Fantasy action RPG Forspoken has been delayed more times than most games, although it’s finally pencilled in for a January release date. We’re still quite a way off from then, but Sony have released a smattering more gameplay footage today, detailing the moves you’ll be pulling as heroine Frey “I’m seeing freaking dragons” Holland. Alas, said footage has been crushed down to only a handful of GIFs over on the PlayStation Blog, but our friends at Eurogamer have a bigger, chunkier hands on preview that tells us more about why it won’t be mega cringe. Alas, we weren’t privy to this Forspoken demo, so have a watch with us below.
Frey might be an average person from ordinary New York City who just happens to be pulled into a fantasy world, but she’s managing pretty well as a magic user. Chucked into a big ol’ valley chuck full of monstrosities and free to explore, Frey gets to use “mystical parkour” known as Flow and a bevy of spells while she explores the new world. The preview is a glimpse at how Frey’s movement, bolstered by her magic, allows her to dodge and fight things as large as a very-large-indeed fantasy version of a crocodile.
Forspoken’s combat looks to be grounded in knowing when to sling a spell, and when to get Frey out of the way with her magic jumps. Most of Frey’s powers are earth-based to start with, but she’ll have the opportunity to take on those of the realm of Athia’s dodgy rulers, the Tanta, if she can defeat them. The preview shows off one of the fiery abilities of just one of those Tanta, Sila. Raising your hands to throw a circular wall of flame up around Frey is a pretty cool effect, and looks to do some decent damage to whatever you’re fighting.
Happily, there’ll be loadouts so you can swap around between sets of spells on the fly. Another useful, and familiar, move is the zip ability. This functions much like Monster Hunter Rise’s wirebug, or Noctis’s teleporting from Final Fantasy XV. It’s possible to use the zip to, well, zip towards enemies for attacks too. You can take a look at some clips of Frey in action over here.
Earlier this year, we ranked Forspoken among of our most anticipated games of 2022. It’ll probably still end up on next year’s list thanks to the numerous delays it’s seen. Forspoken was delayed for four months back in March, before being pushed back another three in July, before finally settling on a release date in late January next year. I’m still interested in Forspoken, mainly because the whole idea of it just reminds me of the classic Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. I’m not sure I’d last long in a world of dragons and spells like Aganazzar’s Scorcher, but it’s fun to daydream.
Forspoken is meant to be coming to PC on January 24th 2023 on Steam and the Epic Games Store, barring any more delays. It’ll set you back a hefty £65/$70/€80.