Right. We all know Forspoken as the game that’s been perpetually delayed, that’s been laughed at for its dumb trailers, and that’s been sort-of left out to die. That’s a fair comment, right? A cursory look at any of the popular gaming message boards, or at social media, will instantly tell you that Forspoken is no-one’s most anticipated game. It’s a curio, at best. A game people are gleefully watching, expecting it to fail, at worst.
But what if I told you that, actually, it’s not that bad? That – when you get your hands on it – it actually feels OK to play? Playing as Frey, the young black woman spirited away from New York and dumped in the land of Athia, you are tasked with helping the people of a dying land in order to get back home. It’s Wizard of Oz via all the JRPG tropes you’d expect from the studio that made Final Fantasy 15.
The core conceit is your use of magic. A sentient cuff has bound itself to you, and acts as your mentor-cum-friend in these strange new worlds. It also chats shit, constantly, but the incessant banter really isn’t as bad as you’ve been led to believe from all the memes and dodgy trailers. In context, it’s actually – whisper it – quite charming. No worse than what you’ve endured in Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3, or Tales from the Borderlands, Battleborn, Tiny Tina’s… you get the picture.