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Forspoken is the first game from Luminous Productions that will take us to a world that brings together fantasy with the modern. The team behind the project includes developers who previously worked on Final Fantasy 15, and includes writers from across games, TV, and film. Set to arrive later this year, we’ll be taking on the role of Frey who finds herself plucked out of New York and hurtled into a fantasy world where she can wield magical powers including a slick-looking parkour ability.
First revealed back in 2020, we got a more recent in depth look at the combat of the adventure last year. As we approach the release date, we may well see more of Frey during E3 2022, so be sure to keep track of the E3 2022 schedule for the latest news on all of the upcoming showcases. Read on below to find out everything we know so far about Forspoken.
What is Forspoken?
Forspoken is a game about a young woman named Frey from New York City who is about to turn 21 years old. Suddenly, Frey is transported to the world of Athia, “where fantasies and nightmares are suddenly very real”, reads the Sony blog post.
Frey will learn new magical abilities to help her defeat terrifying monsters in Athia, but in order to return home, she’ll need to deal with the Tantas, who are all-powerful matriarchs holding Athia in their vice-like grip.
The talent working on Forspoken includes writers from games, TV, and film, including Gary Whitta, Amy Hennig, Todd Stashwick, and Alison Rhymer.
Forspoken PlayStation Showcase trailer
We got an extended look at Forspoken during PlayStation’s September 2021 showcase, and there’s a lot to take in. We learn more about Frey Holland (and her adorable cat) and how Frey ended up in Athia (through a portal). We see how her power derives form a set of gold cuffs that can speak to her, and that these cuffs offer her some incredible magical moves that help her make easy work of bad guys.
We also know that Frey will end up face-to-face with a big baddie known as Tanta Sila, played by Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Janina Gavankar.
Forspoken release date
The Forspoken release date is October 11, 2022. In March, the date was delayed by five months from May 24, 2022. According to a message from the development team on Twitter (opens in new tab), the delay is to ensure they can deliver their “vision” for the game.
“Our vision from this exciting new IP is to deliver a game world and hero that gamers across the globe will want to experience for years to come, so getting it right is extremely important to us. To that end, during the next few months we will focus all of our efforts on polishing the game and can’t wait for you to experience Frey’s journey this fall.”
Sony has got the exclusive on the console front, so it won’t be coming to either Xbox One or the Nintendo Switch. A video from Sony that highlighted Forspoken among other upcoming PS5 games includes this in the fine print: “In development for PS5. Also available on PC. Not available on other consoles until at least 24 months after release date.”
Forspoken gameplay details
What we’ve seen so far of Forspoken suggests Frey will be a particularly athletic hero. The main character has a skill known as magic parkour, which allows her to run fast, leap great distances, and use the environment to swing across gaps and climb vertical inclines.
The latest look at the upcoming adventure offered insight into how magic is at the center of everything in Forspoken, from combat to exploration. Frey is outfitted with a variety of magical spells and combat styles that you can use and adapt depending on your preferred style of play. From long distance powers to close range spells, there’s all manner of magical attacks to experiment with.
With RPG elements such as crafting and upgrades, you can improve a variety of Frey’s skills. Gear can also be equipped such as necklaces and capes to improve stats. In order to bring together realism with fantasy, Frey can use shards to paint patterns on her nails to make spellcasting more powerful.
Forspoken story details
“As the first video game I’ve worked on, it’s remarkable to see the incredible world and story of Forspoken come together, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy,” said Balinska what she’s seen of Forspoken so far.
“Frey as a character is real, she’s raw, she’s a girl who lost her way – both figuratively and literally – and is a character I immediately connected with, as I feel many people around the world will too when they set off on this adventure.”
Frey is transported to the magical and dangerous world of Athia, where she must learn to harness newfound magical powers in order to defeat monsters and the Tantas, who hold dominion over the land. Her magic derives from her “Cuff” a magical bracelet that can speak to her (and is voiced by Jonathan Cake). Frey must defeat the Tantas with the help of Cuff in order to have a chance of returning back to New York City – and her cat.
The team writing the story is being led by Gary Whitta, who has written for, among other games, Prey. Forspoken’s writing team comes from across “the worlds of film, tv, games, and fantasy literature”, he said on Twitter (opens in new tab).
Forspoken is said to have super fast loading times
According to Luminous Productions technical director Teppei Ono, Forspoken’s load times are said to be very fast on the PS5. It’s so fast, in fact, that it will supposedly take barely one second to load on Sony’s latest hardware.
