Originally developed under the codename Project Athia and the first release from Square Enix’s Luminous Productions, Forspoken has a lot of the DNA of Square’s prior JRPG work albeit with Western twists. Based on a concept developed by video game writing vets Gary Whitta and Amy Hennig, and written by Allison Rymer and Todd Stashwick, Forspoken feels like an offshoot of Final Fantasy in many ways, which makes sense given the Luminous team boasts a lot of former Final Fantasy 15 devs. But in trying to deliver something new yet familiar, Forspoken devolves into a generic open world game whose combat system is its only genuine standout.

A lot has been said about the writing in Forspoken and the characterization of its heroine, Frey Holland. She has a bit of a foul mouth and when players first meet her, Frey is on trial for larceny. But as the initial prologue continues, it becomes clear that Frey is a victim of her circumstances, having been abandoned as a baby by the Holland Tunnel and left to fend for herself.

After finding a mysterious vambrace, Frey is magically transported from modern-day New York to the world of Athia. Once a prosperous land that has all the trappings of a Final Fantasy-esque medieval setting, Athia has decayed after a mysterious airborne containment called “The Break” took over and transformed any living things it touched into horrible monsters. The Break’s source is believed to be the four Tantas of Athia, once-noble rulers that have been corrupted. Discovering that the vambrace (called Cuff), in addition to giving Frey all the exposition, quips, and comedic relief she could possibly need, also gives her the ability to wield element-based magic, Frey seeks to help the people of Athia by defeating the Tantas and eliminating The Break.

Forspoken’s story hits a lot of familiar notes in its telling of the reluctant hero’s journey. The world and the lore of Athia are intriguing, but the game’s narrative doesn’t do a lot to highlight that, and the more intriguing bits of Athian history are relegated to text-based collectibles. Predictability isn’t a huge issue for the story, but Forspoken doesn’t do a lot to surprise either. It’s the presentation that further brings everything down.

Awkward cutscenes and dialogue delivery are arguably the game’s biggest storytelling weakness, with random fades to black in between a lot of the game’s story scenes. As an open-world game, pacing typically takes a backseat to exploration but once the player digs into the main story everything still feels disjointed. It’s made worse by the fact that most of the voice actors’ line delivery is flat and emotionless, punctuated by editing that frames scenes not as conversations but as characters waiting for their turn to speak.

Frey, Cuff, and a few of the secondary characters fare much better, but it isn’t enough to elevate the material or elicit a major emotional response. And some will find Frey's characterization offputting. It’s fun to spend time in Athia, but that’s mostly thanks to the game’s magic-based combat. Combat and exploration are where Forspoken really sets itself apart, even if the magic system and traversal mechanics have their own issues. As Frey encounters various animal-like creatures, monsters, and humanoids that have been corrupted by The Break, she must defeat them with an ever-growing suite of powers.

Frey’s magic comes in three different forms: attack, support, and a sort of ultimate attack that charges over time. For each element that Frey wields – she starts with earth and then gains more after facing off with the Tantas – there is a universal basic attack that is performed by tapping R2 or if they hold R2 the player can prepare one of three different charged attacks, some that are good for single target damage and others that can thin out big groups. Meanwhile, support magic can do anything from holding enemies in place with vines that blossom from the ground to creating a big arena of fire that damages any enemies that enter it. The goal is to keep on the offense with the attacks while using the support magics to help manage large groups or debuff/limit stronger targets.

As Frey is throwing out small rocks to do damage or charging up big balls of water, she will be zipping around the open world with a fast-paced parkour moveset. Holding circle sends Frey “skating” around or tapping circle will dodge a telegraphed attack from an enemy, which is necessary to avoid any formidable foe or foes. Packaged all together, the magic and the parkour make for a unique combo that is part third-person shooter, part melee action, and some of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s active combat mixed in.

But just like the combat system is complicated to explain, it’s also complicated to manage. For the most part, players will stick with the elemental magic that their target(s) is weak to and toss out support when it comes off cooldown. However, making full use of Frey’s powers requires a lot of radial menu management to the point the action screeches to a halt. With typically three charge attacks for each offensive elemental magic and at least 5 support magics for each element, there is just so much to jump between and no elegant way to do so. Rather, it’s best to focus on the one that seems the most effective and stick with that.

At a glance, it might seem like players would be mixing and matching elements, switching between tons of different spells, and making quick work of the foes around Athia. That likely was Luminous Productions’ goal and to the studio’s credit, it made sure that everything looks very cool on-screen. However, there is simply no way to do that with the systems created. It’s only once players accept that the power fantasy has some serious limitations that they will find the fun in Forspoken’s combat.

On top of that, the game’s lock-on system struggles to give players a consistent target and will oftentimes jump between enemies at random. Dodging is equally finnicky despite seeming so simple. Enemies will telegraph either a dodgeable or un-dodgeable attack and players need to press circle at the right moment or parkour away to clear the danger zone. However, the timing is inconsistent and attacks from off-screen can completely kill the momentum. Not to mention, the game has a scoring system for each encounter that rewards avoiding damage. When it all “works,” the combat is a lot of fun, but there are a lot of caveats preventing it from working.

Whether players find a favorite magic or they like trying everything, Forspoken’s skill trees always present a nice carrot on a stick to keep them going. As players earn Mana, which acts like upgrade points, they will be able to unlock more support spells or buff the attack magics or ultimates. They can also further increase the power of Frey’s attacks by completing challenges for each spell like defeating 15 enemies with a certain spell or hitting 3 enemies at once 15 times with another. It’s a system that encourages using everything at Frey’s disposal both to see how cool the magic looks with its bombastic particle effects and to further strengthen her overall power.

Players can also curate their playstyle through Forspoken’s gear and crafting system. By completing side activities in the open world, players will earn cloaks and necklaces that have a specific bonus for Frey. Some directly buff magic attacks, while others are more situational like a cloak ability that buffs close range damage. Necklaces offer similar benefits and can make Frey even stronger or help her survive during combat. And any cloak or necklace with an intrinsic trait will then unlock that trait to be slotted on another cloak or necklace, at the cost of materials (there are a ton) scattered around the open world.

Using the Tanta’s elemental magic as a theme, the open-world of Athia is broken up into different areas littered with numerous side activities and landmarks. These range from safe houses for crafting and resting to mini-dungeons with a unique boss at the end to time trials to forts with a number of enemies inside. Unfortunately, once players have seen one of these activities, their basic makeup rarely changes. Variety is lacking across the board and Forspoken is lousy with the types of open-world content that feels like padding. The only things that encourage engagement with these side activities are the promise of more opportunities to use the magic and rewards that make that magic stronger.

Traversing the open world is facilitated via the fast-paced parkour system that sees Frey "flowing" across the ground. She bounds over obstacles and can scale small cliffs automatically, as long as the player is holding circle and the stamina meter has energy. As Frey unlocks new magic, she will also unlock more abilities that further flesh out the traversal, like a move that allows her to grapple ledges and specific objects on cliffsides. It's all very intuitive if a bit clunky when the geometry is more complex; however when buildings or more rigid constructions are around, it becomes a bit of a mess. The player will usually lose track of where they are going and get turned around more often than they want. In these cases, it's actually easier to slow down and not use the parkour.

While most of Forspoken's environments are generic open-world fodder, the enemy designs are actually pretty remarkable. Mutated alligators, a massive dragon, and disturbing zombie-like humans are just a few of the baddies that Forspoken has on offer, and each is fun to discover as more of the open-world unlocks as part of the story. However, there isn’t a lot to fighting each enemy – patterns become simple to predict and the challenge is usually in dealing with the lock-on and dodge. It also follows a predictable pattern of offering enemies that are weak to the magic type that Frey just unlocked and not evolving much beyond that.

The Tantas and mini-dungeon boss fights present the most intriguing combat scenarios from a visual standpoint but fighting them isn’t very exciting either. Each boss will have a specific weakness and the player will usually just pelt them with their strongest magic attack of that element, calling up support magic in between. Outside of one late-game boss fight that completely changes things up – and then doesn’t do a lot with that setup – the bosses are neither a challenge nor inventive. Typically, they are a means to an end, like unlocking a new element from the Tantas or a new piece of gear from the dungeon bosses.

Part in parcel with the design, the look of Forspoken has a lot of rough edges. Main character and enemy designs can be quite stunning, but a lot of the environments and NPCs, especially in the open world, are bland and lacking in personality. Some even look downright ugly. It feels like a lot of effort went into making Frey look incredible and for her magic to wow, but everything else was rushed to the finish line.

There is a lot of promise in the various elements of Forspoken but most of its systems, story, and design lack refinement. Wielding magic is a major highlight but switching between every type and element is cumbersome and inelegant. The story has an intriguing backbone but the presentation of that narrative is clunky and pretty predictable. And perhaps worst of all, the open world of Forspoken is too generic to encourage the type of exploration that would make the game feel really substantial.

So much of the design of Forspoken takes a starting template and duplicates it ad nauseum to the point the biggest incentive to do anything is to flesh out the magic. By the time the credits rolled after 15 hours of story (and a decent amount of side activities), there weren’t any compelling reasons to keep going and cross items off the checklist. Instead, it felt better to appreciate the things that were enjoyable about Forspoken and leave it at that.

Forspoken releases January 24, 2023 for PC and PS5. Game ZXC was provided a PS5 code for this review.

Forspoken

Forspoken is an action RPG developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix. Players take on the role of Frey Holland, who is transported from New York City to a fantasy world of Athia. Gameplay is centered around open world traversal through parkour as well as elemental magic which can be used to defeat corrupted creatures and animals.