![]() Nevertheless, the main story was quite enjoyable, and appreciated my time with it. ![]() This is then bookended in the Third Act where there is sort of an exposition dump that although nicely done, feels like something they could have peppered along the way (even though I guessed it as soon as I got to Athia). I get that they probably wanted those moments to serve as breathing points, but it resulted in the opposite where it can feel suffocating and tedious. It’s also made harder where from the start of the game there are just a lot of fade-to-black moments and being locked into conversations while your character is not able to move. If you choose not to then your journey in Athia really feels like a tourist attraction that you pop in briefly and just forget about. Most of the interesting bits are as you guessed it in the archive entries that the player has to seek out including who and how the Tanta’s were before, how they governed, and how each of their realms fell apart when the Break happened. This also extends to the world of Athia itself and its inhabitants. Even the most endearing side characters are just mostly there to advance a quest or to have some brief dialogue but most of their character development is stowed away in archive entries that frankly have a lot of illuminating information. The game also introduces a multitude of side characters like Auden and Robian but due to how things are structured in the game, the players will not develop a deep enough connection with any of them. I thought he was fine but for those who can’t stand him, thankfully you can turn down the conversations between him and Frey. There are hints of personal trauma and themes that the game tries to present through her character but because of how disjointed some parts of the story can be it doesn’t hit as hard as it should.Ĭuff on the other hand can be repetitive but there is a small endearing quality to his companionship that does border on being insufferable. She has a moral compass and doesn’t just kill people without any good reason to. There are moments that she reacts quite realistically for someone who finds themselves in a strange new world with magic to boot. She isn’t just the typical main character who goes along with everything and has a funny quip or two along the way. Sure, there is some cringy dialogue but for the most part, I found her to be quite refreshing. However as good as the story was (a recurring issue plaguing the whole game) I could just see where and how it could have been so much better. ![]() ![]() It’s an ‘Isekai’ tale at heart and from beginning to end I was entertained. I enjoyed the story for what it tried to do. Luckily, Frey also discovers that she now has newfound magical powers which will help her to survive this strange world and hopefully find her way back to New York. There is also the matter of the four Tantas (like overlords for each of the realms in Athia) that she has to take down due to their succumbing to madness. It doesn’t take long for her to discover that Athia is in turmoil as it is being plagued by something known as the Break that turns humans into zombies and animals into Mutants. She then finds a random cuff in an abandoned building and gets transported to Athia, an alien world. The main character in Forspoken is Frey Holland someone who is dealing with life in New York on her own and obviously not doing it very well as she gets caught up with unsavory characters and finds herself in trouble with the law. It does a lot of things strangely and frustratingly, but it also does a lot of things well, so I enjoyed my time with it and appreciated it for what it tried to do. Thanks to Square Enix, we were granted the opportunity to review Forspoken and I really got to be honest I can understand some of the criticisms that the game had but I really feel that this game is kind of underrated. Regardless of the loud discourse over multiple mainstream media sites I was perhaps morbidly curious myself and decided to request a review code. I must admit that when I tried the demo it really didn’t click with me either and I was questioning if the full release would be worth it. A brand-new IP which hopefully was meant to be a start to a new franchise has really been put through the wringer with a lot of complaints about the main character Frey, the barren world Athia that players will run around in, and how the experience was just a major disappointment. I think much has been shared about Forspoken at this point that it feels like what was once supposed to be a big step for Luminous Productions has come to a very screeching thud. Developed By: Luminous Productions Published By: Square Enix Platforms: PlayStation 5 / PC Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 Review Code Provided By: Square Enix
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