Forspoken review: open-world adventure that gets good at the very end

The ForspokenOf all things, it is a Christmas-themed game. It begins a few days before the holiday, which, as it happens, is protagonist Frey Holland’s birthday, a fact you learn when the game forces you to review her printed-out arrest record in the first scene, where Frey stands in a New York City courtroom accused of grand larceny and resisting arrest.

The same scene also reveals that Frey had an unusual birth, just like Jesus. Only in her case it wasn’t wise men who found her in Bethlehem, but firefighters in the Holland Tunnel. This is her name. Frey is beaten up in court by two women in leopard print and camo, before she returns to her apartment. There, she wrote her plans to leave New York, which was attached to a piece cardboard. Frey also has some books, in addition to her cardboard decorations.Alice in Wonderland and a leather-bound hard copy of something called “Law and Order” are the most prominent) and a wall rack devoted to her beloved “kicks.” Her whole apartment promptly burns down, leading her to reflect on her life while leaning over the edge of the Crossroads Hotel as the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Day. She is stunned to see a bracelet with a magic message that could change her whole life.

Right from the start, The Forspoken’s tone feels unintentionally absurd. Square Enix published the game in New York City. It was developed by Luminous Productions. Law & Order reruns and Tommy Wiseau’s The RoomFrey would be able to produce. (At one point, when asked what she misses about New York, Frey offers up Central Park and knish, the latter of which plays a surprisingly important role in the game’s plot.)

Photo: Luminous Productions/Square Enix via Polygon

Soon, though, you are portaled away to Athia, the game’s true setting: a medieval fantasy world overrun with corruption that threatens to destroy life itself. Cuff is a sentient bangle that hates you, and you are there joined at the wrist. Then, the dialogue from the infamous trailer is spoken, and you’re off to the races.

The Forspoken’s opening hours are by far its worst. It took me 16 hours to complete the game, taking in a fair bit of the side offerings in this open-world action RPG, being careful not to sprint too quickly toward the game’s conclusion, though the temptation was there. The first seven hours of those 16 (nearly half the game’s run time, I feel the need to emphasize) were hamstrung by a lengthy tutorial, one-note combat, and an insistence on interrupting the “magic parkour” with lore entries, horrible dialogue, sheep-petting minigames, cat-following minigames, and spoken exposition detailing the intricacies of meat production in Cipal, The Forspoken’s empty, ugly hub city.

It is a reference game. Alice in WonderlandOne of the greatest disappointments in Athia’s film is its blandness, both conceptually and visually. Divided between castles and slums, rich and poor? Check. You can treat this mysterious disease with special roots poultices. Check. An old man who’s gone mad, but might actually hold the key to solving all this? Sure. You could go on.

It’s a blessing, then — a true Christmas miracle — that once you get your second set of magical abilities, the game can actually be a fair bit of fun. The Forspoken’s combat is its central draw, and despite regular issues with lock-on and camera control, it’s satisfying to swap between several sets of magic on the fly, rooting enemies to the ground with vines before charging up a circular sweep of a fire sword and watching the VULNERABLEs litter the screen while my combat rating shoots up.

Photo: Luminous Productions/Square Enix via Polygon

It’s also a lot of fun to traverse. Frey also has The InfamousThe game features a sprint ability with an eerie look that can be modified as you progress, which allows you to quickly traverse the land in just a few seconds. Sadly, you’re invariably whipping toward visually identical dungeons (the interior lighting changes from red to green as you progress), visually identical rest areas called Pilgrim’s Refuges (no lighting variation), and cat-approaching minigames (distinct from cat-following minigames). Cuff and Frey banter while you explore, and you quickly become familiar with their best loot-pickup lines.

With every Tanta killed, combat is more exciting as you absorb power from these magical queens. By the time you get a fourth set of magical abilities, the game feels like it’s finally opening up, with a full suite of powers available to you, a feeling immediately undercut by the fact that it’s actually ending. There was certainly side content left to explore once I’d fought my way to my true power, but in terms of what was left of the story, it more or less amounted to a series of minibosses, some of which were retreads of what I’d already seen. If I hadn’t already felt disappointed with the game, I certainly would at its conclusion.

Photo: Luminous Productions/Square Enix via Polygon

Before I wrap up, let’s spare a word for Frey, a notionally Black protagonist who joins a growing trend in media of putting Black people in worlds where race is inconsequential. But the game insists Frey is a New Yorker. Regrettably, Frey’s identity is thinly written and awkwardly deployed, as the story leans not only on stereotypical narratives but trauma as a plot device.

An early plot point involves Frey holding the lifeless body of an Athian Black girl with whom she has bonded, an image that, in the raceless world of Athia, doesn’t carry the same weight it does in ours — and Frey’s. Initially, Frey is spurred to action, vowing revenge for the child’s death, which led me to believe, optimistically, that the game was thinking about Frey’s identity as more than just the sum of its repeated insistence of her love of “kicks” and the one time she says “OK bet.” Unfortunately, like everything in The Forspoken, the death is quickly relegated to quip-fodder, as Frey jokingly calls the child’s murderer “the kiddie-killer herself,” which brings us back to square one: a two-dimensional foster kid with a rap sheet who swears so often you’d think she was paid by the “motherfucker.”

Image by Luminous Productions/Square Enix

The Forspoken’s final hours feature a bizarre difficulty curve, where I found myself absolutely destroying certain bosses before the full dialogue could even play out, only to then be pitted against the big bad who, among other things, featured a one-hit kill cleverly disguised as a cutscene. Frey wins, yes, but I was skeptical about her final-game turn to heroism because she spends most of the game loudly proclaiming that neither she nor her character are heroes. The world is still plagued with blight and needs to be saved. The Cuff Fits, or another such aphorism.

Personally, I found myself more convinced by the game’s alternate ending, where you can return to New York without saving the world. Although the cutscene is a bit sloppy, the ending feels honest for the character, who like me was eager to end Athia’s story.

The Forspoken The game will be available on January 24 for Windows PC and PlayStation 5. Square Enix gave us a pre-release downloading code to review the game on PS5 Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.