Forspoken (2023 Video Game) User Reviews

Not at all what it seemed

[axtonjcranston · 4/10 · 26 January 2023]

You know how you get your hopes up so high that you can only be disappointed well this is where forspoken left me feeling.

It starts out with a seriously disappointing intro level that barely passes for a game from 10 years ago. Not only visually but gameplay wise as well. For first impressions this part nearly made me quit altogether. After about 30 or 40 minutes you reach a new zone that starts to explain the steep system requirements but still doesn't really give that wow factor.

Then there's the character. This probably finished it for me. Her attitude may fit the intro where she's down on her luck but it soon grows tiresome and never really let's up. And that's the part the doesn't fit the game. Plus she adapts to her new skills far too easily for this seasoned gamer. Give this one a pass for now especially at the ridiculous price they launched it at, $93 CAD.

A Mediocre Game, Wasted Potential

[msvfhhns · 4/10 · 2 February 2023]

Forspoken is the definition of a mediocre game. Far better than the previous live service hot garbage Square Enix has been pushing lately, such as Marvel's Avengers, but that's not saying much. $70 is laughably overpriced for a mostly bland and wasteful experience that offers little beyond whatever your definition of a mediocre game is.

The main character, Frey Holland, is poorly written and just really irritating. Her personality is essentially what you'd expect from a real life whiny teenage girl. Whiny, rude, stuck-up, and immature, it's especially repugnant if you know what she's dealing with in her hometown, New York. She literally mocks her companion Cuff for zero reason. But she constantly tries to crack these really unfunny jokes while swearing, during both the cutscenes and gameplay. It's as if the writers couldn't figure out how to make a character funny and likable that isn't Eric Cartman or Deadpool. For a 21 year old, she acts like a 12 year old. She looks like one, too. Some people have said she's why silent protagonists in games are better, I personally have to disagree with that. I prefer protagonists in games that talk, it gives them personality. Making them mute makes them self inserts and bland characters. I would just make Frey actually act like a 21 year old.

It's not the voice actresses fault, it's the horrendous writing. I'm all in for a witty and less serious story, but here, it just doesn't work. Also, the game loves to have it so you activate a cutscene after walking every so thirty feet, and it's especially irritating when they've could've just cut the gameplay and made clumped the cutscenes together for one large cutscene. I mainly play most games for the story, but I don't want a cutscene to be interrupted by gameplay and vice versa.

This is a game that could've been delayed for another year or so. It desperately could use some rework. The combat is fine, gameplay is also pretty solid, but man, the story and writing kills the entire experience. This game is wasted potential. Because the gameplay is sadly the only saving grace here, and I feel most of the development time went into that.

I feel critics were a bit too nice on this game, this game is definitely a 4/10. I wouldn't recommend this to a gamer even if it was only a dollar.

Biggest scam ever. Do NOT waste your money

[cami_bm · 1/10 · 5 February 2023]

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.

Straight From an RPG Addict

[tiskec · 8/10 · 28 January 2023]

First off, I just want to make a straight statement to kick off this review: DO NOT JUDGE THIS GAME BASED ON THE DEMO.

Whoever gave the green light to release the demo with all the spells and skills leveled, needs to reevaluate their decision making skills. There is A LOT to this game and it instantly will overburden the casual player.

Now on with the review: -------------------------

I can guarantee you that Forespoken rates higher than a four (4). I have been playing video games for about 31 years and this is nowhere near as low as a four. However, there are some issues, which are mainly in the controls. The most frustrating part is Faye's parkour abilities. It seemed like they were "out of pace" with the rest of the controls. It's quite clunky at first, but once you learn to manage it, it isn't as crippling as it seems. Every game has it's flaws.

For what the game lacks in easy maneuvering, it makes up for with incredible story telling and unique urban science fiction/fantasy. It is definitely new to the RPG spectrum of genres, that's for sure. The story is very impactful and emotional. Faye (the main character just had the sh******* cards dealt to her in life) is a strong character with a very realistic background, which is where the games independence of other RPGs comes into play. The story brings you from a troubled woman's urban New York City street thug lifestyle, and throwing her into a fantasy world, where the two realities couldn't be anymore coincided. It also contributes to Faye's character and makes her stand out not only to the player, but to the NPCs in the story as well. The contrast just made Faye's whole experience awkward and scary, which is also the sense you get as the player.

The scenery could've been done better, but it wasn't bad. The landscape you experience as Faye (with lack of better words) is downright weird, which fits the game in a positive way. The monsters you face up against are altered creatures of the land. I cannot explain this any further without delving into spoilers of the story.

Despite a few setbacks, it is DEFINITELY NOT in a low four rating range. I rated it an eight. This is because there's so many ways to level Faye. It's not just her magic you're strengthening. In order to level her, the game makes you explore the fantasy world that Faye was put into. Leveling could be anything from visiting a monument, reading a book, or collecting magic puddles scattered across the world. This system is very complex, but SquareEnix did a tremendous job implementing it into the game, while still being player-friendly. It might seem like a lot to take in at first sight, but truth be told, it is NOT. Another reason is the unique setting and story of Forespoken. It is truly one of a kind.

The games overall originality, while at the same time playing with new concepts is definitely an icebreaker to a potential series if successful enough. They did a rather good job, especially on the story. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel.

If I had to explain this games gameplay style in "lamer's terms," I would describe it as The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy, and Alice In Wonderland in a love triangle, which resulted in the birth of Forespoken. Then Forespoken was discovered as a NYC dumpster baby. This sounds insane, but it's actually meant to be positive.

I would recommend players give it a shot. Keep in mind that the games story comes on slow, so the more you progress the more the game will open up.

**I can guarantee that demo costed some people to wane interest from the game.

8/10.

A honest review

[Rayofsun71 · 7/10 · 28 January 2023]

Controls may be a bit clunky, might bug out a bit at times but overall I am genuinely enjoying the game, it is a silly fantasy game but we all need something like this in our lives, beginning was a bit slow but I felt picked up quick, combat kind of reminds me of Ghostwire Tokyo (another favorite of mine) and the dialogue may be a bit choppy too but again it's an overall above average experience, I love the fantasy elements and it's great to see the fantasy genre getting some love again, to me it's an unexpected surprise, game if the year contender? We will just have to wait and see, it again is not a bad game, but definitely above average.

Excellent game. Original and welcomed!

[ibenhughes-29165 · 9/10 · 29 January 2023]

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 is slick, funny, and nowhere near as bad as you think it is

[phoenix-prjct · 7/10 · 5 January 2024]

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.

Honest review from someone who completed this game 100%

[samirdric · 9/10 · 10 February 2023]

This game is just awesome.

Don't judge the game from YouTube reviewers who just payed the demo or played the game just for 1 hour.

Yeah this game start late but when you defeat the first boss, this game become incredible. Combat system is awesome, like you have never seen 10 on 10.

It has some downside like you cant move between the chat with Cuff and the video cutscene quality is bad, I mean really bad and there is too much chat with cuff and the cutscene, but overall this is a fantastic game. I will rate this 10 on 10 if we just remove these minor problem I mentioned.

Overall I really like this game and its playstyle and story is also very decent. Take a advice from me and just play this one. Keep it up SquareEnix.

It's pretty solid and definitely better than expected based on other reviews

[Tacksman · 7/10 · 22 December 2023]

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.

Brilliant!

[undkeineeier · 10/10 · 20 May 2023]

Absolutely amazing game play. It was compelling and the banter was hilarious. I'm really not sure what the negative reviews are about. It almost made me not play, but I'm glad I did. The demo helped, but you absolutely need to start from the beginning or you will not get the best idea of how the game plays out.

The graphics are beautiful and the characters are awesome. The story from one world to the next was a nice refreshing change. I love how creepy the creatures in the game look, too.

Try not to look too far into the negative reviews. I think it comes from a bias of hatred toward certain groups, if I were to hazard a guess.

Not terrible, not amazing.

[goriknak · 7/10 · 9 June 2023]

Kinda weird, kinda boring, kinda fun. The game has a decent story and pretty good graphics. It's fun to run around and discover the world in the game. Fighting is not as confusing as I feared, but it does get a bit linear from time to time. And the dialogue in the game does also get a bit cheesy at times, but doable. I guess they were trying to create a Witcher meets Horizon type of game, but falls short. If you can get this at a good price it might be worth it to have some fun. Perhaps there will be an upgrade like Cyberpunk, that will inhance the game at some point. All in all not as bad as one might fear.