Forspoken review: Say no more

Published January 23, 2023 6:00 AM, by Ozzie Mejia

Square Enix has put out a lot of games over the years, but it's safe to say that the publisher has become the first that many think of when it comes to magical worlds. It's the house that built Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and curates many other magic-based realms. That's why the idea of Forspoken interested me so much, because the premise was to take a modern person from the real world and thrust them into a Square Enix-style magical kingdom, sort of like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The result is a story that isn't anything close to Mark Twain. It isn't even close to Martin Lawrence.

It's a shame, because Forspoken's terrible story and its unlikable main character largely bog down what's otherwise a competent action RPG. There's a foundation for something good here, but it sadly doesn't realize that potential.

Can't go home again

Forspoken tells the story of an everyday woman living in the streets of New York, struggling with her day-to-day existence. She finds a strange cuff in a pawn shop and is magically transported to the realm of Athia, an alternate dimension that is gradually being decimated by a twisted force called the Break. After learning that the cuff can both talk to her and grant her extraordinary abilities, she ventures to a nearby village where she learns that she may be this world's only hope. It's a story that should be captivating, but one that never fully gripped me for various reasons.

There are several problems with Forspoken's narrative and it starts with the establishment of Frey's place in New York. Players are introduced to a wayward homeless youth who gets caught up with the wrong crowd and is frequently in trouble with the law. She's ultimately shown leniency by the judge, but it doesn't erase the trouble that she's in with some bad people. Does that sound interesting? Well, don't get too invested, because that aspect of the story is never visited again. The first chapter eats up nearly a half hour and ultimately doesn't add anything, introducing characters that won't be seen again, establishing a setting that the player isn't going to revisit.

Of course, the opening scene in New York is good for establishing Frey's motivation. It certainly does do that well enough, because for about 80 percent of the adventure, Frey will constantly bemoan her situation to the point that she comes across as one of the whiniest protagonists I've encountered in a minute. Even as people are suffering around her and the world is driven deeper in peril, Frey will frequently wave it off with "It's not my problem" and it makes her totally unlikable. She only does the right thing when it either affects her directly or when she's guilted into it. She sees death and destruction all around her and her reaction, even after it's crystal clear that she's the only one with any power to do anything about it, constantly boils down to, "This is your problem. I'm not a hero. I just want to go home."

There are flawed protagonists and there are terrible heroes. Frey fits more in the latter category. After hours of watching her make the same complaints, push the same people away, and generally act like a jerk, I took a step back and evaluated her situation. I finally asked: What is she so excited to get back home to, exactly? She has no money, no direction, and bad people are actively hunting her down in New York. Her final moments in New York were her literally escaping a life-threatening situation. Her life on Earth is awful! Why is she so determined to get back to that? All of that being squarely in mind makes some of the plot twists of the last few chapters (which I won't spoil here) ring hollow.

In case you glossed over the last few paragraphs, let me just flat-out say, I greatly disliked Frey Holland as a character. She's not "I must kill Chaos" level of one-dimensional, but her character isn't that much more appealing. That's without even getting into the cringe-inducing quips and the obnoxious banter. Fortunately, there is a setting to have Frey and Cuff talk less. I've never been happier to see an accessibility feature quite like "Cuff Chat Frequency." It doesn't totally let you play the game in silence, but the less I could hear of the Whedon-esque banter, the better.

Magic tricks

The issues with Forspoken's story are a shame, because the game's combat and traversal are two of its genuine highlights. Paradoxically, the combat is both intuitive and mind-numbingly complex. It starts out simple enough, giving players a basic attack spell, a support attack spell, and a special ability. Going back and forth between the three can be cumbersome, though some accessibility options allow for some automatic switching between support spells to make management a little easier. The way the real-time combat is laid out utilizes the DualSense's shoulder triggers well. I genuinely enjoyed a lot of Forspoken's combat until the later hours.

That's because in the late game, Frey begins to unlock new sets of spells. Unlocking an additional spell set is fine, but she gradually unlocks more and that's when things start to feel overly complicated. By the end of the game, Frey is not only managing her current sets of abilities, but players also have to worry about switching around between spell sets. That can start to feel overwhelming, especially as enemies strike in greater numbers or as a boss throws down a devastating area-of-effect attack.

In fact, the biggest weakness of Forspoken's combat is that it can often be difficult to see what's going on. That's due to a combination of factors that includes a finicky camera, environmental design that can make it tough to see what's happening, and Frey herself. To understand how Frey contributes to the issue, let's talk about Forspoken's "magical parkour" system.

Magical parkour is a fancy name for Frey's enhanced agility. This allows her to explore areas quickly, scale walls, and avoid incoming attacks when timed correctly. It works wonders for traversal. Fast travel options aren't always available, nor are they desirable when searching for something specific in the open world. Frey's magical parkour offers a sense of breakneck speed and can make exploration a lot of fun. It even adds to battles, where players can combine Frey's elegant movement with some of her more hard-hitting attacks. Melee striking, in particular, can be a blast when combined with Frey's movement.

While magical parkour is wonderful for exploration, it can be a double-edged sword in combat. While Frey's agility can aid her in battle, it can also make the action a little too fast-paced. In the case of boss encounters or fights against larger enemies, it can be hard to follow what's happening between Frey's frenzied movement and a foe's relentless attacks, regardless of my image quality setting.

Exploring Athia

Alright, let's talk about Forspoken from a visual standpoint. I'm a poor judge of visuals in most cases. What I can say is, Forspoken's environments are beautifully put together. Athia is a joy to explore, which is part of why it can be annoying that the main story is so determined to keep Frey narrowed on a certain path. The level of detail on the landscapes, the grassy fields, and the structures are dazzling, especially when playing with the Quality-Focused 4K setting.

Athia is also quite massive and it's easy to get lost. The game's map system isn't exactly helpful, either, as it only zooms out so far. If there's somewhere specific you want to go, you'll likely pull up the list of Fast Travel destinations instead of just looking at the map. Having said that, there are a copious amount of side quests (called "Detours" here) and enough to keep you running around the world. It's possible to find new cloaks, necklaces, and nail designs (all of which offer stat boosts and bonuses) by finding certain points of interest. That includes labyrinths, which are Forspoken's dungeons. From a combat standpoint, I liked labyrinths testing my mettle, but I was left slightly disappointed by these, because this could have been where Forspoken truly flexed its muscles with some puzzle designs or a more clever use of Frey's magical parkour. While some labyrinths offered some cool ideas, I feel like the game could have done better here.

Detours are fun, but they're offset by many of them only being available for a limited time. If you hit a certain point in the story, some Detours might be lost for the rest of the campaign and never return. It happens at several points in the story and it's never any less annoying. What's worse is the warnings often come up after having made an hours-long journey toward a boss' chamber, at which point it feels like it's too late to turn back.

Forspoken does make up for this, however, by something that intrigued me after the credits rolled. There is actually post-campaign content that allows Frey to continue exploring Athia even after the story's ending. These additional quests further flesh out Athia's lore and put a bow on Frey's story. This is a novel approach and one that I'm not used to seeing from most games like this, so credit to Luminous Productions for going down this route, even if I wasn't exactly eager to spend more time with this main character.

A New York minute

When I rolled credits on Forspoken, the only emotion I had was a sense of relief. Sure, I still had questions about the narrative, about some of Frey's background, and about some of the bigger reveals, but by the end, I just didn't care anymore. I was happy the story (outside of the aforementioned post-campaign content) was over.

Forspoken's magical parkour system has a lot of potential and can be fun. It offers a novel means of traversal, if nothing else. However, the combat and the vast world aren't enough for me to overlook many of Forspoken's other issues, which mainly start with Frey Holland herself.

This review is based on a PlayStation digital code provided by the publisher. Forspoken will be available on Tuesday, January 24 on PC and PlayStation 5 for $69.99 USD. The game is rated M.