Forspoken is currently the topic de jure in core gaming circles and is, unfortunately, not exactly making headlines for the right reasons. Our own review has been delayed due to Square Enix's tardiness with the code, but we do have a first impressions piece you can check out in the meantime. But how does the game itself hold up from a technical perspective? As usual, the wizards over at Digital Foundry have broken things down for those of us less mechanically minded.

First, the good. Forspoken features incredibly fast load times, booting into the game from the title screen in about four seconds and less than a single second if you continue an existing save. Add to that the fast and fluid character and gameplay animations, truly impressive particle effects, detailed character models and insane hair physics, and it's clear that the Luminous Engine still has some juice left in the tank.

On the flip side, lighting takes a significant step back, even from developer Luminous Productions' last outing, 2016's Final Fantasy XV. Framerate also leaves a lot to be desired, maintaining 60fps in Performance Mode for the most part but bizarrely dipping well below 50 in certain areas of the open world, in addition to resolution scaling as low as 720p. Quality Mode cannot maintain a consistent 30fps, either, and while it certainly looks impressive, it can at times drop down to 20, a state of affairs which DF describes as "simply absurd".

The entire video is well worth a watch if you are interested in the more technical side of things, although it isn't likely to convince you to pick this one up if you were already leaning towards a pass.

What do you think of Forspoken's technical performance? Run a benchmark in the comments section below.

[source eurogamer.net]