Forspoken doesn’t leave a great first impression. The restrictive opening chapters, poor pacing, and that PS5 demo do it no favours, and things didn’t click until the campaign was nearly over. I might’ve stopped sooner on a casual playthrough – but I’m glad I saw it through. Once things did click, I couldn’t turn away, and since Forspoken isn’t a long action-RPG it is at least one worth sticking with once you start – this is the type of game where you won’t always find the smoothest journey, but the build-up eventually pays off.
Playing as Frey Holland, Forspoken begins with a depressing opening chapter that makes her rough upbringing immediately evident. Soon enough, she’s transported into a strange fantasy land called Athia with no way home, paired with a wisecracking bracelet called Cuff. Forspoken doesn’t open up for several chapters, but once it does, you’ll confront the four Tantas, a powerful group of matriarchs that rule each of Athia’s regions. Once benevolent sorceresses, they’ve each succumbed to madness and terrorise this land, leaving us to hunt them down.
Following a rather simplistic stealth mission, Frey’s soon free to explore Cipal, a central medieval city that serves as your hub and humanity’s last hope. It’s a refuge safe from an ever-spreading corruption long called the Break, which affects everything it touches except Frey. With the wildlife and corrupted humans ready to kill on sight, each region presents its own challenges, and Frey doesn’t need conventional weaponry.
