Forspoken proposes a dizzying journey through a magical world.
When we still knew it as Project Athia, forspoken it impressed us with its next generation graphics. We have now been able to check this sight power in first person, after playing for an hour and a half the promising title of Luminous Productions and Square Enix. During this time we have been able to enjoy a very intense gameplay full of nuances that has surprised us as much as the trailers already published. Forspoken has its release date set for January 24, 2023 for PS5 and PC.
You only need to see a couple of images of Forspoken to realize that it has the Square Enix stamp. A protagonist with personality, a colorful role playing game and above all magical. Ingredients that they always work and this time does not seem to be the exception. Now in practice Forspoken is a risky proposition that rely on three pillars fundamentals: parkour, the combat system and the open world. The first two work, but we have more doubts with the conception of the world.
Discreet open world
we still lack know a context, a story. We have played an advanced section of Forspoken and we don’t know how Frey got to this magical world so vast. The young woman from New York is not alone, she is accompanied by a talking magic bracelet that attends to the name of Cepo and guides us in this adventure without limits. We have not been able to see the seams of the stage nor its extension, but we have covered a space large enough to test our skills.
That is where the first question arises. The map filled with icons with relevant sites as seen in other open worlds. has an environment with a lot of potential so as not to go unnoticed, but in this test version the path has been rather discreet. mysterious ruins, bridges, towers and castles abandoned are some of the locations in the game. Even camps full of enemies. You can see places on the horizon that call our attention and we use a tower to mark the points of interest.
Although the stage plays with verticality and rough surfaces, the most interesting places are flat. The landscapes of Athia are beautiful, they are full of details and a lot of field to literally get lost. But they are just that: field with wild animals and in the best of the most demanding enemies. That’s where Forspoken’s core mechanics come into play. makes scanning much easier and displacement.
Parkour as the main mechanic
There is no mountain too high for arrive at the destination, as the song would say. Actually, parkour does have certain boundaries, but it is its most precious differential element. Allows you to move around the stage breakneck speeds as long as we have a kind of stamina that recovers over time. With a simple button Frey becomes very agile, he can climb obstacles or hang from any ledge. Also run through the water without sinking This allows us to be creative and use the environment in our favourespecially in combat.
Luminous Productions proposes a combat system hectic and nothing static. A priori, Frey has no resources to defend himself from an attack (except some spell) and has to dodge through parkour. We like this combination a lot, since it allows us to create very crazy combinations in real time. It becomes very funny when Frey uses his main magic along with his support magic. Forspoken does not settle for cast spells in the distance, but there are also skills body to body for the most daring.
Frey’s spells are based on the elemental magics like earth or fire. It is a good starting point to know what we can expect later, in addition to having a overwhelming skill tree full of new attacks. They are unlocked with mana points gained by leveling up, exploring, or in combat. not invent anything new, but the player can equip a large number of spells. The main ones are always available to use as if it were a basic attack and support spells have a cooldown.
This system forces continuously change spell secondary, being able to deal damage in an area with explosions or growing vines to catch to an enemy. Only one elemental magic type can be equipped, but it is possible to toggle in the middle of the action. These are our weapons to face common enemies that have surrounded us, where combat can seem chaotic. Everyone has a vulnerability or resistance to a type of magic, so testing becomes the best strategy. Finally we face a couple of enemies of a higher category as a giant crocodile That doesn’t put us in trouble either.
Capes, necklaces and nail design
Frey would be nobody without Stocks, surely. But he is not the only complement that has caught our attention. Via cosmetic elements like capes and necklaces, Frey can add power-ups to his gear. It’s also a quick way to improve vitality, defense or magic level. So there is a large component of collection and crafting in a shelter that also serves to activate fast travel. Not everything was going to be parkour, there are also some shortcuts.
The herbs, minerals and other resources They will serve to create our own combinations. Frey can change his cloak at any time and find nail designs with passive effects on abilities and stats. These types of accessories let us see that Luminous Productions seeks to give a greater identity to a very promising game that has been deflating for so long.
Forspoken Conclusions
An hour and a half is not enough know the wide world by Forspoken. The game has a lot to offer, that’s for sure. Especially in the combat system that it’s so funny as you can see in the video next to parkour as the most striking mechanic. In any case, it is a spectacular combat with many visual effects and particles in the environment that give it a very realistic magical touch. The graphic section will be one of its strengths without a doubt.
Instead, the open world is a delicate terrain that does not meet expectations. Remember that it is a first contact, far from the final result. A early version more focused on the gameplay than on the world of Athia itself. We already saw in the last videos that this scenario will be divided by regions with cities and apparently more alive from what we have seen.