Forspoken

An exceptionally middling experience

- ROLLIN BISHOP

UNFORTUNATELY, THE much-delayed Forspoken might have needed more time in development, as the delivered experience makes for a rough adventure. There are some impressive mechanics buried deep within Forspoken, but they're too often swallowed up by classic open-world chaff, a lackluster narrative, and some dreadful animation. The promise of effortlessly juggling several different spells, all while jumping around an attractive fantasy landscape, is held back by the unfortunate reality of what that's actually like-a lovely dream that isn't quite held up by its implementation.

While much has been said about Forspoken's narrative, which includes contributions from Gary Whitta (screenwriter of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), and Amy Hennig (creative director of the Uncharted franchise), the game is underpinned by many standard RPG tropes. Protagonist Frey Holland, an orphan from New York, is whisked away to the fantasy land of Athia through a magical portal after unintentionally finding herself as the bearer of a sentient bracelet, Cuff, that will not shut up. Upon arrival, she discovers that the world is in a bad way, with the corruptive Break spreading throughout, and the last remnants of humanity living in the single Break-free city of Cipal.

Frey can mysteriously survive in the Break and also use magic. She reluctantly comes to help the people of Cipal for what are quite selfish reasons. First and foremost, she wants to go home, and the initial set of NPCs point her in the direction of some enemies to fight. But then things get complicated, and there are more enemies to fight, and that gets further complicated, and so on until you're done roughly 22 hours later.