The release date of Square Enix's Forspoken just got a big delay of five months, but at least fans can enjoy a brand-new trailer. Released during the latest PlayStation State of Play, the video is brief, yet filled with promising content.
Forspoken is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by Luminous Productions, a studio that previously worked on Final Fantasy 15. Renowned publisher Square Enix described the upcoming title as a "narrative-driven adventure," with the player character Frey being free to roam a large open world. The game presents many typical features of role-playing titles, such as crafting, leveling, and a wide range of magical spells to learn; additionally, players may randomly encounter a "breakstorm" while exploring, an event that spawns hordes of enemies.
The short trailer from State of Play well conveys the exciting combat of Forspoken, with several gameplay scenes showing Frey's midair dodging abilities, as well as various kinds of particularly choreographic spells. The variety of enemies is equally impressive, including fire-wielding demons, bear-like monstrosities, huge dragons, and more. Forspoken's focus on magic over physical combat is evident, with surprisingly few scenes featuring melee weaponry.
Considering the heavy emphasis being put on magic, with the character Frey being a young sorceress, Forspoken must put extra effort in balancing the player's own powers and the enemies they will face. The trailer clearly shows how many of Frey's powers are area-of-effect spells, which could potentially get rid of lesser mobs with a single hit.
Forspoken seems to follow many typical RPG tropes, while treading new ground at the same time. The story, that of a character with extraordinary powers being thrown into a world full of evil, is hardly imaginative, but only at first glance. In fact, there are many interesting elements that will give Forspoken its very own flavor. The player character Frey Holland is a heroine from New York, and its chief enemies, the corrupted rulers of Athia, are a singular group of magic-wielding matriarchal leaders; both aspects being uncommon sight in fantasy games.
The next IP from Square Enix seems to hold all the cards for a successful debut, with the recently disclosed delay not necessarily being a bad thing, in a world full of unpolished products. The only grey area might be the likely presence of microtransactions in Forspoken, a mechanic often criticized, especially in single-player games.
Forspoken launches October 11 for PC and PS5.