Forspoken Playstation 5 Demo Impressions

Initial Release Date: January 24, 2023

Mode: Single-player video game

Developer: Luminous Productions

Publisher: Square Enix

Composers: Bear McCreary, Garry Schyman

Genres: Action Role-playing Adventure

Platforms: PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows

I was able to spend some quality time with Luminous Productions’s upcoming action role-playing game Forspoken. I downloaded Forspoken’s demo on the Playstation 5 and after putting in a few hours decided to write down some words on my experience. Forspoken’s demo starts off with a brief video prologue showing who Frey Holland is as she’s the main protagonist.

You learn of Frey Holland’s misfortune of being teleported from New York to the high fantasy-esque world of Athia which is Forspoken’s gameplay world. Frey is embedded with a sentient talking magical bracelet named Cuff and the rest is history. Frey and Cuff has continuess banter in-game that can be turned down in the menu section.

I thought Forspoken’s demo did a terrible job in the beginning for describing and implementing Frey’s and Sila’s Magic combat mechanics in-game. Tutorials ranged from basic stuff like movement etc. After doing story quests tutorials did open up. Forspoken has a deep in-game gameplay magic wheel that features Frey’s main attack abilities and magic types that you use in combat.

It took a few minutes but once I understood how to properly use Frey’s and Sila’s magic it clicked and the gameplay become fun, layered and mechanically diverse. Forspoken kinda reminds me of Final Fantasy 15 in regards to it’s open world (is it open world?) quest design and combat mechanics.

Combat in Forspoken is fast paced and dynamic wether using Sila’s fire based melee attacks or using Freys earth ranged support attacks. The combat system is tied to elements, and depending on the enemies’ weakness battles can go by fast or slow.

Forspoken is one of those action RPGs where you have to get the combat system to click first then it’s gameplay becomes fun. Enemies in the demo ranged from Zombies, Argentavis, Kelaino, Ogres, crocodile creatures, bird creatures and Goliaths which are tough to take down. The Goliath was the “git gud” encounter in Forspoken’s demo.

In Forspoken’s demo you can level up Frey Holland as well craft and customize her nails and cloak by leveling up. Crafting Frey’s gear is done by exploring Athia’s open world. You can do the latter by completing small quests, mystic chest puzzles, picking herbs and looting defeated creatures.

I found it easy to level up Frey’s magic and gear. In other words, it seems like you won’t need to grind much in Forspoken. At least in the beginning. Visually the game doesn’t look as good when it was first shown a few years back. For reference, I played the demo in performance mode on my Playstation 5.

I tried playing the demo in raytraced mode but couldn’t stand the performance hit. Textures seems blurry compared to games like The Callisto Protocol and God of War Ragnarok. Art design is great however. Love Athia, it’s wildlife and creatures. Athia’s open world seemed alive which is a great sign in games like this.

Make sure you read all of the menus because they offer the player many quality of life in Forpoken whether it’s picking up loot, magic traversal and weapon wheels. Use Forspoken accessibility options and you won’t complain as much. I promise.

My playtime consisted of doing main story quests that give Frey new abilities like “Soar”. I also broke the seal of a Monument of Strength. Explored ruins to gain archive scrolls with lots of combat.

By the end of the demo I was really digging Forspoken’s gameplay. I can see this game being a love it or hate Square Enix action RPG already. Thank you for reading – Jason