Forspoken

As someone who finally got around to playing Forspoken, I'm genuinely surprised by the overwhelmingly negative reviews it received. While it's certainly not a perfect game, at a price point of 30 EUR or less, it's an incredibly solid experience and well worth your time. I'd give it an 8/10.

The combat, often a point of contention, truly comes alive once you unlock the second magic tree - the fire abilities. This is where the game's unique movement and spell-casting mechanics really click, offering a dynamic and engaging combat system that becomes genuinely fun.

Frey, the protagonist, has been criticized for being "annoying," and while her initial dialogue can be a bit much, you do get used to her. More importantly, many of the common complaints can be significantly mitigated by simply adjusting a few in-game settings. Things like automatic spell switching and reducing the frequency of Cuff's banter can drastically improve the flow and enjoyment. There are plenty of helpful YouTube videos that detail optimal settings to enhance your experience.

If you've been hesitant due to the initial backlash, and you can pick it up at a discount, I highly recommend giving Forspoken a chance. It's a far more enjoyable game than its reputation suggests.

My brother in christ...70 dollars for this piece of sht is unbelievable... I'll try to be brief

Graphics:

• Massive graphic downgrade from the demo, feels like a scam...

• It demands a ridiculous ammount of things and storage to run, at best, like a PS3 game.

• The cities design is just embarrasing. Without spoilers, they introduce a city that is the equivalent of modern Athens, and it looks like a bunch of sticks

Gameplay:

• Repetitive mechanics

• IT LAGS all the fkn time!!!!!! If there are like 10 enemies it will be a lag storm.

• NPC are just dumb and void. They don't say anything, just one or two lines over and over again.

• Massive map... that is empty, has nothing to do. No interest points. Just an annoying empty field.

• Open world doesn't work. It doesn't let you explore, respawns you in the last checkpoint if you go "too far".

Main character and story:

• The most insufferable main character... This is supposed to be a dark story... But whatever deepness they planned goes down the drain with the lame ironic comments of the protagonist, at all times. In the most serious moments, there's always the most unfunny joke to be made, that avoids the player to be immersed in the story. This, along with the annoying bracelet voice, makes it impossible to take the story seriously.

Is it Game of the Year? No.

But is it enjoyable and worth $40 and a steal at $20 which is what I paid for it? Definitely.

The Bad: The graphics felt stuck in the PS3 era.

The writing needed some more time to bake for sure; it's pretty typical isekai so it needed to figure out how to break the mold rather than what was sent out.

There are settings you'll probably need to change to tailor to make the game better.

The Good: The gameplay is solid with the spells being easily customizable to fit your style of fighting.

The enemies and boss fights were engaging and interesting.

The traversal magic parkour was fun albeit takes a bit of work before it stops feeling clunky.

I don't know what everyone is complaining about. The graphics and colours are extremely impressive, highly visual and explosive.

The combat, although different to other games, is immersive, unique, captivating and requires quick thinking. The map traversal is engaging.

The array of skills is also impressive. I'm about 30 hours in and clear every zone I'm in.

The main city is a bit lack lustre but in all honesty, I don't really want to spend much time there beyond what is necessary. The point of the game is to be out and about not confined to a city.

The interaction between the main character and 'cuff' could be improved and is somewhat limited and repetitive.

PS5. 120Hz. Ray tracing enabled.

Forspoken shines as a fun and frenetic action-adventure, tailouring its fast load times to fit its superb magical parkour (arguably my favourite traversal mechanics I've experienced in any game as of now). Combat is flexible and rich with magic, but, despite some strategy, doesn't scale much. The story works but lacks inspiration and its characters solid performances can't quite hold it up. That said, the negative social media reaction I saw for the game is, for me, completely overblown. It might not be Game of the Year, but Forspoken is an enjoyable fantasy experience with sparks of real potential.