If only it didn’t have fall damage, which feels like a purposeful bullet to the foot. Especially when you unlock the mid-game ‘Zip’ spell -and eventually, surfing - Forspoken ekes out some Spider-Man-esque traversal bliss. The much-marketed magical parkour mechanics feel as high quality as they look, and if you aren’t holding Circle at all times to add flourish to Frey’s movements, you’re doing something wrong. What’s tragic about all the cutscenes you wish you could play is that the ambient open-world gameplay is actually heaps of fun when Forspoken lets you off the leash. Forspoken runs the gamut of dated mission types, from forced stealth to escort and plenty of interact-a-thon exploring jaunts.

Your first stop is the chatty hub town of Cipal, which provides Forspoken’s archetypal supplementary cast.Įven then, a slow-burn introduction of systems and abilities makes it feel like one long tutorial until about Chapter 5. Four big bosses are spread across its landscape, which is corrupted by a suspicious environmental plague called The Break. It’s not technically long in truth, but it sure feels like a while before you land in Athia, the sizable mythical realm where the meat of Forspoken takes place. The only vibrant book on Frey’s dining room table is Alice In Wonderland, and she’s got a cardboard escape plan on her bedroom wall.

READ MORE: ‘Forspoken’ preview: breakneck speed and magical combat.

You’ve seen it all before, but Forspoken’s New York opening, with its foreshadowing pockets of heavy-handed gameplay, doesn’t miss an opportunity to bat you over the head with a familiar premise and some seriously hammy dialogue, leaving a difficult first impression. Plucky orphan Frey Holland is whisked into a magical world and lumbered with divine purpose, superpowers and a smarmy British sidekick. The next game from Final Fantasy XV’s Luminous Productions is a mechanically solid open-world adventure game with a fantasy narrative that has been focus-tested much too far.

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