Forspoken review: sometimes fun, often annoying, always empty

1 year 3 months ago

Whomst among us hasn't dreamt of somehow being transported to a magical world, where there are talking unicorns, and you can throw lightning and control plants because you are this universe's very special hero? Such is the fate of Frey, who falls through a portal into Athia and finds that world in mortal peril. Although if I were here I'd be a bit disappointed. It's all very well being able to zoom around doing magic parkour everywhere, but there isn't much to do or many places to go. Not a single talking unicorn to be seen.

Forspoken is somehow both full and devoid of content. There is a huge open world, but it is mostly empty. There is an epic story of magic, other universes, and saving the world, but it only takes up a couple of days. I actually enjoyed a lot of Forspoken, but it gets more fun the more you play, and then it's over; I didn't pre-order this game for sixty odd quid, and if I had I'd be disappointed. Even the much-Tweeted about annoying dialogue doesn't happen much, and isn't contextually annoying. Forspoken is annoying, though, just not in the ways you might expect if all you've seen is people discussing out-of-context clips from cutscenes.

Read more

Author
Alice Bell