Forspoken Reviews
Check out Forspoken Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 36 reviews on CriticDB, Forspoken has a score of:
Square Enix's Forspoken serves up a volley of great gameplay ideas as well as strong representation. However, a firestorm of poor design choices, pacing, and other issues leave the game in a permanent battle of contradictions.
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Earlier this year, the internet had collectively decided to label Forspoken as the worst game of the year, the culprit for everything that was wrong with gaming, and so on and so forth. It almost made me want to test it out right away, just to see if it was indeed worthy of these titles, or if it was going to become yet another victim of internet hyperbole, like many other games in the past like Castlevania 64, E.T., Final Fantasy XIII, Contra: Rogue Corps, and many others. I took advantage o...
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Serviceable action combat can't salvage a disappointing narrative and trivial open world.
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Early on, Forspoken‘s somewhat empty, barren world isn’t the most appealing. Stick with it, though, and you’ll be rewarded with more interesting landscapes, plenty of side content to sink your teeth into and a range of magical beasts itching for a fight. Frey makes a great protagonist, and we couldn’t help but be charmed by her punchy personality. But it’s her exhilarating parkour that really sets Forspoken apart. This open world adventure offers up the type of fun that’s hard to put down once you get started. We’re certainly keen to keep returning to Athia to mop up those remaining...
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Explore the beautiful and cruel world of Athia in the shoes of Frey Holland, a down-on-her-luck New Yorker sucked through a magical portal. Defeat your enemies with high-powered elemental spells and uncover more about the Break, the mysterious corruption plaguing the land. PS5 version reviewed.
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Forspoken is a game not without controversy, largely since the demo that released towards the end of 2022 didn’t put its best foot forward. The weight of expectation is also strong considering the pedigree of its developers Luminous Productions, a team assembled from folk who worked on Final Fantasy XV. It’s a big bold swing at a fantasy title, with a gigantic open world to explore with parkour and fancy magical abilities, and in some ways it’s an energetic and enticing experience. A pr...
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With some highs and plenty of lows, Forspoken might be worth playing for some, but it'll be forgettable for many.
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Squeenix's epic-ish isekai game has cool magical combat, but it's far too big for its own good, and that scale leaves it feeling empty and disappointing.
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Forspoken isn't perfect, owing to a middling campaign and a need for more optimization. Still, its spell combat system and parkour mechanics are top-notch, with landscapes and abilities that can truly amaze.
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Forspoken lacks the kind of refinement expected of a AAA title. If the concepts had received more attention, then the entire package would have been more cohesive. Still, despite its issues, there's definitely something here to enjoy if you can focus in on what the game does well: narrative, accessibility, and writing.
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Forspoken could have been excellent if it tried a little harder.
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Without a compelling story or likable protagonist, or a compelling world to explore, Forspoken only has its combat to rely on and while I always found that fun and engaging, it’s not enough to justify an open world for a decidedly linear game. It tries a lot of things and comes up short in most of them. There’s a really good game in Forspoken. It just needed to be refined, polished and edited.
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My time with Forspoken was a strange one. Elements of the game are fantastic, with an engrossing story and a gorgeous world. However, it all just feels segmented, like nothing really wants to work together. Forspoken is a good game and one I would recommend to most open-world fans, but it just feels so close to greatness that I can't help but walk away disappointed.
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Forspoken is one of the most hit-and-miss games we've played in a long time. For everything it does well, it fumbles something else, resulting in a fantasy adventure that's full of ups and downs. It's a game that feels a bit confused in terms of what it actually wants to be, chasing a AAA-style 'cinematic' story one minute and encouraging you to explore hundreds of open world map markers the next.
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Even with its unfortunate first impression, I'd heartily recommend Forspoken. Its exceptional gameplay is more than enough to make it worth playing, and is all the more noteworthy given it's a fresh new IP. If nothing else, it lays the groundwork for a new series that has plenty to build from, and could go on to be remembered for far more than some cringey dialogue.
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I came into Forspoken unsure of what I would find. Its initial teasers promised a gorgeous magical world full of incredible sights. Instead, we’ve been given something boring, that runs terribly and has a story full of overused tropes. The combat fares no better, and it’s retailing for $70 at launch. Do yourself a favor and only sate your curiosities once this game is on a deep sale.
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Forspoken is a game about movement and running. Protagonist Frey begins the game running from the law and debt collectors. She's also in the middle of a plan to flee New York City with a gym bag full of cash. Amidst that chaos, she falls into the land of Athia and is eager to leave the new, mysterious world where she inexplicably has superhuman combat and running abilities. Getting from one place to another is Forspoken’s high point, and while no other element quite reaches the heights of how fun running and climbing are, Frey’s adventure isn’t without its highlights.
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Forspoken shines brightest when its protagonist is dipping, ducking, and diving along the generally striking world of Athia while casting a variety of spells, but the standard fish-out-of-water fantasy story of Frey only subtracts from the experience.
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“Forspoken takes too long to get started due to a poorly paced story, but its dazzling spellcasting and parkour traversal will reward patient players.”
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Forspoken is a clunky game with awkward dialogue and characterisation, but the gameplay shines bright.
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After being delayed not once but twice, Forspoken is finally on the cusp of its January 24th release date. We’ve spent the past week or so magically parkouring all over the lands of Athia, and battled hundreds of zombie-like enemies and corrupted Tantas to render our verdict. Have the delays proved fruitful, or did Luminous Productions still need more time for its debut game?
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It stumbles out the block with a slow, awkward opening and barely manages to recover its footing – even 10 hours later. But there's something in Forspoken, somewhere.
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Originally unveiled as Project Athia back in 2020, Forspoken tells the story of Frey, a New Yorker who sees themselves sucked into the fantasy world of Athia at the time of its greatest peril. How does Square Enix's latest AAA IP stack up though, and is Athia a world worth jumping down the rabbit hole to explore?
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It’s said that the essence of creativity is taking old ideas and rearranging them into something new. That’s certainly true when it comes to narratives. There are only so many ways to spin a yarn. The hero’s journey was probably already old news when Homer–the Greek, not the Simpson–wrote the Odyssey. That brings us to Forspoken. Is this action game and fish-out-of-water tale a creative take on familiar themes or a retread of worn-out mechanics?
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Given the opportunity to dare, Forspoken chooses to play it incredibly safe, with muddled pacing and strict adherence to both narrative and gameplay tropes holding it back from reaching its groundbreaking potential. Regardless, its dazzling visuals, charismatic leads, memorable boss battles, and energetic and varied combat will reward the more patient player with a solid, spellbinding adventure… And, for everybody else, there are magical cats.
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Forspoken was once one of the big reveals for the PS5 in 2020, but aside from using the SSD for open world magical parkour and the ultra quick fast travel, it is difficult to really see how it takes advantage of the latest console generation. The world of Athia looks good, and the combat full of flashy magic, but there's no major side quests to divert from repetitive activities and a predictable main story.
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So much of the design of Forspoken takes a starting template and duplicates it ad nauseum to the point the biggest incentive to do anything is to flesh out the magic. By the time the credits rolled after 15 hours of story (and a decent amount of side activities), there weren’t any compelling reasons to keep going and cross items off the checklist. Instead, it felt better to appreciate the things that were enjoyable about Forspoken and leave it at that.
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When I rolled credits on Forspoken, the only emotion I had was a sense of relief. Sure, I still had questions about the narrative, about some of Frey's background, and about some of the bigger reveals, but by the end, I just didn't care anymore. I was happy the story (outside of the aforementioned post-campaign content) was over.
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Forspoken isn’t without its hiccups…Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time with Forspoken’s focal storyline…The relationship between the two main characters never ceases to entertain, and the gameplay is enjoyable.
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Forspoken is absolutely fantastic. With all the spells you can unlock, the gear you can upgrade, the fights, the bosses, and a storyline that rivals the best video game stories, this isn't a return to form for SquareEnix, it's a testament that they still got it, and will have it for a very, very long time.
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Just when it looks like you can actually get hold of a PS5 (two years after it first launched) without jumping through hoops or extortionate eBay auctions, all the exclusives seem to have dried up.
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It’s abundantly clear that Forspoken’s story and setting are MacGyvered together by a committee of writers, but running around Athia is so much fun that it’s easy to overlook a lot of its shortcomings. The ambitious combat system and traversal are truly memorable and satisfying, I’m hopeful that a potential sequel or successor could elevate these ideas into something even more special.
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Forspoken offers an engaging story and fluid traversal mechanics that make the act of exploring the world and upgrading Frey's magical abilities an absolute delight.
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