The prophesied is the new video game of Luminous Game and Square Enix released on January 25th that transports us to a world full of magic and history. Since the announcement of him, the game received a great deal of press attention and by the public, increasingly intrigued by the compelling trailers. After a postponement, Forspoken is finally available, but the initial enthusiasm collided with the reality of the facts. In fact, the expectations were not met by the title and the critics were divided between those who appreciated the game and its originality and those who noticed the flaws, but what went wrong? Let’s find out in this Forspoken review.
Our review of Forspoken: Fray’s journey
Forspoken tells the story of Frey, a New York girl with a difficult life who finds herself magically catapulted into a fantasy world. Here meets Cuff, a magical bracelet apparently stuck to her arm which, in addition to speaking and guiding her, will provide her with powerful magical gifts. The whole world is imbued with magic that will guide her to discover more about the kingdom of Athia and what awaits you.
Despite the magic and beautiful settings, Athia was hit hard by the Ruin, a mysterious scourge that has destroyed much of the kingdom and its population and that transforms humans and animals into wild beasts without any control. The Tanthas, the powerful sorceresses who once ruled the kingdom, have abandoned their role as protectors and threaten the already tried Athia.
In an attempt to return to 21st century New York, Frey will find herself entangled in the affairs of the kingdom and will use her new powers and the support of new allies to learn more about the looming threaton the enemies to defeat and also on his mysterious past.
A world of magic
Forspoken is a third-person action game featuring a fast-paced and frantic pace. The opportunities and riches of Athia are equal to the threats that characterize it between infected humans, beasts out of control, dragons and powerful bosses to defeat. Entry into this world has bestowed upon Frey the power of magic and we will have a lot of them available to move, attack and defend ourselves from enemies. In fact, the magic will serve her for dash rapidly through the vast lands of the kingdom with a magical and rewarding sliding that will evolve into an equally scenic parkour 2.0 with which to slide, jump and dodge the attacks of enemies.
Magic will also be used to attack and defend. In addition to the classic ranged basic attacks, Frey will be able to learn and exploit the magic of the elements in a large and well-structured skill-tree with the ability to upgrade each spell by overcoming challenges. Stone shields, poisonous plants, ice spikes and so on and so forth, the set of moves available is really vast and well done. To support this we have a excellent move management system, well thought out and intuitive which helps fuel the frenetic (rarely chaotic) pace of the game. In fact, with a few keys we can quickly change charged attacks, special spells and a sort of “final” attack capable of causing huge damage to enemies.
The latter do not shine in terms of artificial intelligence but are varied and with interesting move sets. To the normal “minions” we find powerful ones Enemies scattered all over the map and Bosses from the main story which offer spectacularly interesting and challenging clashes that fit perfectly with the attack methods of the spells, really satisfying.
Crafting and equipment
In addition to the spells, Frey will have two pieces of equipmentrepresented by the cape and the necklaces, which will provide, protection, health, or different enhancement buffs depending on our skills crafting. With materials and ingredients to buy and find, we will in fact be able to develop our potions and enhance objects as well as modify their values. Added to this are also particular paints with mystical signs for Frey’s nails which will provide her with other boosts.
It is a customization system of modest importance which, however, can give interesting implications to the gameplay and our style of play.
A not-so-enchanting Open World
On paper, the characteristics for an excellent title are all there. After a few hours of play, however, we realize the Forspoken’s major flaws which should be the spearhead of a title of this kind.
The first and most obvious problem is the little amount of items that affects the Open World. The map is very large and all in all there are things to do, including exploration towers, time trials, small dungeons…they are there but after a really good overview, we soon realize that 80% of the map is empty land with a few enemies here and there and treasure chests to discover. Added to this is the small amount of real side quests and those that are there, fail in the slightest to immerse us completely in the game world.
The main story (lasting about 15 hours), it’s not bad but it has Forspoken’s second big problem. Indeed, we find a rather flat narrative pace that after the first exciting entry into the kingdom of Athia, can no longer rise. The game story is pleasant but nothing more characterized by the stereotypes of the genre without bringing anything really innovative.
Technical sector: more could have been done
From a technical point of viewForspoken vanta the Luminous Engine, the software house’s personal graphics engine that succeeds in creating a graphically pleasing world without overdoing it. On the one hand, the particles and animations (not the facial ones) turned out perfect, on the other the problems of light, shadow and texture are evident. Added to this an optimization on PC (where we reviewed the game) more than poor. In fact, we find poorly detailed textures (even at maximum graphics settings), frame rate drops and other graphic defects. A real shame given the potential magnificence of the settings.
Nothing to say from the point of view of music, sounds and dubbing. Apart from some skipping of audio tracks here and there, especially when skipping dialogues with NPCs, everything worked for the best. Excellent the original English dub (there are subtitles in Italian) which takes advantage of the actor’s rehearsals Ella Balinskawho plays Frey and Jonathan Cakethe voice of Cuff.
The Forspoken review in a nutshell
At this point in the review, it is appropriate to ask oneself whether Forspoken is a successful title or not. The truth is that the enormous potential of this title has not been exploited properly. Both from a technical and narrative point of view, the game has many flaws that we hope will be at least filed by future patches. All the cards for the birth of a new franchise were there, but the magic of Forspoken didn’t completely conquer us.
If you are a fantasy lover and magic is your forte, we advise you to throw yourself headlong into this title but be prepared to face many defects and limitations that have repeatedly made us say: “What a pity…”
Forspoken is out now on PlayStation 5 and PC.