According to all of the teaser films thus far, Forspoken promises a slew of aesthetically spectacular elemental spells as well as a woman who can sprint, glide, and traverse a fantasy realm faster than any Assassin’s Creed protagonist.
What else can Forspoken’s Frey Holland do in the game? What are your thoughts on the rest of the game?
Square Enix provided a deeper look at the characters, world-building, and powers of the bangle-wielding Frey, who fell through a mystical portal from New York to the continent of Athia during a hands-off briefing. We also got to see a lot more of the fighting mechanics and spells you’ll be able to use, all of which were shown on an early build of the game.
This is the first game developed by Square Enix’s new Luminous Productions team. Forspoken is powered by Luminous Engine, the studio’s own graphics engine. Although a Zoom video conversation isn’t the ideal location to marvel at visuals, there seems to be an emphasis on smoothness based on the higher-resolution teasers. And she was slinging a bunch of spells about.
Aside from elemental strikes of various sizes, magical abilities include the aforementioned magic parkour, which allows the hero to rush at high speeds, leap mid-air, avoid attacks, and more. The game will run at 2K 60 FPS and 4K 30 FPS using the studio’s proprietary Luminous Engine, with ray-tracing graphics choices as well.
The new studio is also taking a unique approach to the subject. Luminous Productions hired Allison Rymer (who wrote for the TV show Shadowhunters) and Todd Stashwick as primary writers instead of hiring in-house writers. This team made a game that people liked. It was called Final Fantasy XV. They made it for everyone, not just the people who like the games they make now. However, based on this early look, Forspoken doesn’t seem to deviate too far from the video-game stereotype of a messianic outsider saving mysterious places.
The female protagonist, Ella Balinsk, is voiced and mo-capped, and there are multiple female adversaries — insane sorceresses known as Tantas. The planet of Athia is a matriarchal culture, which ensures that women are the most powerful actors. Still, the trailer didn’t give us much of a clue as to where Frey’s narrative would lead him in Forspoken. The developers also teased post-launch DLC called In Tanta We Trust, which would serve as a prologue to the main game.
We do know that the advancing darkness has encased what’s left of mankind behind the walls of Cipaul, a solitary city. The rest of the globe is now engulfed in “The Break,” a malevolent cloud that warps and consumes life.
Because she was able to survive the Break outside of the city, not to mention the magical freerunning and elemental armament that came with her cuff of magical bangles, some Cipaul residents saw Frey as a monster – a menace. There are also RPG-style upgrades to get. Frey will be able to strengthen her stamina and spell power by upgrading her cloak and nail art (!) in a contemporary take on magical gems and runes.
The cuff has a British accent and a sarcastic demeanor, similar to Destiny’s Ghost and, well, Ratchet and Clank’s Clank. It’ll joke around with Frey and react to how she fights. So far, it seems that the cuffs will also give you tips about fighting and the different ways you can fight. The team was still “tuning the precise frequency, substance, and volume” of its exchanges, according to a Square Enix representative. That’s a good thing since Frey appears to curse a lot, and yelling “Shit!” every time a monster hits has diminishing returns. Devil May Cry is a good example.
Stealth spells, magical land mines, and utilizing your cloak as a grappling hook were all hinted at in the trailer. Even if you’re going quickly, Forspoken will slow down when you’re aiming at critical ledges, which feels like a kind touch.
I’m most curious about how Forspoken will play and how the combat will feel. Frey may pick various effects and spells from rings with combat spells, saving many as shortcut areas for convenient (repeated) usage, although it’s difficult to say how natural this would seem.
The devs show me Breakstorms, which are random supernatural occurrences that create creatures and a larger beast, a skeleton giraffe-like creature with one eye that fires energy beams, near the conclusion of my 30-minute briefing. Frey uses a variety of high-level spells, stacking effects, and combining methods to manage the throng while also avoiding the wrath of the big monster in the heart of it all. In this case, she doesn’t quite make it, succumbing to the monster’s assaults, but the first thing that sprang to me was that I wanted to play this game myself and defeat this cyclops giraffe. Square Enix will hopefully be able to make these battles as fluid as Frey’s magical parkour dashes.
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