But things didn’t go well for the game even before it could hit the shelves and actually have a chance at success. Frey and Cuff’s conversations became the focal point of derisive smear campaigns that colored many gamers’ early impressions of the title, creating the impression of bad writing and a lackluster dynamic between the two central characters.

But was that focus on a single flaw the right way to evaluate the merit of a game that brought a surprising amount of depth to areas that mattered? Perhaps not, but Forspoken fell prey to a form of culture that could make or break the success of a new IP looking to break into a very competitive genre.

But, nearly three years after the original release and a very solid DLC chapter later, Forspoken has finally managed to win us over completely. It’s a good game with minor flaws and deserves the chance to shine just like any other title. Still a bit sceptical? That’s all right. Join us as we try to change your mind.

Bad Publicity

A few stray lines of dialogue, along with complaints from early preview builds of the game, showcased a lot of dialogue between protagonist Frey and the mysterious “Cuff” as they embarked on their adventure brought one of its most well-known flaws to light: Frey’s characterization.

As a girl thrust into an adventure she had no intention of undertaking, her troubled childhood and life as an orphan were great narrative avenues to flesh out her character. However, her foul-mouthed, brash nature did receive a lot of backlash once the game was released but much of it was colored by opinions formed before that?

An endless flurry of memes ridiculing the game and its writing, talking lines out of context to show a inconsistent opinion on the quality of its writing and dialogues. While we must concede that they could have been better, things were nowhere close to being as bad as some painted them out to be. Forspoken didn’t really stand a chance in the court of public opinion, not when it hadn’t even made it to its players’ hands yet.

Another interesting facet of the situation was the game’s positioning. The Luminous Engine was meant to make good use of current-gen hardware to craft an experience that combined excellent visuals with solid gameplay, an effective recipe for an action-adventure title. Thus positioned as a flagship PS5 title, Forspoken was burdened with high expectations it had no hope of meeting as it was at the time of its release.

It also had to compete against other great releases like Elden Ring which continued to stay on top of the conversation despite being nearly a year old at the time of Forspoken’s release. It didn’t help its cause when its PC version brought performance issues with it, a serious offence considering the game’s high price tag.

Working in tandem, all of these factors acted against Forspoken, making the game quickly fade into obscurity despite all of the promise it showed. But for those who managed to play through it, things were a little different.

The Hidden Potential of Forspoken

Lurking deep within the storm of bad press was a solid game that delivered on its vision while also being a reasonably fun experience to boot. As a visually stunning experience that aimed to make traversing its open world as fun as possible while also delivering an action-packed adventure, Forspoken wasn’t too shabby.

For starters, its unique brand of magic and parkour was both simple to use and quite a sight to behold. Frey’s newfound powers were put to excellent use, allowing her to leap, bound, and soar across the world with reckless abandon in a traversal loop that we still find quite addictive. It’s always great when an open-world title has you favoring actual travel instead of teleporting between locations via fast-travel, after all.

And then there was the combat. Dive deep enough into Frey’s arsenal of skills and there was a lot to like just waiting for players to discover and use. Elemental attacks, crown -controlling AoEs, attacks that made good use of Frey’s mobility, and a few very cool abilities like a rapid-fire lightning gun made the combat system a real treat for players who liked a meaty action-focused gameplay loop.

The visuals helped things along, with spells bringing some very well-implemented particle effects to the table while the world’s desolate state and the imposing stature of bosses like the Tantas were all quite engaging and helped sell the story that was on offer. And speaking of the story, Frey’s character arc was often written off as a generic coming of age story but did actually make sense from a narrative perspective.

Her rough life and a distinct mistrust toward the world around her made her aversion towards her destiny make sense for the most part. We’d probably be swearing at the top of our voices too if we were pulled away from our lives and asked to help save a kingdom we’d had no stake in before too. Her dialogue, even the weaker bits of it, fits a lot better when taken against the narrative backdrop that the game sets up as opposed to a few isolated clips that do not convey the nuance between their lines entirely.

However, it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies with Forspoken, and the game did have its issues. In the interest of fairness, we’re going to take a look at those too.

Room for Improvement

While Frey’s lines weren’t all bad, there were a few instances where her modern sensibilities did not merge well with the game’s fantasy setting. Her dialogues did have a few genuinely awkward lines, a problem that was made more evident thanks to how chatty she was with Cuff, and the constant repetition of scripted banter between them. They soon became an annoyance instead of a fun way to flesh out the story’s leading lady and her companion.

And while the world we got to explore was indeed stunning, the things we got to do in it soon became repetitive. Too much of the open world relied on outdated methods of structuring progress, and the side content delved too deep into generic objectives to make it worthwhile. This was an issue that combined with the game’s pacing to become quite a hindrance to a good time.

With most side content requiring Frey to clear out a lot of enemies, the opportunity to put the game’s combat front and center was always there. However, with a lot of important abilities hidden away behind important story encounters, that opportunity was wasted in favor of a story that spent too much time with exposition and too little time allowing its players to actually enjoy the adventure it was trying to involve them in.

The pacing is especially egregious in the game’s opening hours, and it’s going to be a while before you get to the parts of it that are actually good. Minor performance inconsistencies also hampered the game’s success. However, none of these issues deserved the fallout that followed the game’s release, an unfortunate situation for Luminous Productions, despite the story expansion bringing a more focused experience, a stronger story, refined combat, and the general impression that it was what the entire experience was meant to be.

A couple of months was all it took for the studio to be merged back with its parent company, a move that was meant to ““strengthen future AAA development”, but potentially intended to offset the critical failure of Forspoken, and the high costs of maintaining the Luminous engine in the absence of the means to justify its presence.

Forspoken might have saved Luminous from its fate if only it had been allowed a fair perception of both its strengths and weaknesses by the gaming world at large. It’s failure to garner a response that could justify the costs associated with its engine has now shut the door on a potential sequel that could address all of the issues that the IP’s debut brought to light.

It’s a sad case of wasted potential, and an unfortunate situation for a game that might have had a better time of things on the commercial front with better marketing, positioning, and a stable launch. But alas, Forspoken will remain a title that’s easy to recommend but unlikely to gain the appreciation it deserves for the things it manages to get right.

But if you’re willing to look past its flaws, it might be a great choice for the holidays if you have nothing else to play and no plans.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

With Cinta traveling alongside Frey, players gain access to new movement techniques. There are also new spells, like a miniature black hole that sucks in nearby foes. A massive new beast is showcased, which could be a new boss and an ominous voice talks about the “Gloaming” and how it leads to the destruction of Athia.

Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust is out on May 26th for PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for more details before its release. In the meantime, check out our review for the base game here. Sales were lackluster, unfortunately, and Luminous Productions merged with Square Enix. The DLC will be the team’s last project.

Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust will launch worldwide on May 26. The expansion will serve as a prequel to the base game’s story, taking place 25 years prior to its events. It will see Frey following a mysterious voice that transports her to the Purge of the Rheddig, the fateful battle that ravaged the land of Athia and caused the madness that the Tantas are plagued by in the game. Tanta Cinta will accompany her on her new journey, while the expansion will also add new magical abilities and environments.

Earlier this month, Square Enix confirmed that Forspoken had performed below expectations with lackluster sales, and that, as a result, developer Luminous Productions would be merged with Square Enix as a result.

Forspoken is available on PC and PS5. Read our review of the game through here.

Unfortunately, patch 1.10 has been causing crashes. The developer is aware of the issue, which occurs in certain scenes or when performing specific actions. It’s working on a fix and will release an update on March 17th to resolve the same. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days.

Forspoken is available for PS5 and PC – check out our review here. Despite launching less than two months ago, the action RPG is discounted on console for the PlayStation Store’s Essential Picks sale. Along with a mixed critical response, Square Enix confirmed that sales for the title have been lackluster. Luminous is still working on updates and a new story, In Tanta We Trust, which launches this Summer.

We’re aware that there is an issue where the game occasionally crashes in certain scenes or by certain actions after the release of Patch 1.10.

We are now working on the bug fix and are planning to release an update patch to resolve the issue on March 17 2023.

— Forspoken (@Forspoken) March 15, 2023

PC performance has also been optimized – those running the game on Recommended specifications or higher should see a 30 percent boost. These tweaks apply to PS5 users as well, so expect similar performance improvements. Some new quality-of-life updates include the “Remember Last-Viewed Menu Section,” which can always open to the last menu when enabled or disabled to always open the map.

“Lock On to Nearby Enemies” will automatically target the next enemy when you’ve defeated another. However, one of the best new options is “Immunity to Own Magic,” which prevents Frey from being staggered or affected by her spells.

Check out the performance and lightning improvements below. More updates are in the works, so stay tuned for more details. Luminous Productions is also working on In Tanta We Trust, a single-player expansion that’s out this Summer.

Though this is only a week after Forspoken’s launch, president Yosuke Matsuda (who is stepping down in June) revealed that reviews “have been challenging.” “However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future.

“That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings.”

Matsuda also spoke about a decline in net sales year-on-year in the HD Games sub-segment. While the “release of major titles a year earlier had created a challenging” hurdle, he revealed that “many of the new small and mid-sized titles we launched this year did not perform as well as we had expected.” Though not specified, some titles that fall into that category include The DioField Chronicle, Valkyrie Elysium, Harvestella, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Dragon Quest Treasures, and more.

Octopath Traveler 2 and Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line were released last month, and it remains to be seen if they can balance out the underwhelming year-on-year performance.

Luminous Productions confirmed the merger on Twitter and said it would “deliver new, innovative gaming experiences to players across the globe.” In the meantime, it’s focusing on patches to improve Forspoken’s performance (with an update coming soon) and the upcoming story DLC, In Tanta We Trust, which is on track for this Summer. The developer thanked fans for “taking this journey with us” and looked forward to creating “new entertainment and experiences as part of the Square Enix family.”

Forspoken launched on January 24th for PS5 and PC after multiple delays. It received mixed critical reception due to its story, script, and world design, though combat was praised (check out our review here). Though Square Enix didn’t confirm sales, its launch week on Steam was nothing to write home about. While Luminous’s employees will no doubt work on other projects at Square Enix, this is more or less the end of the studio as a separate entity.

https://twitter.com/LumiPro_EN/status/1630449903385329665

For instance, plugging in certain XInput devices would result in the camera moving intentionally on the PC. The PS5 DualSense Edge would also showcase some “unintended” behavior when connected to the platform. Both should now be fixed, along with a bug that caused FSR to automatically change back to Normal when restarting (if FSR, DLSS and 3D Resolution were on a specific setting).

Some updates include optimization for some features, updates to the system text when some items have been unlocked, and changes to the text font for Traditional/Simplified Chinese. Check out the full patch notes below.

Forspoken is available for PS5 and PC – check out our review here for more details. It’s set to release a new story DLC, In Tanta We Trust, this Summer.

Forspoken Version Update Patch 1.04

Technical Issues:

• Fixed an issue where the camera moves unintentionally when certain Xinput devises are used as the controller. (PC version)
• Fixed an issue where the FSR setting automatically changes to Normal upon restarting the game when the FSR, DLSS, and 3D Resolution are set to a certain setting. (PC version)
• Fixed an issue where the game shows unintended behavior when PlayStation®5’s DualSense Edge™ wireless controller is connected to the PC. (PC version)
• Various minor fixes.Feature Updates:
• The text font for Traditional/Simplified Chinese has been changed.
• The system text that displays when certain items are unlocked have been updated.
• The system text accompanied with Patch 1.03’s mouse config bug fix update will be now displayed in all languages.
• Minor optimization for certain features.

Whitta is credited as being responsible for the “Original Concept” in Forspoken. According to Whitta, once the story of Forspoken got rebooted, he was no longer able to work on it.

“I did some very very early foundational world building lore stuff on Forspoken,” he said. “I never wrote an actual line of dialogue.

“What happened was Square came to me five or six years ago and said ‘we have an idea but it’s just a germ of an idea, would you be willing to help us build out the world and the mythology and the story?’.

“And I went away and came up with some ideas for them and presented them, they liked them and they said ‘would you run a writer’s room to really build it out?’.

Whitta states that Square Enix revealed its new plans for Forspoken after he and his teamed worked on conceptualising various aspects of the open-world game, such as how its magic would work. According to Whitta, the name of Forspoken‘s setting—Athia—was conceptualised then.

“Some months after that they came back to me and one of the other writers and said ‘we’re going to start over to completely reboot the story, we want it to be this now’,” he continued.

“The version that we did was nothing like that,” said Whitta.

Forspoken was released earlier this year on PC and PS5, and was the first major video game release of the year. For more details on the open-world RPG, check out our review.

Full Walkthrough

There are 13 chapters in Forspoken, each varying heavily in length. Check them all out below.

Chapter 1: Attachments

Set in New York, and establishes Frey’s character. After being discharged from the court, she has a run-in with a gang and subsequently drops off her cat, Homer, with Judge Maya. She then visits Holland Tunnel, where she was found as a baby, before discovering a bracelet and being transported to Athia.

Chapter 2: Stuck

This begins with your typical isekai protagonist set-up. Trapped in Athia and suddenly assailed by a dragon, Frey discovers that the bracelet is sentient. She names it Cuff and uses magic to fight back against foes in the wild before eventually facing off against the same dragon. This section serves as a tutorial, establishing Frey’s abilities and how she can fight with magic. It ends with the dragon carrying and dropping her into Cipal, the last bastion of humanity in Athia.

Chapter 3: The Interloper

Frey is arrested upon arriving in Cipal and subsequently tried in court. She’s taken to prison but escapes with the help of Auden, who’s looking for her father that went missing after investigating the Break. Upon escaping, Frey roams the open world. Robian, Auden’s father, suddenly emerges. As Frey and Robian return to Cipal, they find it under attack by Tanta Sila.

Chapter 4: What Must Be Done

Following the attack by Tanta Sila, Frey seeks revenge for the casualties inflicted. After finding a lost Robian and meeting former blacksmith Johedy in the Archives, Frey travels to Praenost, battles two Recreant Knights in its fort and must weather a Breakstorm.

Chapter 5: Might and Main

The storm has cleared, and Frey travels to Praenost Castle, where Tanta Sila resides. The two go head to head in battle.

Chapter 6: Damned If You Do…

After the fight with Tanta Sila, Frey unlocks a new movement ability, Zip. She returns to Cipal, and her victory is celebrated but it’s ultimately short-lived. Corruption from the Break finds its way into the city and turns several citizens into Break Zombies. Armed with Sila’s fire magic, Frey must take them down.

Chapter 7:The Hue of Blue

Frey collapses after the fight and is tended to by Auden. Unhappy with the circumstances, she seeks a way back home, searching for Robian. After locating him, she passes Merveil Bridge, fighting Tanta Prav’s Unjust Enforcers and a Pitiless Arbiter, before passing Colline and entering Avoalet.

Chapter 8: The Truth Will Out

After letting herself get captured by Tanta Prav’s forces, Frey stands for trial in Avoalet Castle. She’s sentenced to the Trial by Water. After surviving, she battles Prav.

Chapter 9: Breaking Point

Probably the shortest chapter, as Frey unlocks the new Glide ability and Tanta Prav’s magic. She then returns to Cipal.

Chapter 10: None the Wiser

Following an argument with Auden, Frey visits Johedy, who suggests visiting Cinta, Frey’s mother. After setting out, a Breakstorm appears, and she wakes up in New York, walking around in an ideal life. It’s an illusion, sadly, and Frey must defeat the Senseless Servant and return to Visoria, where Tanta Olas awaits.

Chapter 11: Forspoken

Frey assaults Visoria Castle, taking on multiple enemies and destroying Tanta Olas’s Lanterns. After confronting her, the real threat, Susurrus, is finally revealed. Frey escapes with the help of her mother, Cinta, and learns the truth about the Tantas and her birth.

Chapter 12: Awakening

After Frey regains the use of the Tantas’ magic, she returns to Cipal for a final battle against Susurrus.

Chapter 13: New Beginnings

Available after completing the story, Frey can tackle remaining quests and challenges like the Breakwarden.

Co-director Takefumi Terada once said the story would take 30 to 40 hours to complete. However, you can finish all 12 chapters in less than 16-17 hours. Some have even finished the story in less than 10 hours. If you’re a completionist and set about discovering everything in the world while also completing Chapter 13, it can take about 48 hours on average.

Forspoken is available for PS4 and PS5. Check out our review here. Head here for details on each boss and how to defeat them. You can also learn more about all the spells here.