Forspoken - PlayStation 5

This game is awesome! I really don't see why it received the mediocre reviews that it did.I love that I can pick up the game, have fun with the magic parkour and do stylish combos with the various magic that Frey has at her disposal. This a great game to pass the time with and is very accessible to newbies to action rpgs.The story/writing is fairly good, not award winning but it makes sense and has its share of memorable moments. The conversation between Frey and Cuff is snappy, and full of snide remarks (which can be annoying but you can reduce the chatter in the settings).Outside of the combat, the world of Athia is beautiful and really takes advantage of the graphical capabilities of the ps5. I will say that some of the dungeons and forts you encounter are very similar in design which can be redundant (but that's the same with most rpgs).The sound/music is solid but wasn't captivating. It does ramp up appropriately during action sequences and settles nicely during moments of emotional impact.The worst aspect of the game is probably the detour side quests. They are mostly fetch quests that seem inconsequential to the worldbuilding of Forspoken. The best aspect is the combined combat/parkour and exploration of Athia.The true score of this game should be a 4/5 but I'll give it a 5/5 because of the lack of great reviews. Honestly, this game's surface level story is actually a vibe because a lot of AAA games these days take a lot of commitment and hours to get into/complete. You can be done with the game in 20 or you can take your time and rack up 50+ like I did.

It is a great game. Story is consistent. There are labyrinths, the puzzles, RPG elements, the variety of enemies and the distinction between them against different magical abilities, the amount of detail in the story, magic, very fluid game mechanics with abilities that can be mix-matched and chained together. Not to mention this game really takes advantage of the PS5 controller. You can feel the character walking, the haptic feedback when you are firing or building a explosive magic in your hand, and many others. It really makes you feel the gravity of the heavy elements vs lighter elements that you can rapid-fire.There are details in the game where, for example, you are struggling with an enemy and it hints you that the magic you might be using is not suitable and tells you if the magic was more suited for close or distant encounters. I thought those are great little touches. The design is well thought-out. Once you learn them, you can chain them and mix and match for any combination you like.The story is detailed. For everything you encounter, it develops a well organized archive section where you can access to the backstory for many characters, locations, items, etc. Our hero (trying to pose as anti-hero) is an orphan and her attitude is justified for where she came from and rough life she had to go through by herself, alone. Naturally, she doesn't trust others and it is really hard for her to bond with people given her life experience. There are details in the storytelling actually exposes her good heart under her shell. A hint we get in the story is from Olevia, the little orphan girl she meets who mirrors her inner fragile loving soul.Performance-wise, I didn't experience any glitches playing on PS5 and I am playing on a capable 120hz tv with ray tracing on. Something to note that I didn't get any updates to the game in the last couple days. Normally, modern games have a huge update at release. This one didn't have one so far. I thought that is positive and speaks for its quality. I didn't encounter any bugs or glitches myself given I am close to getting the platinum. You can search for YT for bugs or glitches and make up your own mind.Given my direct experience with the game, I do recommend it, especially to those who enjoy the RPG elements.

Great visuals and smooth movement make exploring enjoyable. Combat can get repetitive, but overall a solid PS5 experience.

Forspoken has wonderful and engaging gameplay that seems to go forgotten beneath the overly scathing criticism.The story is a little bland if you’re familiar with Isekai stories from Japanese anime, but that is only a minor hindrance.Both of the main leads Frey and Cuff have decent banter that was the source of a lot of excessive criticism from the Internet at large, but it’s really just fine. I set the banter on the “high” setting and never became bothered by it in my 30 hours with the game.Exploration was initially a great motivation to make progress, but the open world started to lose its charm for me by the time I was half way through. Its redeeming feature is that the magical parkour remains fun with the slow introduction of new movement abilities.Forspoken’s weakest link was its beginning. It takes between half an hour and an hour to even reach the magical new world of Athia, but even after reaching the world you’re still at least two hours off from being able to explore it. I was decently patient with it as I was playing through, but even I couldn’t help but demand freedom by the end of it.Forspoken’s greatest strength, and the thing that made me enjoy it as much as I did was the combat and the powers. I felt like I was back in 2013 playing inFamous 2 for the first time. You can be as tricky or straightforward as you want, taking advantage of the environment all the while. Your collection of powers slowly expands, and you have the ability to strengthen the powers you do have by completing quests. This is honestly amazing.If you’re still on the fence, there is a demo. Get a taste of the gameplay, and use that as motivation to get through the slog of an intro.