FORSPOKEN

Sorry publishers, this game is already spoken for

FORMAT PS5 ETA SPRING 2022 PUB SQUARE ENIX DEV LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS PLAYERS 1

The game formerly known as Project Athia has settled into its new name, and it won’t be too long now before it’s shouting about itself loudly and proudly. We’ve already come a long way since that 2020 teaser trailer, which didn’t reveal much beyond a lovely-looking world, a dragon, and a huge dog made of grumpiness and fire. Now we know more than enough to make us excited for its release.

The protagonist is a young woman by the name of Frey Holland, living a miserable life in New York City with her cat, Homer (whose naming we suspect has more to do with the epic ancient Greek poem The Odyssey than The Simpsons). Frey’s about to turn 21 and longs to escape her unhappy urban life. She wants to go somewhere completely different from the claustrophobic and polluted city, and boy, does she ever achieve that.

Athia is the name of the fantastical world that she somehow ends up in. It’s a dramatic-looking landscape full of lush greenery, wide-open spaces, picturesque ruins… and, as it turns out, plenty of magical creatures that want to bring her visit to an abrupt and messy end. Fortunately, she has more than just the 21st-century Earth outfit she arrives in to protect her.