Forspoken was one of the more unexpected titles to be announced at the Spring 2021 Square Enix Presents. With its publisher best known for series like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts, the dark, mature style of Forspoken is a fresh direction, but not an unwelcome one. The game has so far received a cautious but positive reception among fans.
News on Forspoken has remained somewhat limited. It was previously known as Project Athia but remained under the radar for most gamers, with only a short trailer of some gameplay clips floating around on the internet prior to its official debut at Square Enix Presents. Though it’s hard to know how Forspoken will turn out, what we do know hints at an intriguing Action RPG that embraces frequent f-bombs, vivid violence, and high graphical fidelity.
The Latest Forspoken Trailer
A short trailer for Forspoken dropped during its title announcement in March 2021. Choosing to remain rather enigmatic about the story, the trailer instead showcases the game’s stunning graphics. The open-world setting — a fantasy world known as Athia — is beautifully rendered with AMD technology that doesn’t skimp on environmental detail. Perhaps the most eye-catching part of the trailer is the fluid movement of the protagonist as she leaps and flies through the world.
While that trailer did a good job showing off the graphics, it was later trailers that established the open-world of Athia, which seems to take cues from Ghosts of Tsushima and The Witcher 3. Trailers featured at E3 and The Game Awards expanded upon this, highlighting the game’s story and characters, including Tanta Sila, Joehdy, and Frey’s mysterious, talking bracelet named Cuff, who appears to serve as some sort of guide.
In March 2022, the “Worlds Collide” trailer showcased the game’s fast-paced combat. Contrary to expectations established by previous RPGs, mages in Forspoken are agile fighters, capable of dodging and traversing the environment with supernatural speed.
What Is Forspoken About?
Forspoken follows Frey Holland, a modern woman who somehow winds up Athia. Quickly discovering that the land is filled with both beauty and dismay, she must harness her newfound magical abilities to survive. Treacherous trials conceal the truth of her situation and the very nature of Athia itself, including a dark corruption known as the Break — a magical storm mutating Athia in unearthly ways.
All this confirms Forspoken is an isekai story. Isekai is a popular anime genre where an ordinary person winds up in an unfamiliar world (often by getting hit by a truck and dying). If the game follows conventional isekai tropes, the plot will revolve around Frey seeking to find out why she wound up in Athia and how to return home, but it seems likely Forspoken will do something more unique given the game’s dark and gritty atmosphere.
At the December 2021 Game Awards, more about the plot was showcased in a trailer. For the first time, we see Frey interacting with other humans in the world of Athia, though these interactions seem to be rife with conflict. A faction known as the Council is suspicious of her connection to the Break, but they ultimately seem to have no choice but to rely on her to deal with it. Other, less benevolent factions, take a less charitable approach to Frey’s sudden appearance — a queenly woman garbed in red accuses her of trespassing, and a pale-faced man in robes declares Frey to be worthy of the death sentence at some sort of trial. It’s also been confirmed that Frey will have to contend with a coterie of villainous sorceresses known as Tantas.
Given the dark tone of this game, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Frey really is connected to the Break somehow, rather than being a purely heroic character. Whatever the case, every trailer so far indicates that she’ll have to fight her way past massive monsters to salvage what remains of Athia.
When Does Forspoken Release?
When Forspoken was first announced, it certainly seemed like it wasn’t very far along and would need plenty of development time. Thus, it came as a surprise when the 2021 Game Awards announced an initial release date of May 24, 2022. This proved to be too ambitious of a target, and in March it was announced that the game would be delayed to October 11. Whether or not the game will receive further delays remains unknown.
Forspoken is among the many games now being marketed as a PlayStation 5 exclusive as Sony begins to quietly move away from the PlayStation 4. However, despite it being showcased so heavily as a Sony property, Forspoken will be receiving a PC release as well, opening up the world of Athia even for those who don’t have a next-gen console.
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