Last week, Square Enix released a demo for Forspoken on PlayStation 5 to the PlayStation Store. It is uncommon these days for publishers to release a demo of their game, so if you are unsure about purchasing this upcoming action-role-playing game by Luminous Productions, now you can decide for yourself.
First Look At Forspoken Demo
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 newfound magical abilities to traverse sprawling landscapes and battle monstrous creatures.
Gameplay
- The magic parkour system found in Forspoken is a major standout in the 1-2 hour demo. The traversal is so fluid and will no doubt deliver some fun, fast-paced action.
- Combat took a little while to warm up to and offers both melee and ranged combat options.
- A good variety of enemies, hoping there is more to come.
- Two different skill trees – one for Frey’s magic and one for Sila’s magic.
- Gear – a cloak and necklace can be equipped which provides perks and changes Frey’s appearance.
- Nails – different nails can be equipped onto both hands which provides buffs and other perks.
- Resources – different resources are obtained by defeating enemies or found throughout the world.
- POIs:
- Photo Spot (a collectible)
- Forts (defeat all the enemies)
- Monuments (give permanent buffs to your stats)
- Water Garden (grants new abilities)
- Other POIs with rewards such as necklaces, cloaks or experience
- Photo mode is available with everything you would expect except poses.
- Accessibility options are good. Not to the caliber of The Last Of Us Part II, but unfortunately not many games are.
Graphics & Performance
- There are 3 different graphic modes: Quality mode, Ray-tracing mode and Performance mode. I tested all of these and they all run really great and don’t detriment the enjoyment of the game.
- Quality-focused: Standard setting that focuses on achieving a stable frame rate at 4K.
- Ray tracing: Enables ray tracing, offering beautiful, graphically enhanced visuals.
- Performance-focused: Lowers resolution in order to achieve a higher frame rate.
- While we are only given one area to explore (Avoalet’s Water Garden), from what is shown the game is going to have many different environments with plenty to explore.
- The environments could be more detailed but are still beautiful and I have no doubt there will be breathtaking views throughout the game.
- The UI is easy to navigate and not overly complicated once you know where everything is.
The Verdict
Forspoken looks to be a promising game, and while a lot of the core gameplay is available in the demo, I’m sure Square Enix are hiding a lot more in the full game. The story is the one thing I am not sold on, but as this is from the developers of Final Fantasy XV, I have little doubt that it will be a captivating one. The combat is super fun and I can’t wait to take on tougher enemies and learn new spells later in the game.
“Should I buy it?“, I hear you ask. Well, play the demo for yourself and you will know if this is the type of game for you. If you don’t want to play the demo (or can’t), I would recommend it if you enjoyed Final Fantasy XV or other open world games like Assassin’s Creed.
Trailer:
Forspoken will be available on PC and PlayStation 5 from January 24, 2023.
Forspoken Demo is available on PlayStation 5 now.
