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Well, this should be interesting! The time has come to have your say on Forspoken, the Square Enix action RPG that released on PS5 last week. It's more than fair to say that this open world adventure has divided opinion. It was met with mostly lukewarm reviews, and if we're being brutally honest, it feels like the game's already been swept to one side and largely forgotten — at least as far as online discourse goes.
We gave it a 'Not Bad' 6/10 in our Forspoken PS5 review. Which concludes: "If you can push through a poorly paced story, packed with desperately dull characters, then you might find enjoyment in Frey's fantastical abilities, which undoubtedly steal the show both in and out of battle. It's not quite the disaster that the memes would have you believe, but it's certainly not the PS5 showpiece that was once promised, either."
But what do you think of Forspoken? Vote for yourself in our review score poll, and then explain your choice in the comments section below.
Comments 62
Somehow worse than Saints Row?
6 out of 10 is just right.
As you have written in the review the game has so much potential but can't figure out it's strongest sides and wastes so much effort on useless and strange things: big but empty open world (even too big), poor story, dull characters...
Not that bad, especially for the studio's first project. But way too bad for all the attention given to it.
I haven't played it but it looks like a 5/10
It's a 7/10 from me. It's a good game with good visuals and fun combat. Would be an 8 if it wasn't for the chatter and default controls.
@J_Warrior how can you rate a game you haven't played?
5 is about right for me. Takes too long to get going, weird constant screen fade to black. The world looked great, but as you’re running so fast-it seems pointless & void of anything. It’s a shame, cause amongst the rough there is something there which would have been good-I enjoyed the boss battles aswell. Interesting story for me
@UltimateOtaku91 Based on video essays and gameplay segments I've seen...and the demo.
Excellent game, easily an 8/10 game. I'm used to the cringy dialog as I watch loads of Japanese anime , plus the plot is quite a common theme in anime. Gameplay is awesome. The works is empty due to a disaster thst happens. So it's actually part of the story. I bet people complaining haven't really played it
@KaijuKaiser Graphics and art style have nothing to do with it. My opinion is based on reviews I've read and videos I've seen. Gamplay vids, video breakdowns...all that stuff. Based on everything I've seen and read, it seems like a game that would fit that score. I also played the demo and the concerns I had were verified from the reviews and video essays I've seen.
7-7.5 for me. The bad isn't as bad as most people crying about it make it out to be. It's easy enough to go into the settings and turn down Cuff's chat frequency. Game looks great and plays smoothly on Quality setting. The barren open world makes sense with the story, but there's plenty of points of interest to explore. I'm having fun with it so far.
@J_Warrior
::walks into book store, picks book off shelf and looks at cover::
“Looks like a 5.”
:: puts book back ::
EDIT: looks like you have played it. The demo anyway… well never mind then.
It gets an 8 from me. It’s not perfect but I’m enjoying it a lot. It has its quirks but at least it has personality, which is more than I can say about so many other open world games I’ve played in the last five years (which were soulless).
I’ve played around 31 hours so far and I’ve only killed one of the Tanta’s. The side stuff is just so addictive - I’m mostly focusing on completing the challenges to level-up spells.
Having spent some time with the game, it makes the overblown negativity I saw online leading up to the game’s release seem really odd.
I gave it a 4 as it just wasn't fun and that parkour was infuriating.
I did quite enjoy the cuff chat though, I thought he was quite funny, which puts me in a minority it seems.
7/10 from me. I really enjoyed it and it was a nice game to play on my week off. Definitely doesn’t deserve all the hate.
@Anke I also enjoyed the chatter.
A 7 from me. It always looked like 7.
A generic pulp fantasy plot mixed with fun combat mechanics.
I'd like to see them take another shot at this to improve on it, but I don't see it happening due to the reactions online.
I'm enjoying it a lot though. The spells are more and more amazing the further you progress.
I'm horsing through my dinner atm so I can get a few hours in with the game tonight.
I gave it a six. I finished it about half an hour ago and it was ok. I don’t regret buying it as it was a fun 29 hours, but looking at that massive map full of the same four things to do everywhere you go gives me no desire to carry on now the credits have rolled.
An 8 for me, of course I'm playing in a PS5, not a PC and my telly is capable of 120Hz, perhaps the game with the best 120Hz mode so far: no tearing, fluid combat... of course, there are some settings that must be changed so you can enjoy. After 30 hours in my first run, it's fine. The funny thing is that the annoying dialogs remind me of the haters, haha.
@KaijuKaiser @ChromaticDracula Y'all pouncing on @J_Warrior like there aren't playthrough videos on YouTube. Time's changed, I've used YT vids to decide whether I'd like a game or not and it's working for me so far.
It wasn’t awful. I’d give it a 6,5/10. Admittedly, it could’ve been a lot better. Regardless, I enjoyed myself enough to finish it and clean up some of the open world side content.
I’m really torn on this one. It’s a cool idea, but ultimately, I left feeling that it was a shallow experience overall. There were some bright spots: The main characters styling, some of the spell effects were fairly cool. The story, could have had so much potential for something memorable, what we got was a series of forgettable events that hardly pushed you to the next thing. The combat felt floaty and lacking any impact of any spell or attack. Satisfaction wasn’t there in traversing either, only due to getting all the moments at the end of the game. Why not have them all from the start ? The game wasn’t worth full price, I cant recommend it at discount either. Unless it’s this game represents an scratch that you are just waiting to itch..
Haven’t played it, won’t play it. Thus it gets a big fat n/a from me.
Objectively, an 8/10. Subjectively, a 9/10, so that’s what I voted.
I really loved the game. I didn’t want it to be over when I finished it and I’ll be honest, I don’t often get that feeling with games, especially not open world games. That’s that Resident Evil feeling, you know? It’s a special feeling.
The traversal and combat were outstanding. The open world is pretty to look at. It’s empty, sure, but I don’t always want to waste my time with a million side quests. It was empty, so that we could have a blast traversing the landscape. I liked the story quite a bit and thought Frey was a good character with solid development. If you were in her shoes (or should I say “kicks?”), you’d be bitter too, so I didn’t have issue with that. And I liked the dual twist before the last quarter of the game. It’s not a revolutionary story, but it’s a good story. Also, the game is undeniably unique. It reminds me of other games at times, but it is distinctly its own thing and I respect that.
If the game would’ve come out last year as it was originally intended, it would’ve hit the top 5 of my top 5 games list. It wouldn’t have knocked Elden Ring off the top, but it would’ve been my top rated PS console exclusive. We shall see where it places in 2023. It’s a strong year to start already.
same people that were hating on infamous Second Son are the same players hating on this game too
I want to play this despite the reviews but I'm happy to wait until it's much cheaper as I'm not the biggest RPG fan and I have a feeling it'll drop on price quite quickly
@Yoop Hmmm interesting... I loved inFamous 1 and 2. But Second Son was quite... not that good. So it looks I won't like Forespoken...
I didn't vote because I haven't purchased the full game just played the demo, but there needs to be a poll option for "the demo and critical response were so bad, I have no intention of paying money for this, will try when it's on Plus."
@djlard I wouldn't say it was very like Second Son really. Elements of it remind me of Prince of Persia 2008 (Running up walls, collecting the light-orbs/mana and cleansing the ‘corruption’ from different biomes etc.). The zombie/creature encounters reminded me of Undead Nightmare. There were a few other games that it occasionally reminded me of too but I can’t think of them right now.
Genuinely an 8/10 for me. A superhero power trip set in a fantasy world is what I wanted, and it's ultimately what I got.
The banter, controls etc are all criticisms I agree with, but when this game is firing on all cylinders it hits the exact part of my brain that makes all the good chemicals.
@Yoop Nope, love inFamous, my favorite Sony series of the modern ara. Second Son was definitely a let down from the first 2. Still liked it but it did feel comparatively empty and soulless and "Seattle" just doesn't sub for "Empire City" and "New Marais"...it had a WEIRD setback to a dull real world location. But I still enjoyed it and mostly the game just felt rushed and incomplete to get it into launch window, I expected it to be longer and it just kinda stopped suddenly.
@somnambulance @UltimateOtaku91 From the demo I'd say visuals are one of the weak points. At least in performance mode it looks ancient, so it kind of relies on exceptional gameplay to make up for it and it didn't really have that at least in the demo. If you had to play the whole game in performance mode and look at those visuals, would you be as positive about it? I.E. How much of the positivity is "OMG Pretty gfx" and not the actual gameplay?
8 here. Primary reason being the length and price tag don't justify one another. It's very much an amazing game, and I love it a great deal. There are rough edges for sure, however. Pop in is a major eyesore, much of the open world is generic "point a to point b" ticking off boxes and the HDR is hit or miss depending on the areas.
I found too much enjoyment in the story, characters, design and music to lower the score any more though. Gameplay speaks for itself, though it's clearly not everyone's cup of tea.
It's a game that's clearly a labour of love by the developers but nothing can offset the shortcomings.
@NEStalgia Performance mode is so rough I struggled to enjoy it visually. So much more fluid, but it's too pretty to look at in Quality mode. Raytracing is far too jerky for my liking.
Solid 7
Gameplay is fun. Also love the diversity of things you can do on the map and sense of reward.
Regardless if I only have an hr before bed or can play for a good stretch - always have an activity that fits and makes me feel I progress a bit.
Turned out to be the perfect bridge game to Hogwarts Legacy. Pretty sure I finish it before end of next week.
game is good better than the demo reminded me of infamous Second Son and i remember players hating on that game too , and im playing it now and i enjoy it. is a game play it if you like it simple
@DeathlySW Yeah, that's part of it, on my display I have a hard time with 30fps games ,and that one especially had a lot of flashing/blinking/jittering around objects that it was hard to deal with in 30fps, it was instant eye strain. But in performance it was so amazingly ugly to me. Especially a game that focuses on fluid traversal you'd think 60 would really be the minimum. In performance mode there's no wow graphics, so the gameplay itself has to impress. This is no Nier Automata, that's for sure!
@NEStalgia Visuals are pretty solid, regardless of graphics. The setting is a really gorgeous and ruined world. It does look like a PS3 game in performance mode and a late gen PS4 game in quality mode. I played in quality mode because I preferred how it looked and moved, personally. I typically choose quality mode over performance mode though. I don’t have an issue playing games with 30 fps and I didn’t have any flashing, jittering, etc during my playtime.
The gameplay though is absolutely exceptional. The demo doesn’t do it justice. It doesn’t let you feel things build up, become more intricate or customizable. The game is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, for sure, but I found that I enjoyed it a lot. The demo doesn’t do the game any justice, even though it is representative of the gameplay. It’s just a random slab of no context gameplay though. It’s from a section that’s maybe a third of the way into the title. I remember hitting what I hit in the demo and feeling like things were actually better because there was context.
I haven't played it, but I imagine it's probably a point or two above where most people are prone to placing it. If I had to just guess, I would assume that puts it at around 6 or 7.
@ItsBritneyB_tch so it is more like inFamous 1/2 with "blink" like Second Son/ Dishonored?
@TheArt Yeah, I ruffled a few feathers it appears. People are acting like gameplay videos are such a foreign concept. It's not like I watched a 3 minute clip and called it a day lol.
Yeah you don’t need to have played a game to make an educated guess at what you might score it based on reviews, videos, perhaps demos and most importantly experience. If you’ve been gaming for 2/3rds of your life you pick up a few things along the way!
Of course some games and genres are harder to judge without playing but I think we’ve all trawled through enough uninspired open worlds in our careers to get the picture on this game.
That said, it’s a pretty obvious 5 out of 10!
OUCH - 45% (currently) have it ranked at 5 or lower and only 15% gave it an 8 or a 9 with ZERO 10’s to boot. Glad I made the choice to stay clear of this one. Seems very much like a niche title.
Defeated the first big bad earlier today and so far it’s looking like a 6-7 to me. I am greatly enjoying it, all the same, but I may find myself skipping side content going forward as it’s all just the same thing.
I find it kinda disappointing that they didn’t fill the world as you went, considering I thought they said defeating the big bads would clear the Break from their domains. Missed opportunity for a bit more life, me thinks.
I also like Cuff, he’s the only character I like so far. Reminds me of Wheatley from Portal 2.
This should be free on psn extra premium. Simple. Absolute rubbish
still better than anything on xbox at least i will enjoy it until the next release comes out
if the game has super powers they do not like it unless is spiderman players even hate on horizon games too
i like that is a brand new game is really difficult to make a brand new ip and everyone is happy
4,, it is not good and not sure what Sony seen when they gave money to it. It will be discounted heavily and sits at a 68 meta and thats without the PC reviews, so once those hit, this will like be in the mid to upper 50’s.
@KaijuKaiser I strongly disagree. There are plenty of garbage games that don't need to be played in order for you to know how bad they are.
@Yoop You should try out Grounded. It's fun.
N/A, I won't be getting the game until it's on sale for $30 New or cheaper, or "free" with PlayStation Plus in some capacity.
Regardless of what you rate it is safe to say you won't be seeing another one, so enjoy it as a one off. If it was by any other publisher the chances of you getting a part 2 woud already be extremely low, but this is Square so they are probably vomiting uncontrollably while looking at the review scores and sales.
8.5 easy. People are being overly critical. Had a blast with it. I’m at the final battle after 36hrs and I still have massive chunks of the map to explore post game. If you play this and think it’s a 6 or below, you need your head checked.
@HeroYoshiko problem is most people aren't even playing it. Just following the herd.
@TheArt playthrough videos ≠ actually playing video games
The difference can be massive.
@naruball you also aren't taking into account that they had a DEMO actively released and people based their decision on that also. When someone goes to a car dealership there is something called a "test drive". You can feel if you want that car, just from that spin around the block, you don't have to drive to Vegas to LA to know that you will not be enjoying the ride.......
@TheArt watching someone play a game vs actually playing a game are two different things. Because if it wasn't then there would be no point in ever picking up a controller now would it ?
I’m a firm believer in “if you haven’t played it you can’t score it.”
I won’t pay full price for it. I’m waiting for a sale.
@somnambulance That's good to know about it being different from the demo. From the demo it's got to be the most bland slice of gameplay I've played, quite literally, since Haze and some PS2 games. "going through the motions" would be an overstatement. If it feels much better in the real game then maybe when it hits $25 or something I'll give it a try.
Then again you're one of like 5 people that seem to really like it, so I should take that with a grain of salt
@NEStalgia I’m happy to be one of the five people! Lol. I am not afraid to go against the grain. But seriously, it’s worth giving a go when it goes on sale. I’ve got a feeling that Square will put it on sale to recoup their losses and public opinion will shift on the title… you know… when people actually play it. It’s sort of like how Sonic Frontiers received some scathing reviews at first, but was largely viewed positively by a lot of publications by the end of the year. I mean, if we all relied on initial reviews for everything, to take examples from music history, Blood on the Tracks, Exile on Main St, and Pinkerton would be junk albums that no one would be listening to today. To keep the analogy going, Forspoken’s a gaming equivalent to Paul McCartney’s Ram, I suppose. There’s a bit of nonsense in the lyrics, sure, and it’s not in line with trends and a bit rough and tumble, but jeez is Square’s gameplay akin to Mecca’s melodies.
@somnambulance I bought an Edge controller. I define going against the grain. I am the cross-grain!
Sonic Frontiers I thought received good critical reviews, it was just the review bombers that knocked it down. I do personally love Frontiers, I think it's a great game. BUT I loved it instantly (unlike the Forspoken demo... )
Well if we go by critical review in music analogy, Rachmaninoff's 2nd is garbage, and Barber can't write. But Forespoken feels more like Bit**es Brew as in "WTF just happened and how did we go from best to worst?"
@ItsBritneyB_tch exactly the same for me...25 hours in, killed 1st Tanta and now just doing everything else possible before moving on to the next.. This is easily gonna be an 80+ hours game for me... Just hope I do it before Hogwarts....
I went into this expecting the worst, and i was surprised. Wheres the bad writing? It's a good tale of girl from the streets maturing. Love the interactions between Frey and Cuff too. Graphics are okay but not everything can be Ragnarok or Forbidden West. Best traversal I've seen in an open world game for sure. The magic is super fun to use too. I truly believe most of the hate is from people who haven't played it or just played the demo which is nothing like the actual game. 25 hours in and I'm still gripped to it. I believe like Days Gone this wi be one of those people only appreciate when it's on PS PLUS. At least 8/10 for me
@Styledvinny79 need to play it to have an opinion like that
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