Plenty of Promise, But Did it Deliver?
Story-adventure game Forspoken released in 2023 to a fair amount of anticipation and trepidation both. Prior to its release, PR and optics for the game were mixed quality at best, with a mix of promises of a large map, fluid game-play, and a strong female-led story, but poorly handled interviews focusing more specifically on the final point than many other items for the game. Now, bad PR or poorly handled developer interviews does not always mean a bad game. Sometimes the interview for a game just doesn’t go well, and the proof remains in the game itself.
Forspoken puts players in control of Frey Holland, a young woman living in New York City at the start of the game. Destitute, and technically jobless, Frey starts this whole journey trying to save up what little cash she can to move herself and her cat, Homer, somewhere else where she can start over. Those plans go awry when she is caught for a car theft. While she does get acquitted for that particular crime, it does lead to a run-in with others working under the same “employer,” a chase through some New York back alleys, and then an arson that takes away the one place she had left to stay. This series of events ends in Frey sneaking into what seems to be an abandoned antique shop and finding a magic bracelet, which subsequently transports her to the world of Athia, a world rich with magic, but also plagued by what can only really be called a curse sweeping the land with a destructive magic storm.
Athia is the setting for pretty much the rest of the game, and the map is ambitiously large. While there’s a fair amount of free exploration, each chunk of the map is only unlocked through main story progress. This does speak well to not letting players wander too far into areas they might be unprepared to challenge, as well as can help players pace their exploration if they’re the type to grab as many side items as they can before progressing like myself. The magic abilities that Frey gets access to, which some players came to dub as “magic parkour,” makes traversing the map much faster than one might initially fear it to be. Clearing several thousand meters takes a few minutes or less, and doesn’t feel nearly as tedious as a mere sprint.
Outside of the traversal assistance, Frey’s newly acquired magic abilities also mean that she’s not helpless in this new land. Elementally themed, and ranging in combat style set-up, the magical abilities are rather pretty to look at and, with the exception of some boss fights, gives players the ability to adapt to both their situation and their preferred play-style, be that close combat, at range, or a technical mix of both. Throughout the entire game, there is only one fight that truly felt ill-considered in its level design pairing to the combat.
With all this magic Frey now has access too, she needs a way to amplify it and her own natural abilities. Forspoken does this through its equipment system, in which there are three items: cloaks, necklaces, and sigils or designs painted onto Frey’s nails. The third item received much criticism when discussed in pre-release interviews, ranging from concerns about stereotyping to commentary on how nail polish shouldn’t really give magic powers. This is one of those moments where pre-release PR was handled a bit poorly, as there was never a clarification prior to release that it is not the nail polish itself enhancing Frey’s magic, but the sigils being painted with it. While still an interesting choice to make nail designs an equipment item, it’s not nearly as bad as many internet commenters wanted to make it out to be. That being said, the choice of curved, fish-eye lens text effect in the menu does make it a challenge to read the benefits of equipment when the text nears the edges of the screen.
With all that being said, we now move to the “why” for Frey’s adventures across Athia. Simply put, she wants to get home. Not only does the magic bracelet she found in the antique shop keep talking to her, but her initial arrival in Cipal, the only remaining city in Athia, was far from welcoming. Cuff, the voice from the magic bracelet, makes his thoughts known throughout the entire game, and the banter between Frey and Cuff is one of the biggest contention points for players. Some lines from Cuff can feel like a stereotypical sarcastic dad commenting on their child’s work, while others are genuine insight. Frey’s responses, in turn, range from sarcastic and dismissive to genuine listening and engagement in conversation. Not every line is stellar, but the banter between the two has plenty of amusing and genuine moments. Outside of Cuff’s commentary, the story has Frey dealing with going from being a “dangerous outsider” to “city savior” within a matter of days. Several of the story beats for this story arc stand out and are decently strong, but the connecting moments are unfortunately rather underwhelming. This is especially so towards the climax of the story, where the loss of a young side character prompts Frey to shift from a “going home” mindset to a “get revenge, and save Athia out of spite” mindset.
Overall, Forspoken has genuinely enjoyable traversal with a large map to explore and a gorgeous environment to appreciate, as well as a decently fluid combat system to customize decently to a player’s play preferences. The story is unfortunately where it just doesn’t deliver the way it clearly wanted to. Decently strong impact moments with tenuous connective tissue makes it a bit difficult to fully empathize with why certain characters care so much or make their specific decisions, especially Frey. The intent shines through, and there was clearly a fair amount of care from the developers at Luminous Productions when crafting everything from environments and creatures to characters and gear. The dialogue and gear system also isn’t nearly as bad as the internet’s initial reactions would make you believe. However, it definitely feels like time in development could’ve been spent less on adding collectibles and size to the map, and more on strengthening the story and giving players a reason to care the way Frey comes to for Athia and its people.