Forspoken is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix. Here is everything we know so far:
STORY
Forspoken follows the journey of Frey, a young New Yorker transported to the beautiful and cruel land of Athia. In search of a way home, Frey must use her newborn magical abilities to traverse sprawling landscapes and battle monstrous creatures.
Forspoken players are sent to huge and intricate world rich with beauty and bewilderment in the thrilling action-packed adventure forspoken.
Players take on the character of a young woman named Frey Holland in Forspoken. Frey is inexplicably transferred from her hometown of New York City to a weird fantasy country known as Athia one day. Not only has she been transported to a new realm, but she has also been endowed with magical abilities. Fortunately, she is not completely alone, as Frey has a sentient bracelet that will speak for her.
Frey soon discovers that the planet of Athia was once a prosperous and flourishing place. Until one day, a pandemic swept through the area. Humans have been transformed into monsters, creatures roam the planet, and the world is now under the authority of evil sorcerers. Frey, who is immune to the illness, decides to assist Athia in regaining its former splendor. In exchange, Frey may discover how to teleport herself back to New York City.
Frey’s special powers allow her to move freely through the open environment. Climb walls, vault across canyons, leap from frightening heights, and race through enormous vistas.
Frey can travel Athia’s difficult terrain and explore her unusual new surroundings using her newborn magical skills. This Magic Parkour is especially useful when she confronts the horde of adversaries lurking in the twisted terrain of the Break.
In search of a way home, Frey must use her newborn magical abilities to traverse sprawling landscapes, battle monstrous creatures and defeat powerful matriarchs known as Tantas.
Forspoken has been designed to harness the full power of the PlayStation 5’s hardware, demonstrating Luminous Productions’ (Final Fantasy XV) philosophy to provide a gaming experience like never before, fusing together the latest technology with creativity.
CHARACTERS
· Alfre “Frey” Holland
After being inexplicably transported to Athia, a strange world with people, locations, and cultures unlike anything Frey has ever seen, Frey Holland, who grew up in New York City and was used to feeling like an outsider, is swiftly pushed to her breaking point. She discovers the capability to cast potent spells and use magic to navigate the vast landscapes when she is unceremoniously taken to the wondrous world of Athia. She embarks on a quest to return home with her magical, sentient bracelet, dubbed “Cuff.” Frey’s trip through this mysterious and perilous realm will lead her deep into the heart of depravity where she will have to face the formidable Tantas, battle horrible monsters, and learn truths that will awaken something much greater from within.
· Cuff
When Frey is brought to Athia, a cuff appears on her right arm. A magical, sentient bracelet that helps Frey navigate the perilous terrain of Athia while teaching her how to perform spells. He regularly cracks cynical jokes with Frey, the only person who can hear him speak, thanks to his sharp wit. Frey is assisted by her new, cynical friend “Cuff” as she travels through the expansive expanses of Athia.
· Tanta Sila
The strongest and toughest of the Tantas: All-powerful matriarchs who rule over Athia are destructive and twisted. Sila is a tyrannical despot with a reputation for ruthlessly destroying anything and everyone who gets in her way.
· Tanta Prav
The Tantas now rule as insane, malevolent sorcerers in the middle of their fragmented realms. Prav is irrational and judgmental, serving as the realm’s judge, jury, and executioner. She punishes people she perceives to be guilty in a hasty manner because she thinks everyone around her is doing something wrong. She robs her people of morality and genuine justice.
· Tanta Olas
Olas, the Tanta of Wisdom, is consumed by her need for knowledge. She will lock anyone she perceives as a threat inside an illusionary world and use her magic to absorb other people’s thoughts to learn the latest information.
GAMEPLAY
Forspoken is an Action RPG with heavy focus on Action and exploration. Characters are always at full display and the character models are detailed. If you imagine other superheroes slinging and gliding with a variety of deadly magic spells rather than webs or batarangs, you have a good idea of what it’s like to play Forspoken.
Square Enix’s upcoming open-world action game puts equal emphasis on quick movement and bombarding your opponents with all manner of magic in an experience that’s all about fast thinking, smart movement, and overwhelming force.
To get the most out of the traversal system, you want to plan your moves through the world to actually hit obstacles and use them to your advantage.
GRAPHICS
In an interview the developers of forespoken shares a lot of details regarding game which included luminous engine on which the game is built.
In case you are not aware, Square Enix’s internal game engine, the Luminous Engine, was used to create Final Fantasy XV. After the publication of that game, Square Enix established Luminous Productions, a subsidiary studio designed to produce triple-A games employing the engine. Forspoken is the first game produced by this brand-new firm using the Luminous Engine.
During the preview, we got to ask about what makes the engine special to Luminous Productions’ Takashi Aramaki, the director of Forspoken. There, he shared the key strengths of Luminous.
“There are two major strengths that the Luminous Engine has compared to other engines,” said Aramaki. “First of all is in prototyping, in producing test models for games, and to be able to quickly build up your ideas to see what they look like. And that can be done by programmers, artists, and designers. It is particularly useful engine, and it is very strongly focused on prototyping.”
Prototyping is a key part of any game development process, so the fact that the Luminous Engine allows for faster prototyping means developers will be able to more quickly see how their ideas work when put in-game. If an engine is cumbersome for prototyping, this process would take much longer, necessitating more development time and effort.
Aside from this, Aramaki also shared that Forspoken is not just made with prototyping for RPGs in mind. The engine is also a versatile one that can handle diverse kinds of genres.
“It’s not limited to one genre either,” added Aramaki. “We could (use the Luminous engine) for a shooting game or for an adventure game. Really, the engine can be applied to any kind of genres, to produce those prototypes quickly.
SOUND DESIGN
Blending contemporary electronic beats with a fantasy tone, Forspoken’s score has been composed by BAFTA award-winning composers Bear McCreary (God of War and TV series The Walking Dead) and Garry Schyman (Bioshock series).
FORSPOKEN RELEASE DATE
Forspoken will be released on January 24, 2023, for PlayStation 5 and PC, making Forspoken a PS5 console exclusive.
The game was originally scheduled to launch in May 2022 but was delayed by five months so its developers could have sufficient time to polish the RPG. Having confirmed it would arrive on October 11, this was then delayed again to July as announced via a Twitter post, pushing it back into next year.
Although the game will be released as a PS5 platform exclusive, it is possible that Forspoken may be released on Xbox in the future. A ‘new and upcoming games’ trailer posted by the PlayStation YouTube account in December 2020, showing footage from a collection of PS5 games, shows a tagline under footage of Forspoken (or as it was known at the time, ‘Project Athia’) stating that it is “not available on other consoles until at least 24 months (about 2 years) after release date.
So, it looks like Forspoken is a timed PS5 console exclusive, though do not expect it to land on Xbox Series X|S until at least January 2025. While a release on Xbox is not out of the question, do not expect it on PS4 or Xbox One; it is being designed to take advantage of current-gen technology.
PRICING
Forspoken is available to pre-order now. The standard edition for both PS5 and PC costs $69.99 / £64.99 / AU$114.95 and comes with a bunch of pre-order bonuses.
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