Forspoken review – a slow burner that's not without its charms

Forspoken doesn’t leave a great first impression. The restrictive opening chapters, poor pacing, and that PS5 demo do it no favours, and things didn’t click until the campaign was nearly over. I might’ve stopped sooner on a casual playthrough – but I’m glad I saw it through. Once things did click, I couldn’t turn away, and since Forspoken isn’t a long action-RPG it is at least one worth sticking with once you start – this is the type of game where you won’t always find the smoothest journey, but the build-up eventually pays off.

Forspoken reviewDeveloper: Luminous ProductionsPublisher: Square EnixPlatform: Played on PS5Availability: Out January 24 on PS5 and PC

Playing as Frey Holland, Forspoken begins with a depressing opening chapter that makes her rough upbringing immediately evident. Soon enough, she’s transported into a strange fantasy land called Athia with no way home, paired with a wisecracking bracelet called Cuff. Forspoken doesn’t open up for several chapters, but once it does, you’ll confront the four Tantas, a powerful group of matriarchs that rule each of Athia’s regions. Once benevolent sorceresses, they’ve each succumbed to madness and terrorise this land, leaving us to hunt them down.

Following a rather simplistic stealth mission, Frey’s soon free to explore Cipal, a central medieval city that serves as your hub and humanity’s last hope. It’s a refuge safe from an ever-spreading corruption long called the Break, which affects everything it touches except Frey. With the wildlife and corrupted humans ready to kill on sight, each region presents its own challenges, and Frey doesn’t need conventional weaponry.

Armed with magical spells, Frey’s moveset mostly sticks to ranged attacks, backed up by support magic like binding enemies with weeds to slow them. Defeating a Tanta grants new ability sets that you can quickly swap between mid-battle, and spells are upgradeable through their respective skill trees. Slashing through these corrupted foes with Tanta Sila’s melee abilities was a particularly satisfying highlight.In some respects, combat feels like a natural extension of Luminous’ previous game, Final Fantasy 15, but this isn’t another road trip with the boys. Frey travels alone, switching out spells instead of weapons, yet basic combat remains distinctly familiar. Running up to enemies across Athia’s open world, pulling off real-time combos remains stylish, and that feeling only grows upon obtaining new abilities