That’s a f#$%@&* dragon!

Forspoken is a game that hits a lot of familiar notes while not really giving itself an identity. The game has been talked about for what feels like forever, but the final product feels like a game I have been playing for years. This is most likely because while it is touted as a next generation game it retains all the same trappings open world games have been delivering for years. That is not to say it isn’t fun. Quite the contrary. This game can be a blast when hitting on all of its cylinders. Still there is just something missing in the stew known as Forspoken.

Players take on the role of Frey Holland, an orphan whose name is derived from the fact that she was left by her parents under the Holland Tunnel. The story is familiar and the opening sequence is far longer than it truly needs to be. Once the exposition is out of the way though the game devolves into the classic fish out of water tale that so many fantasy stories have relied on over the years. The big difference here is that Fray is not shy about voicing her displeasure about the whole situation.

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

Now there has been a lot of conversation surrounding the “cringe” dialogue found in Forspoken. To be fair it never really bothered me all that much. I would most likely be using a lot of profanity if I somehow got whisked away to a land with dragons and magic. Instead my issues are derived from the fact that the characters just never feel connected. There is a lot of assumed chemistry and cohesion in this world that is never displayed onscreen. Cut scenes come across awkward more often than not and the dialogue just doesn’t gel well with the theme. There is just something off about it that I can’t quite put my finger on, and it takes me out of it just enough to be noticeable.

The game is sort of broken into two parts. Each mission sets Frey out on a journey across Athia, while in between missions she can move around the city of Cipal talking to NPCs and taking on side quests. Sadly this part of the game also feels drab. The dialogue is interesting but jarring due to weird cuts in the scenes. The side missions are the kind of open world fodder I just don’t care to engage in such as chasing cats or collecting items. Games don’t have to pad boring quests to be interesting. Forspoken’s main 15-20 hour campaign is interesting enough on its own, I did not need an extra 20 hours of mindless chores.

The world of Athia is massive. Almost too big at some points. Every open world game has plenty of space to cover but what brings down this one is its lack of memorable landmarks and terrain. There is so much ground to cover and very little of it is interesting to explore. It isn’t helped by the fact that the side stuff scattered throughout is just not that interesting or worth doing. Sure there are some items to collect and upgrades to find, but a lot of them feel arbitrary. I was much more interested in pushing the story forward and diving into the main questline. The exception to this are the Labyrinths. These are interesting side missions with unique bosses that I always enjoyed fighting.

Thankfully traversing across the world is made fun by the magic parkour. Frey can move around with speed and dexterity thanks to this mechanic. It is also immensely fun, especially when I started upgrading it with timing based moves. Moving across the world feels great and intuitive and makes traversing this absurdly large world less of a chore.

Combat is where Forspoken shines through. Frey has two types of magic attack and support. There are also multiple types for each one that can be earned and upgraded throughout the game. These are assigned to each set of triggers and can be combined for some truly interesting encounters. This all plays a role with the enemies as well. There are certain types that can’t be attacked head-on while others require certain elemental abilities to take them down. Combine that with the flashy movement and dodge mechanics and combat is a particule-infused dance that is as much fun to play as it is to watch. I really enjoyed encounters with larger enemies and even normal fights were entertaining. The combat is truly where this game is the most enjoyable.

One of the most impressive things about Forspoken for me was its abundance of accessibility options. The normal items are here with subtitles and controller remapping, but there are also a lot of nuanced game play pieces as well. Things such as auto switching of spells off cooldown. The way I could customize combat to allow Frey to take more damage or deal more. It allows players to customize things and make them more akin to their play style and I always appreciate that. For example if you wanted to basically be invincible while grinding out the open world, you can do that. It is nice to have options and even for those that want a challenge, the harder difficulties are providing that as well. The suite here is excellent and makes this game much more approachable by players of all skills.

Visually the game has its ups and downs across the board. There are three main graphics modes found in the game. The standard Ray Tracing mode, quality mode, and performance mode. I didn’t notice a huge difference between quality and RT modes, and neither gave me the frame rate I was hoping for. I spent most of my time in quality mode as the combat really benefits from the smoother frame rate. The lighting in the game is weird though and sometimes areas look really fake and synthetic due to poor maps. It really takes away from the fantasy setting. Other times though it hits with unique boss characters and interesting areas. It truly is all over the place.

Forspoken is a solid action RPG that sadly falls short due to some of its design. The world is just not that interesting to explore and the weird dialogue can detract from an otherwise interesting narrative. I enjoyed my time with the game and if you do dive in, I recommend simply mainlining the core story as it keeps the repetition to a minimum. If you are a sucker for tons of mindless side content though this game has it in spades. I truly wish it was just more interesting though.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Combat and parkour are a blast
  • World can be interesting at times
Bad
  • Open world and side activities are boring
  • Dialogue can be off-putting at times
6.5
Decent
Written by
Ken is the Editor-in-Chief of this hole in the wall and he loves to troll for the fun of it. He also enjoys long walks through Arkham Asylum and the cool air of Shadow Moses Island. His turn-ons include Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid and StarCraft.