The game “Forspoken” initially caused a lot of excitement: Seen in videos for the first time under the name Project Athia, the title was one of the first demonstrations of what the Sony PlayStation 5 is capable of. Accordingly, this game is also available exclusively for the PS5 in the console area – Xbox fans will get nothing. Also available: a PC version. I took a closer look at the game in the last few days.
Now it’s no secret that reviews of “Forspoken” that have already been published have given the triple-A game rather mixed ratings. At Metacritic there is an average rating of 67 and the user ratings are even more negative. Much criticism focuses on the main character Frey, played by actress Ella Balinska. The latter doesn’t seem to have a knack for roles, having also appeared in the flops Charlie’s Angels and Resident Evil (Netflix series).
And yes: Frey embodies many of the clichés associated with millennials. The good one seems quite egocentric and can attract less attention with cleverness and likeable traits than with luck and convulsive toughness. And her constantly chatting companion Cuff, in fact a bracelet, quickly gets on your nerves. Especially since his verbal interludes interrupt the flow of the game, since you can no longer move. Cuff’s “funny” comments about fights can at least be rolled back in the menu.
But first things first: In “Forspoken” you slip into the role of the aforementioned Frey, a young woman who is torn from New York City into the fantasy world of Athia and has to fight her way home – to conquer the kingdom of to liberate from tyranny. The standard story, as known from many other fantasy titles, only picks up speed in the last third of the approximately 15-hour main story. The relatively short playing time for an action RPG would have allowed for a crisp story, but basically you shimmy your way from one big adversary to the next without really being able to root for Frey and Athia’s residents. The main character remains too pale for that.
Athia also seems unexpectedly generic: You fight with your magic spells, which you have to change very often in fights, against all sorts of standard enemies from the fauna and now and then against something smarter, human brawlers. In order to free the world that is slowly dying in a contamination, this story element is somewhat reminiscent of the “Neverending Story”, you visit several realms. The highlight is not so much the sometimes sterile environment as Frey’s rapid movement. The flow that comes up right from the start is slightly reminiscent of “Sunset Overdrive” or “Sonic Frontiers”. Getting from A to B in a hurry is definitely fun. The shoes glow in the truest sense of the word.
In fact, one is always encouraged to pause. So many icons for side activities pop up on the map that even Ubisoft would be amazed. Unfortunately, these are mostly just boring collecting orgies, the hunt for animals or objects, or certain combat challenges. I felt like I was working off a list here and ignored the side quests. It’s good that you can ignore all of this relatively easily and still trudge through the main story flawlessly. The dynamic parkour system and the simple but fun fights are an entertaining pastime.
Technically “Forspoken” is such a thing. Many characters, especially the main character, look very detailed and their gestures and facial expressions are well captured. But the game world is partially lacking in detail and generic. There are open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 that are years older but still look more attractive. In the Rockstar game, for example, you like to stop and just have fun exploring the world. Forspoken offers a huge map and yet feels empty despite having hundreds of icons on it.
In addition, the game works natively with quite low resolutions and appears very soft, especially in fast-paced battle scenes. You can choose between different quality and performance, depending on whether your TV can handle 120 Hz. The game then does not run at that frame rate, but feels more responsive. The colleagues from Digital Foundry have once again published a very revealing video.
The game also doesn’t do itself any favors with the fact that, due to the sweeping change in the land, there’s only one bustling city – Cipal. This eliminates the joy that arose, for example, in “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” when you saw a new village. Things like that are missing in “Forspoken”: Places where you meet interesting characters who offer quests with little background stories – not umpteen symbols that are undramatically emblazoned on the map.
Incidentally, I liked the soundtrack of “Forspoken” much better than the aesthetics. So the music comes from Garry Schyman and Bear McCreary. The latter also presented the soundtrack to “God of War Ragnarök”. And the English voice output, which I used, is also successful. After all, many well-known actors from film and television are also at work here – e.g. B. Janina Gavankar also plays a role, which she might have seen in “True Blood”, “The Morning Show” or “Big sky‘ kept in mind.
Well, is Forspoken a good game? It has good approaches with its parkour system and fights flooded with particle effects, but the sterile open world, the generic story and the generally unsympathetic main character destroy a lot. In the end you have to say that you simply get better stuff for the current price of 80 euros – and perhaps as an open-world fan you’d rather wait for “Hogwarts Legacy”. In any case, I wouldn’t grab “Forspoken” at full price. After a decent price reduction, it may be worth taking a look if you are primarily interested in the dynamic battles and a fast parkour system in a huge game world.
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