Forspoken

Game'scover

About the Game

After their debut and at the time controversial game Final fantasy XV(2016) the responsible team of Square Enix, Luminous Production took on their second project, Forspoken. In 2020, the then-named Project Athia appeared at the online event "SONY State of Play" and won the audience not only for the wonderful graphics of the PS5 but also for the wonderful movement of the heroine in the trailer. After the initial response, the game "found" the same fate as Final Fantasy XV, that is, after the second trailer and the "christening" of the game as Forspoken, the crowd began to divide into three categories:

  1. those who like what they see
  2. those who they hate it based on the dialogue and early gameplays
  3. the thinkers who were waiting for more trailers, a possible demo or even the game itself.

The game was supposed to be released in mids of 2022, but that year was filled with various big games from SONY(such as Gof war Ragnarok, Horizon etc)and that is why the decision was made to delay Forspoken as it was a new IP and like any fresh game there is the fear of failure. The developers want the heroine Frey Holland to be loved by the players and welcome her to the PlayStation family. The negative wave towards the game initially scared the team but they believed that once the players got to know the world of Athia they would change their minds. At the end of November, the demo of the game was released, which changed the opinion of some while reassuring others.The main issue of the demo was that it had so much mechanics to introduce within it short life spam that didnt help it. During its release, the game had a lot to "prove" both to the players and to the responsible team, which after Final Fantasy XV remained loyal to the Luminous engine despite Square Enix's decision to continue with the Unreal Engine.

Story of the Game

In the last decade, in Japan (the country from which the company originates) it has been observed that the "isekai" category has made a splash in various media such as anime, TV shows and movies. It was only a matter of time before someone took the risk and create a game of this kind.
"What is an "isekai"? you may be wondering. Isekai is a type of story where the main character of the series is suddenly transported from their world to a magical/fantasy world that they may know nothing about or have little information based of fairy tales and stories. In Square Enix's new project, the american heroine Frey Holland is transported from new York to the magical world of Athia.

Before this transfer, the creators let you meet Frey Holland, a young girl who is in the middle of a trial for theft. From her dialogue with the judge, we learn that this is not her first time and that she often finds herself in trouble. The judge believes that while Frey was raised in various orphanages, she can become better, but warns her that this is her last chance. On her way back, Frey is ambushed by a mafia gang she used to be associated with. After an intense chase, Frey returns "home" where she reveals to the players her plan for a new beginning. The new beginning involves her escaping, with her cat which is her only companion, to another area where things will be better and they will have a place to call home with normal furniture and food. Her plan never comes to fruition because the gang discovers the abandoned building she was hiding in and decide to burn it along with all her possessions. Convinced that she is doing everything right, Frey leaves her cat with the judge with the promise that she will return one day to get him. The judge is worried about Frey, but Frey doesn't give her time to think about it and leaves the judge worried.

Game'chasers
After leaving her cat in the hands of the only person she trusted, Frey goes to the tunnel where she was found as a baby with various dark thoughts. However, a strange glow and a "flying animal" caught her attention. Without thinking Frey approached the source of light that turns out was comming from a large bracelet. Upon touching this bracelet, a magical hole pulled the heroine into it and brought her to a different world, the world from which the bracelet came. In the world this bracelet called Cuff, could speak, only to her, thus scaring her. In her attempts to remove the bracelet, the energies attracted a huge dragon which put her life in danger. After managing to avoid him, Frey learns from her bracelet how she came to the world of Athia. The protagonist learns that this beautiful country is now at the mercy of the Tantas. The Tantas were powerful courtesans with magical powers whom the people worshiped with intense admiration. Things changed with the arrival of the break, a type of devastating infection that relentlessly corrupts everything it touches. With this fateful event, the Tantas became very aggressive, dictatorial and divided Athia into different kingdoms for each of them.

Frey and Cuff discover that the heroine is unaffected by the virus and can roam freely in Athia without needing the protection of the Tantas like the rest of the inhabitants. Frey's entrance into the city unsettles the Tantas and they set themselves the goal of killing the new intruder. On the other hand, the heroine does not want to get involved in such an adventure but she has no choice as the threat is huge and if she wishes to go back to New York, she will have to help Athia and stop the tyranny of the Tantas. With that in mind, Frey begins her new adventure into the unknown.

Game'chasers

Thoughts on the story

In terms of story the game did a good job depictionning an isekai plot. There's a nice ammount of mystery and the goal is straight forward from the beginning. The game received alot of hate for some of its narrative. For example, very early on, whilst in New York, when the house was on fire, Frey could 've captured the bag of money and then search for Homer(her cat). The bag was infront of her. Personally if i had just waken up, my dog was missing and the house was on fire, i would also search for the dog, especially if it was my only company in the world. nevertheless, this decision did not settle well with the majority and found it as lazy writting. Furthermore, the unwilligness of Frey to help the people of Athia also came wrong for some and especially when her street language express things in a way. Another major critisism the game received was her relationship with Cuff. The heroine and Cuff dont get along at all during the game. Without spoiling if someone reaches the end of the plot it all make sense, but even if you dont, Frey was already established as a person who doesnt trust the world as she never seen anyhing good comming from it. Personally, i never had an issue with any of her reactions or interaction but i can also kind of see the points people re making. Personally i was into the story alot, i did as many possible optional interactions as possible and enjoyed the game's narrative including its DLC.

Game'chasers

Gameplay

In order to survive in the world of Athia, Frey will have to use her new magical abilities with the help of Cuff. At the start of the adventure, Frey can only use earth powers (purple magic). This type of magic is best used against flying threats but also in ranged combat. These abilities require more emphasis on strategy as you need to keep your distance from enemies. You can set traps on the ground to trap enemies or to explode when stepped on or shot by Frey. You can then call a summon that will help you and if the bad guys surround you you can push them away whilst absorving some of their life. Earth force is responsible for parkour moves on the ground.

As you progress through the story, Frey learns new powers based on the element of fire (red magic). Fire allows you to fight the bad guys head-to-head, either through a flaming sword or through punches and kicks. You can create a wall of fire in which to close yourself with the bad guys. They can leave or enter your flaming field, but not without getting hurt. Frey's only spells for ranged combat are the spear which she can throw or use to jump into the sky, or the magical lasso which will pull the target close to her. Then, with the fire she can create magic blades and magic summons which fight at Frey's side. Finally, red magic is responsible for moving through burning tissues. Basicaly around the world theres some yellowish crystal rocks that Frey can use her flaming lasso to launch her self upwards or towards a certain area.

Game'chasers
Water power (blue magic) is similar to purple relying mostly on ranged combat but also has abit of red magic as it creates water based obstacles. Normal attacks are based on bow and arrows which causes AoE(Area of Effect) attacks. The most powerful techniques create traps that attract enemies such as vultures, sea prisons and tornadoes. The best use of these powers is their ability to combine in order to create devastating combos. For example, summon the tornado, push enemies into it with waves, then use your normal AoE attacks. Finally, blue magic allows you to move on wet surfaces and launch into the air. Moving on the water summons a surf board which speeds up traversal as long as you have energy.

The last element for Frey to tame not including the DLC, is electricity (green magic). This spell is very useful for multiple ranged attacks as all attacks have lock-on and fire multiple hits or singles which cause larger explosions. On the other hand, when enemies get close to Frey she can create various AoE attacks that will paralyze enemies and hit them whilst healing Frey. Then green magic "opens up" new strategies that use replacement magic and magic that makes you invisible. Finally, green magic outside of combat can be used to jump higher and cover your tracks.

The game often provides the players with new spells, which they can use at any time, as with the press of a button they have access to the spells of the different type. Each spell has a mission, which when completed will strengthen the spell and give the player access to another e.g. Ultimate lvl2 to Ultimate lvl3. These magics are unlocked by using mana that Frey ca get when she levels up, when the players clear challenges and if they find mana waves in the open world. Each enemy has a weakness to a different type of magic and resistance to others. However, this difficulty is only apparent in "Hard mode" as at lower levels every spell does damage despite its power.

Thoughts on gameplay

Keeping thing completely honest the game in the right hands feels amazing. The team emphasize and advertise alot it's traversal which is honestly fantastick. The ammount of hours spent leeping from tree to tree, jumping off the rocks to what seem like a bottomless hole just so i can lasso my way and launch frey back up was amazing. The more abilities unlocked the more free i was to explore Athia. The Parkour mechanisms are also used in combat as they re the onlt way frey can dodge heavy incomming attacks. Leaping from enemy to enemy, climping up our own spells and overall using the environment to our advantage was very creative. The game also wants the players to discover the beauty of fighting in style as some battles are used to show certain power up. For example, during the Octopus fight(side boss fight) the first time the players only use parkour to jump off the enemies projectiles. When fought again(either by doing the mission again or finding it in the wild cage) after taking down the water tampta, the fight is very different as now Frey can surf the waters to close down the distance with the enemy and once again can leap through its attacks. In my opinion a great way to show the player the mechanics, the difference of then and now and also showcase the improvement Frey gone through since the beginning of her quest. On the other hand most of the spells are good looking with beutiful animations. The game gives the player alot to work with and its easy to be lost or forget certain abilities, whether passive or active. When master the combos, or understanding the abilities the player will have a sweet experience however the exact opposite can occur. When given alot of options its easy to lose track or to simply ignore some spells and focus on the ones that someone either liked or found them more usefull. As mentioned enemies are weak to certain types or have certain areas as their weakness. If the player doesnt explore these weaknesses they can easily be triggered by the game over screen. At the same time if the difficulty aint hard, its easy to mash every spell under the sun and claim that the game is a mashing beat em up.

The world of Athia, it's Post Game Content && it'sCollectables

Game'chasers
This magical world has many hidden things for you to explore before and after the main plot is finished. The creators of the game made this huge world in order to let the players have fun transporting them with parkour powers. A new mechanic that lets you run through trees, over rocks, throw a flaming lasso and swing like Spiderman, surf over wet surfaces with a magic board. This mechanism "opens up" the scope for exploration as it keeps the game "fresh". Of course like any other open world game, the "fast travel" option is available at various points on the map. Square Enix's project stays true to the formula of open world games by having too many places to visit but doesn't add anything new to differentiate itself from the others with the exception of the parkour mechanism. This means that there are various NPCs who ask for Frey's help either for simple side quests or for more complex longer quests. In Athia there are magical "familiars" that look like magical cats and are located near statues called "Cat monuments". If you manage to pet the magical cats, they will give you small prizes and visit you in the "safe zones". Honestly these familiars fell more like a last minute thought, as the statues and the location of the cats are close to each other taking away the whole idea of reach and pet the cat without scaring it away. There are other different statues (Monuments), which when you visit them, will either give you buffs directly or set you missions like:

  1. "Parkour to the point within time"
  2. "eliminate the boss within time"
  3. defend the civilians>

This virus(from the plot) does not usually kill people and wildlife but it corrupts them and deprives them of any kind of logic. As long as you are outside from the safe points guarded by the Tamptas, there are bad guys which will attack you without a second thought. They are everywhere on the map, but in some places you will find an increased number, either because you are near a village or a kingdom (fortress) that has suffered a terrible fate. Other dangerous areas are caves and ruins which usually have more wildlife than people. Then there are the Primals, huge monstrous animals that the game uses as boss fights that after being affected by the virus have become stronger and dominate a small piece of land. Sometimes you might encounter fog which means one thing, run away as monsters known as nightmares will appear. In rare cases they will also have a Boss Fight. The best solution is to run away from the area as the nightmares will keep on spawning as their numbers are endless during the fog. Ofcourse in some cases you will be force to encounter them.

Each area on the map has various "crafting materials" which are hidden in various chests, some of which you will need to solve a mini-puzzle. If you find the puzzles difficult, you can spend minimal mana (1-5) to solve the problem. In the game there are large birdcage-like buildings called "locked labyrinth". Upon entering the cage, you are transported to a maze where there are various bad guys, various crafting materials and a powerful boss that await you. Once you win the battle, you can enter the secret room behind the boss room which has important documents about Athias' world before Frey's arrival. Finally, there are the "founts of Blessing" which will unlock various "manuever spells" when Frey swims in them.
Game'chasers

Sound and Graphics

The new project of the Luminous team, uses the Luminous engine in which they created Final Fantasy XV in 2016. This engine would have been the future of Square Enix as the highly anticipated Kingdom hearts III (2019) had started its development in this engine as the first trailers prove. For various reasons, the company "left" behind the engine and they moved forward with unreal Engine, but not the responsible team. The graphics compared to FF XV have been upgraded and look better than before. The world of Athias is divided into different regions, and types of vegetation. From empty deserts with ruins, to greener areas full of trees and areas with lots of lakes and floating platforms. The game's villains are based on humans and animals, who are trapped outside the Tantas' territories and were affected by the Break Virus. There is a decent number of different designs, but some are simply different colors such as a black bear with a white bear. Apart from these monsters, the game has Nightmares which have more original designs but are very minimal. The only problem with the game's graphics is that during the battle, the effects of the spells can make it difficult to keep track of the battlefield. For PC gamers, the computer will need heavy hardware to be able to play the game.

On the other hand, the sound field, in contrast to the visual field, is one of the weakest elements of the game. While there are nice songs and soft melodies during the game, no OST (original sound track) sticks in the mind, a strange phenomenon for a "AAA" game and also for a game released by Square Enix. The game has been characterized very negatively for its dialogue and also for the vocabulary of its protagonist who uses "street" language and maintains an aggressive tone towards those around her. The game then has minimal lines that Frey shares with Cuff, resulting in the same sentences being heard over and over again when traversing through the world. In various scenes, there are some audio issues where the background noise is much louder than the dialogue of the main characters. The sound effects from the spells as well as the evil screeching noise comming from the villains emphasize the power of the particular magic spells.

Game'chasers

DLC : In Tantas we Trust

Before the games initial release, Square Enix announced that it would have an expansion in the form of DLC. The DLC was released two months after the games initial release and took place way before Frey's journey to Athia. During the DLC, Frey finds her self in the body of another brave warrior during Athias war. During the short story Frey is teamed up with Tanta Cinda before the Tantas lost their minds. The world is threaten by a great evil and its up to the two of them to safe Athia. Originally Cinda wishes to fight alone but Frey cannot let her due to spoiler reasons. The story also explains how the main threat that Frey phases was born, how she was found in the bridge years ago and what happened to Cinda. Soilers: It also revealed that another Tampta(5th) is out there and that Frey should visit her in order to clear the world of the virus since it still exist even after the event.

In terms of Gameplay, Frey cannot use her normal abilities as Cuff is not part of the story, however she is able to use a new magic known as yellow magic. The yellow spells have alot in common with various spells found during the main game. Ofcourse you cant take the parkour abilities off from Forpoken as these where the main attractions, and so Frey is still capable of parkouring around the environment. The world is pretty much the kingdom of tanta Olas. Its like a city build on top of mountain which allows alot of parkour movement. It was honestly the best place to focus this small portion of the story. With the removal of most of Freys spells the difficulty feels more theaten which was honestly somehting the original game was missing. In fact a new difficulty was added with the addition of the DLC. A new mechanic was added in combat which is team based attacks. Pretty much Cinda and Frey are together throughout this adventure and it allows the player to use commands in order to for the two women to join forces. Attacking combos are very powerful and deal great damage when the bar is maxed. Defense wise if Frey is low Cinta is going to jump near frey creating a healling barrier that will slowly regenerate Freys HP.

Final Thoughts

Square Enix's new project, as mentioned above, had a lot of problems from the second trailer of the series and generally suffered a lot from social media. The game's dialogue has been called "cringe" many times based on the trailers and the way Frey deals with her magical powers in the first scenes of the game. Frey as a character has garnered negative comments, as she "appears" rude to some since she often curses for no reason. This is helped by the fact that the game hid many scenes of character development "behind" optional dialogues. Her relationship with Cuff also has a negative response, but to avoid spoilers, the game "gives" its own response. Also, the game "requires" players to have a very good computer to enjoy it, as the minimum requirements alone set the bar high. The gameplay suffered alot as both the demo and famous influencers proceeded to bury it underground with various comments. As mentioned the demo forced alot in its short life spam which didnt show what the game had to offer. Moreover, famous influencers gave the game a go, but quickly called it out for its narrative and for the gameplay beig mashy as they swapped it to medium difficulty which as i mention makes the game more mashy than strategic. Last but not least, the open world also felt lifeless. The game does explain how life outside the walls suffered from the virus but that shouldnt make the world completely lifeless. Its so big and offers so much which takes away from the exploration aspect as every 20 steps has something to be discovered.
Game'chasers
In conclusion, Forspoken is yet another controversial game from Luminous Production. While it offers a pleasant gameplay and content worthy of any "AAA" game, it did not have the positive response it expected. The game is at its best when it leaves you free to explore Athia and fight its dangers, while the main plot may not "pique" your interest. The plot touches on important themes such as suicide, but it didn't do as much with this theme as it could have. Many important elements for both the world and the protagonist are hidden in optional dialogues and side-content that does not give a good impression to players who only devoted themselves to the main plot. Its main scenario will keep you busy for 12-15 hours, while for 100% around 40+ hours (based on max difficulty). The game was set to cost Square Enix approximately 200M which if being honest doesnt explain its state. The DLC did set the stage for a new title but based on the fact that Square Enix Shut down the Luminus team might be an indicator that we will never know how the plot continues.

Is the Game the worst one in existence? No. Is it one of the best? No.

Other Links you might be interested in

Figures Video Games
  • Back to review selection