Forspoken Review – Average Isekai

Forspoken is about running and movement. Frey, the protagonist of the game starts the race against the law and the debt collectors. A gym bag stuffed with cash is her only weapon of escape from New York City. In all the chaos she is in, Frey falls into Athia, and she longs to escape the mysterious, new world, where her running and combat skills are uncanny. Getting from one place to another is Forspoken’s high point, and while no other element quite reaches the heights of how fun running and climbing are, Frey’s adventure isn’t without its highlights.

Forspoken does not make a great first impression. Athia’s environments look great, as does Frey when she moves through the world, but zooming in close for cutscenes shows some rough textures. It is also difficult to read the dialogue and it is too transparent. From Frey’s cat, Homer, to the little girl who wins Frey’s heart by stealing her phone in Athia, every character’s role as a means to humanize Frey is too obvious, and her frequent and stubborn refusal of the hero’s call is hammered too hard. Thankfully, Forspoken’s story and dialogue improve the deeper you get.

By the end, I liked Frey’s overly vulgar and combative nature and her antagonistic relationship with Cuff, her invisible partner that lives on her wrist. Also, I enjoyed the main storyline. While none of these twists were unexpected, I enjoyed them. They helped to contextualize Frey’s anger and her determination not to be the hero, despite everything requiring it. Both from an ending perspective (character relationship and gameplay standpoint), I enjoyed Frey.

Combat is poor. Forspoken is an action game, but calling it a third-person shooter wouldn’t be out of line, as most of Frey’s abilities function like magical guns. Frey is able to switch between many abilities, which can be useful for taking advantage of enemies’ weaknesses. I found a few I preferred, but success often meant switching to the sluggish weapon I didn’t particularly want to use. It was difficult to change abilities. I often had to stop and think about the buttons that I needed in order to use certain weapons.

Frey is often disappointed by the few bosses she encounters. These bosses are interesting in their designs and attack styles, which look amazing when they’re moving but don’t allow for tactical thinking. I mainly hit them with the most magic bullets I could. My most memorable encounter was with the boss. He encourages you to be strategic.

Although the combat and story are a bit lacking, movements throughout the film are flawless. It’s great to sprint through Athia, jump over buildings and do other movements. There are a few additional abilities that make it even easier. Frey can now long-jump with well-timed button press, making her even more agile and faster. Nearly all the movement upgrades I found were worthwhile and enjoyable, so I did my best to find them. That joy of movement integrates into combat, where even if shooting doesn’t feel great, dodging and leaping over enemy heads does.

A helpful system that automatically numbers waypoints makes exploration fun. On my way to a core destination, for example, I would mark a handful of locations to check out along the way and wouldn’t have to revert to the map much because of the numbers. Some locations allow this to be done by simply looking at the distant without having to enter the map. You can also earn rewards for finding certain spots. These include new items, cloaks, and stat boosters.

Although Forspoken’s combat and story fail to match the excitement of exploration and movement, these two elements are the majority of Forspoken’s experience. In about fifteen hours I ran through the campaign, sometimes literally. I now have an expansive world that I want to explore and run through. The narrative won’t linger with me, and I avoided combat in the open world often, but I loved making Frey leap and fly through Athia to discover all its treasure chests and secrets.