She’s left with one more chance after almost being thrown in jail, and on top of that, her apartment burns down along with her savings.
Down on her luck, Frey suddenly gets zapped to another world after finding a golden bracelet. To go home,e Frey has to save this new world which is on the brink of ruin. That’s the basic gist of Forspoken, but how is it? The reviews have it around the 60s on Metacritic, and user scores are even lower. Amidst its plethora of problems, there are positives to highlight too.
6 Best: Automatic Pickups
Games that have crafting systems are great, but collecting items to do these crafting exercises can be tedious if players have to hit buttons to collect items. Players can use these items to imbue Frey’s various cloaks and necklaces with a nice variety of bonuses. Thankfully players don’t have to manually pick up items in Forspoken.
If players run over an item, Frey will automatically pick it up. It may not make sense for her to grab items as fast as she does, but it’s one of those quality-of-life things in an open-world game that should be embraced. Another good example of an open-world game that does this is Ghost of Tsushima.
5 Worst: A Slow, Dark Start
Forspoken has a slow start for an action game. Not only that, but the beginning is also dark, which may affect the mood of the player. Frey loses all hope after her apartment burns down. She even has to give her beloved cat away, seemingly the one thing in life that she adored. It’s a weird way to start a game that should be hyping players up to get into a fun action-adventure RPG.
Even when Frey makes it to Cipal and can start fighting enemies, the world will not truly open up until Chapter 3. That’s about two hours of the game, including cutscenes, rivaling that of the Persona games. The beginning is dark, but the overall tone has a weird mix to it. Frey, as the main character, doesn’t do a good job of making players care about any of it.
4 Best: Spell Variety
The game may start slow, but the action is well worth the wait. The spells in this game offer players an incredible variety, from basic attacks like Burst Shot to more robust moves like Tendril. Forspoken allows players to unlock spells via a skill tree through the use of Mana.
They can take any spell back too without repercussions, allowing players to experiment with their experience. The spells look incredible thanks to the Luminous Engine, which was previously used in another good-looking action RPG, Final Fantasy 15. For fun, players should pause the game in the photo mode to see how well the particles look in a frozen frame.
3 Worst: Distracting Characters
Forspoken uses motion capture for its cutscenes, but it also uses the likeness of its actors for most of its main cast. Ella Balinska, who plays the lead, Frey, may not be that recognizable, but some of her supporting cast may pop out. For example, Debra Wilson plays Bellette Krau, who is a member of the city council. Her likeness is also used in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and now that she exists in two games as her real self, it can be jarring.
Imagine if Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 was based on a real actor who appeared in other games. Wouldn’t that be distracting? Isn’t it more fun for developers to create wild-looking characters like Cloud that couldn’t exist in real life instead of trying to turn games into movies by using the real faces of actors? Overall, the real problem is that there are no memorable or likable characters to latch onto, and that’s not an issue with the actors.
2 Best: Magic Parkour
It’s been a while since free-flowing parkour moves have been a part of an action game this heavily. Assassin’s Creed was the biggest one that created a fluidity movement while chasing down enemies in the streets or running away from them. There are other examples too, but the point is Forspoken learns from the best and puts its spin on things by enhancing Frey’s steps with magic.
Early on, players can use parkour to easily hop over rocks, but they can soon climb small ridges and swing around special ledges. It takes a while to unlock the coolest traversal skills, but by the end, Frey will be just as flexible as Spider-Man but with Doctor Stranger’s magical skill set. The only downside is that players can’t parkour around Cipal.
1 Worst: Bland Environments
The particle effects of spells look great, along with the character models, despite the awkwardness of dealing with familiar faces. The one thing that doesn’t look good in the game is the various environments. The first two areas are barren wastelands without much color given to anything. It’s a drab world filled with unremarkable landmarks.
By Chapter 7, Frey will eventually make it to a more lush area filled with clean water, grass, trees, and flowers. It’s gorgeous by comparison, but even these prettier sections feel hollow, thanks to the lack of unique locations to explore within. One tower is indistinct from the last. The side quests are also lackluster for a giant RPG like this.
Forspoken was released on January 24, 2023, and is available on PC and PS5.