Despite the wealth of boring to awkward dialogue, there are moments in the Forspoken that are really well-written, though. Moments like when Cuff is espousing commentary on the nature of destruction and Frey responds with “You’re fucking stupid” would otherwise sound cringey if it wasn’t for the humorous delivery of the lines by Balinska and Cake. Forspoken isn’t breaking the mold with its script, and instead relies heavily on the vocal talent to carry the burden of giving believable deliveries of the otherwise awkward dialogue present in the game. In fact, many scenes are elevated by the voice cast in what is otherwise bland and corny dialogue. Ella Balinska delivers a great performance alongside Jonathan Cake, and it is their character’s relationship that kept me engaged for the bulk of the game due to the charm present in their performance. Their relationship starts off as begrudging and snippy, but slowly it seems as though the two begin to understand each other and their aggressive quips turn slightly more endearing. ![]() Throughout the story, Cuff serves as something of a contentious guide to Frey, urging her to be more sympathetic towards the feelings of others and to become their hero despite her desires to stay as unattached to people as possible. As she is introduced to Athia, Frey finds herself the reluctant protector of Cipal, the final bastion of humanity in Athia, and due to Cuff’s urging, she takes on the task of finding the former rulers of the world-the Tantas-in order to kill them and stop the Break for good.Īs Frey journeys through Athia to seek out the four corrupt Tantas, she slowly learns about her own mysterious past and about the people of Cipal despite her insistence that she does not care about anybody but herself and only wishes to return to New York. You see, this fantastical world is plagued by a mysterious blight called the Break, a magical fog that changes living beings into zombie-like monsters, and only Frey can enter the Break without being corrupted by it seemingly because of her ability to wield magic thanks to Cuff. ![]() Cuff, played by Jonathan Cake, is a magical bracelet that has attached itself to Frey against her will, but he offers to lend Frey use of her power in order to protect herself from the strange, corrupted monsters in Athia. Down on her luck with nobody to turn to, Frey finds herself thrust into the world of Athia thanks to a mysterious portal and her new, unwanted companion, Cuff…or Vambrace, as he would prefer. ![]() The game opens on a court trial where Frey is given one last chance to straighten out her life as an early Christmas gift by a sympathetic judge, but due to her involvement with a local street gang, she finds herself desperately seeking to flee the city and start a new life with her beloved cat.īefore she is able to leave New York, her apartment building gets burned down by the gang alongside the money Frey had saved to be able to flee the city. She is a street-toughened orphan living in New York with nothing to her name except a few designer sneakers, an old copy of Alice in Wonderland, and a Balinese cat named Homer. When I finally got my hands on Forspoken, I genuinely expected the worst, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself wholly enjoying the game despite the many issues present in the game.įorspoken plays out from the perspective of Frey Holland, played by actress Ella Balinska of Charlie ’ s Angels (2019) and Resident Evil (2022) fame. Despite the high expectations for this game, the marketing for Forspoken was fraught with numerous missteps that put off many potential players ahead of its release.ĭespite the game being developed by Square Enix’s Luminous Productions, the Japanese studio best known for developing the highly successful Final Fantasy XV, there was more focus on the Hollywood talent attached to the game which felt like a desperate attempt to assign some sort of unearned prestige.Įven though Forspoken was making strides within the video game industry by featuring a female person of color as the lead protagonist of their new IP, Square Enix would lean into tired, overused stereotypes by calling Frey’s walk “hip-hoppy”.įootage of the game looked repetitive at times and barely featured any story content, and the demo released actively turned off a lot of players because of the poorly explained controls and bland map. Originally revealed as Project Athia during the PlayStation 5 Showcase in June 2020, Forspoken was touted by Square Enix as a new blockbuster IP featuring A-list Hollywood writing and casting combined with the latest, greatest technologies in the industry.
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