The imminent arrival of a PS5 exclusive should be a big deal. Yet so far, Forspoken has elicited more incredulous guffaws than gasps of awe. Inspiring a sea of mocking memes after an early trailer’s cringy dialogue, the internet’s opinion on the upcoming action RPG feels like it’s already been… well, forspoken. Now, with a lengthy hands-on for press – and a free, shorter demo out now on the PS Store – publisher Square Enix is hoping to turn the tumultuous tide of public opinion.
The first original creation from Final Fantasy 15 co-devs, Luminous Productions, this new IP is an attempt at creating a more Western-feeling brand of fantasy. Sporting movement and combat that feels ripped right out of Final Fantasy 15, this open-world adventure replaces Final Fantasy’s quirky JRPG charms with something altogether more Hollywood. Let’s start with the good news: Forspoken’s dialogue is nowhere near as dire as those initial trailers suggest.
Leaning into the guidance of its notable story supervisors, Rogue One writer Gary Whitta and Uncharted alumni Amy Hennig, the script feels incredibly Whedon-esque – channeling Marvel’s self-aware brand of sass, for better and (often) worse. With Final Fantasy 16 shaping up to be a bleaker more dramatic affair, Forspoken is Square’s cheery upbeat antidote – the Ant-Man to Patterson's brooding bat.
Still, despite all her zany zingers, protagonist Frey is likable enough. An orphan passed from Manhattan foster home to foster home, the resilient Frey finds herself growing up without a support network – and struggling to get by. Forced to survive by any means, she finds herself a regular at the police station and after an unfortunate brush with the law, she discovers a mysterious bracelet – yanking her out of Manhattan and into the ye olde fantasy realm of Athia. The worst part? She can’t even use her cellphone there – what, like, a total bummer.
Fish out of water
Picking up the controller just as our unimpressed heroine lands in this strange new world, my first impressions of Forspoken aren’t that of a sprawling modern epic, but a PS3-era linear adventure. As Frey sasses her new crumbling medieval surroundings and makes near-endless references to Manhattan, I’m slowly introduced to Forspoken’s magic-powered combat and its rot-covered world. This toxic substance has spread throughout this once idyllic land, infecting its once revered leaders, the Tantas, making them aggressive and hateful. No prizes for guessing who you’ll be fighting in boss battles, then.
Like all fish out of water storylines, Frey finds herself paired with a knowledgeable guide – a magic-imbued talking bracelet. He’s a good fit, providing a refreshing antidote to Frey’s incredibly online vocabulary, rocking a particularly condescending-sounding English accent reminiscent of Nier Replicant’s Grimoire Weiss.
With this mysterious plague-like substance transforming humans into snarling zombie-like husks, it’s safe to say that you’ve visited Athia during the wrong season. Luckily for our heroine, Frey’s new bracelet buddy wards off most of the rot’s most troublesome effects.
Fairytale of New York
As I’m finally released from a crumbling castle, it’s time to get to grips with Forspoken’s combat. I bash various ‘not zombies’ heads in and am taught to evade via a tense early encounter with a screen-filling dragon, the tutorial shackles are finally cast off, revealing the real star of Forspoken: traversal.
Much like in Marvel’s Spider-Man, this is a game infinitely more concerned with the journey than the destination, ensuring that simply the act of getting to a quest is fun in itself.
Darting around Athia’s expanse like a Red Bull-fuelled squirrel, this fluid exploration suddenly feels worthy of its current-gen console home. It’s hard to overstate just how good leaping and dashing around this sprawling world feels. From leaping across plains of grass to sprinting directly up walls, the fast-paced magic parkour traversal is endlessly satisfying. Much like in Marvel’s Spider-Man, this is a game infinitely more concerned with the journey than the destination, ensuring that simply the act of getting to a quest is fun in itself. The promise of new abilities extending your acrobatic talents further bodes well too, leaving me curious to see just how nimble this New Yorker can get.
Yet it’s this brilliant feeling movement that also works against Forspoken. All too often you’re yanked out of these gargantuan playgrounds, thrust into story-advancing city sections that look jarringly low resolution and completely limit your parkour powers. Forced to walk very slowly around these dull gray areas bring Forspoken’s freerunning pace, and all the fun, violently screeching to a halt.
Thankfully the core combat is the perfect antidote to each town’s beige banality. Spells and magic effects erupt in dazzling displays of color, allowing you to leap around your foes like a renegade rainbow. Casting chains of vibrant combo-starters, your magic is split into two main types: earth-based sorcery on the right trigger and plant-based magic on the left. Sadly, there are no Quorn-summoning pets to assist you.
This dual-spell setup is one that should be ripe for dishing out unique chains of attacks, yet switching between your spell wheel mid-battle feels fiddly, making comboing between magic types a clumsy and cumbersome process. It’s hard to tell whether this is something that requires tweaking ahead of the full release or just something I failed to find the knack for, but either way Luminous clearly wants you to become a Bayonetta-esque badass. Battles are graded based on performance here, much like in Devil May Cry. But, while its magical effects dazzle and delight, the core meat of the combat in this demo lacks the finesse of a Platinum Games title.
Much like the towns, when I head to face the final boss, a mean-looking old Tanta, I’m thrust into another enclosed dungeon-like zone. These areas once again lack the freedom that Forspoken’s brilliant movement lends itself so perfectly to. Combine that with half-hearted optional time-attack segments, unexciting chests to discover, and glowing orbs to collect and the result is a collection of already well-worn open-world busywork.
Forgettable fantasy
Based on the six hours I’ve spent leaping across Athia so far, this PS5 exclusive is shaping up to be a fun, if fairly forgettable, fish-out-of-water fantasy. While the core tenets of its world and its tantalizing traversal make it an enjoyable escapade, there was nothing in my demo that really had me itching to return. It’s also a distinctly familiar feeling game, lacking the excitement of a truly novel feeling ‘next gen’ experience.
Stunning magical effects and instantaneously fast travel aside, so far, Forspoken feels like it could have easily been a PS4 game. Thanks to its likable characters and litany of open-world busy work, Forspoken will undoubtedly find itself a fanbase. Yet, for those still yearning for a PS5 killer app, based on this demo, Square Enix’s latest is looking like more of a time-filler than a current-gen classic.
