Forspoken is a fantasy game from Square Enix that has a good first impression. There are a lot of ups and downs of the game, mostly downs. It has a good story that feels good in the beginning but dies down as you play more of it. The story remains slow until the final part of the game. There are some pacing issues and once you get into the open world it becomes better. Parkouring, running around the world, and casting magic with triggers feel good. At times it feels like a third-person shooter due to all the magic attacks that the character casts.
It is a questionable experience in the beginning and remains questionable due to its gameplay and writing choices. Forspoken can have an unmemorable impact on the player. There are some good ideas like water surfing but it feels like these ideas were not needed in most cases. Most optional activities feel more like a chore than a desirable experience. Most activities offer rewards that are gameplay related. There are too many generic side quests. Forspoken has a lot of generic stuff but the core idea of the game is good.
Premise and Setting
Forspoken follows the story of Frey Holland a woman who is at the end of her rope. She is an orphan who has an unstable life and was constantly changing foster homes all her life. She has repeatedly run-ins with the law. Frey Holland has constant in and out in court as shown through cut scenes.
She has some problems with bad guys but wants to get out. Frey is penniless and has an awful life. Events lead to her apartment being burnt down. She finds a magical cuff that leads he to Athia. The cuff can talk and it informs her about the dire situation of the world.
Athia is in a dire time and it is plagued by a phenomenon called Break that is taking away lives of many lives. People are being agonized by Break and Humanity is on its last leg. Frey’s arrival puts her in a hard place as she is the potential savior of humanity.
The cuff gives her resistance against Break and gives her magical power. Break is turning people into zombie-like beings. She has no way home and is stuck in this magical world. After getting some motivation she goes out to take out monsters and other stuff. Think of it as a game with a good Isakai setting.
Characters and NPCs
The main character has aspirations but they are not shown in a good way through cut scenes. Forspoken has MCU-type dialogues that can feel awkward or charming depending on your preferences. The Cuff is a good character and can have good dialogues occasionally. Some supporting characters are good. The last hope of civilization is a big empty city. There are a lot of side activities and most of these activities are not that good.
Most characters have no care for Frey. Most NPCs are not captivating which can make many scenes boring. Frey is a reluctant hero who is not the type of character that always jump in to save others. She is thrown into a situation that she has no interest in. Her reluctant and uninviting nature makes people reluctant towards her. She shows her frustration and annoyance with everything that is going on.
The writing has issues and these issues will have an impact on the lore. There is a lack of attachment to the characters which makes attachment to the characters less interesting. The world-building doesn’t help it as well as there is little of it. The character of Frey is rude and difficult to deal with.
Frey Is Not Likable
All of it seems natural but it becomes exhausting as she constantly keeps saying that. A lot of the lines that Frey speaks has hatred which has an impact on the sympathy and care that the player has for the main character. Her character is intended to not be likable. The approach to the character’s combat and responsibilities is fresh but quickly runs out of fashion.
The end of the game will show why she was so selfish. It shows her personal struggles and why she was so selfish. It sheds light on her personality and shows why she is the way she is. Some of her words are not justified, even in the end.
Combat
The combat of the game is action focused and it heavily relies on constant motion. Combat of the game begins with shooting projectiles in a few different ways. The shooting of projectiles makes it seem more like a third-person shooter with an emphasis on shooting projectiles. Later on, melee usage will unlock but in the beginning, there are only projectiles. It is a strange choice that feels out of place since melee is the basic attack of combat.
Forspoken opens two different melee attacks from the upgrade tree. Once melee is unlocked, it provides a good combat variety. There is no feedback on the flame sword. The lack of feedback makes the attacks feel less impactful.
Running around and positioning in combat are encouraged. Forspoken encourages you to run and dodge. Dodge seems cool when you use it to avoid getting hit by enemies. Each trigger has the ability to unleash an attack and you have a wheel to select different abilities. There is a lot to do in combat such as shooting weak spots or shooting from behind.
The combat is chaotic and some people might not like it. Dual sense and everything else on the screen feels good. Changing things doing dodges in mid-spell and even getting bonuses are satisfying.
Enemies and Verity
The first few moments are fun as Forspoken is fun but it starts to drag down as the level design leaves much to be desired. Level design is similar with mostly similar types of enemies. Most levels feel nothing more than arenas on steroids. They don’t incentivize much exploration and it’s not like there is much to explore.
It has a stale design that feels hollow. The map lacks memorable landmarks and features. Most of the areas are stale with little complicated structures to offer. Navigation is on nearly all the time which makes it feel like the game is holding your finger, leaving little to exploration.
Levels work well with larger enemies as it feels like arena-style combat. Larger enemies are chaotic which feels good. Blasting, flipping, and super running as you fight big enemies feel good. You can use attacks on bigger enemies that do damage over time and then shoot them with the smaller attack. The combination of different attacks and later spells makes the combat feel much better
Now let’s discuss the things that are hard to digest. Smaller enemies such as slow zombies and other enemies do not feel good. Most of the time it feels like waves of enemies that you need to eliminate. Smaller enemies will attack in waves in different areas. You can just kill enemies move to another area and repeat. It feels like fighting waves of zombies. Enemy design is good but it is simple. There is not much complication to enemy design as all of them are just targets to shoot.
Skills and Upgrade
The skill tree offers new abilities and lets you upgrade the existing ones as well. You can find different bookshelves at different home bases that offer new skills. Unlocking new skills mostly relies on the challenge. It includes things like killing a hundred enemies while dodging or killing an enemy with a specific ability. Completing these challenges will unlock a new layer of abilities in the tree.
The base attack is good and you can take it from level one to level three. It upgrades your attacks in a basic and simple way. Gear looks good and most of the time it makes the character look better. You can equip different equipment that gives you small side buffs. These buffs include prioritizing critical damage and things like that. There are different templates for the nails of the character which change the appearance of the nails.
General Gameplay
There is a lot to talk about the general gameplay and most of it is undecided. There is a lot of stuff to do in different biomes of the game. You have the choice of taking higher-level enemies for the bonus. There are little challenging dungeons and bases to clear. You can use special items to help you see more of the map.
However, most of it is just open-world busy work that is there to keep you busy. It serves no other purpose and there is no depth to it. Forspoken will give you an awkward reason through brief lore why it is like that. Most exploration will give you material for simple crafting, healing, and other items to increase capacity. It is just simple gear for progression to keep you engaged.
The primary cast is good as explained earlier. The voice acting of the characters, especially the antagonist is really good. Compare to the primary characters, the voice-over and general performance of the side character are pretty weak. These characters are not as memorable anyway.
Different aspects of the game do not sit well with each other. The lore of the game and the side quests don’t go hand in hand. At the time, side quests seem nothing more than a time pass. Exploration is not good due to the bad level design which results in a lot of repetition. Music and everything else also have repetition to it. Forspoken has potential in some elements but doesn’t expect anything groundbreaking.
The Structure and Pacing
There is only one city in the game and that city is barren with a lot of empty space. It looks cool with a cool visual design. However, it offers nothing more than that. Visual design is the only good thing about the city as there is little more that it offers. There is little to do in the city other than taking quests from NPCs. These quests offer little to do as explained earlier.
The same is true for transversal. Jumping, running, and parkouring around feel good but that’s the only good thing about it. In the beginning, you will be just running then you will get a boost to jump high. Transversing the environment feels good as boost running has a sense of speed to it. Occasionally, it can get messy but it has good animation with the ability to auto-jump. The design of the open world is not that good which does not sit well with the running and jumping of your character.
It has a rough start and beginning that is really slow. The time it takes to change cutscenes or skip to the next line is pretty long. There are a lot of unnecessary pauses when characters talk or cut scenes change. There are a lot of fade-ins and fade-outs that don’t make any sense. Forspoken has a pacing issue which is evident throughout the game.
Verdict
Forspoken is a conflicting experience that becomes better once you reach the completion. Reaching the completion can be hard as most players might give up before they reach the good part. The journey to reach the good bits of the game will not be safe from boredom. The combat, story acquisition, and playing the game to get abilities are good but it fails to keep the game interesting. There is a weird feeling to Forspoken. It is not a complete disaster but it feels like something is missing.
The idea of Forspoken is good but lacks proper implementation. Its plot of a girl from New York going to the magical world is also good. Parkouring around and doing magic is a good concept. You will get most of the activities later on in the game giving you little time to use them. Unless you do side activities that are not that interesting. Forspoken has a major pacing issue. It is the jack of all trades and master of none.
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