Right around now, reviews of PS5 console exclusive Forspoken are hitting the web. As the world's biggest independent site dedicated to all things PlayStation, you're probably visiting Push Square to have a look at our own verdict. However, unfortunately, that won't be possible today. In fact, it probably won't be possible for quite some time. It's been fairly well documented by now that Square Enix has been very selective with who gets an early review code for Forspoken, and we didn't make the cut.
The reason for that isn't fully clear to us, but the bottom line is we haven't been given early access like other very select media outlets have, and thus don't have a review for you to read today. We most certainly did plan on having one before learning of this substantial setback. As of this morning, we received a PS5 review code. We shall try and get our verdict published as soon as possible. However, since this is a big open world game, it's likely going to take some time.
Comments 63
Just to add to this, if all goes to plan we'll have a first impressions article in the very near future, followed by the review soon.
5 on GameSpot ☹️☹️
That's a rightful shame right there. I found about you guys during lockdown but now it's my main source for reviews.
Also the pun was brilliant.
Wasnt this the case for most reviewers? Not a great sign
@ShogunRok Should late review codes still be regarded as a gigantic red flags or do you think there are mitigating factors?
If the trailers didn't already have you worried about this one, the lack of review codes certainly should.
I've been playing it this weekend, wow it's bad.
I finished the main story and now just clearing up the collectibles. I want it to be over.
Top tip: swap R2 with R1 and L2 with L1, your trigger finger will thank me.
66 on Metacritic mixed reviews. The powers seem cool but the dialogue, length and performance dont look good
take your time
@LN78 Generally speaking, yes, especially if it's for a big game. More often than not, it suggests that something, somewhere, is a point of concern for the publisher.
Games with less than a 24 Hour review embargo tend to review terribly. They know they don't have a great product.
Sony paid for another mid from Square. Babylon Fall wasn't enough...
Seems pretty weird to me to withhold review codes to many publications only to then deliver them the day before release. The only thing that'll get them is more reviewers rushing through their game and thus probably worse scores at the end of the day.
It's not like the 'plan' resulted in a temporarily good score or anything, either. Game's sitting at 68 from 46 reviews right now.
SE isn’t going to be around long if they keep pushing bomb after bomb like this.
Avengers, Babylon Fall, and now this…
The reviews aren't terrible enough to justify trying to hide the game from reviewers. Metacritic has a fair few reviews but from a weird selection of sites. 6/10, not awful, just meh. Expect the average score to come down though when the sites that got shafted have their say - this move is hardly likely to get them onside is it?
@ShogunRok Figured as much. On the "wait for a massive discount" list it goes, then.
@Ooccoo_Jr Opinion around the web is they intentionally gave review codes early only to sites they saw as the most likely to give them the most favorable coverage. If even so the best they got is a 6, it’s going to be ugly once everyone else gets their word, and I doubt any of these sites is going to be knocking points simply because of getting review codes late.
I'm a bit surprised Push Square wasn't included considering it seems like some at least some of you folks seemed a bit hotter on the game than most based on previews. If I was in their shoes and I was going to be selective about who gets a review code then I would try to pick the outlets that seemed most interested in the game to begin with.
Strange choice but take your time with the review, no need to rush it.
Feels sorry for you guys. That said you seems commited to do the right thing (which is great).
66 currently on metacritic so not off to a great start, I will still get the game though as I enjoyed what I played in the demo and I love the isekai genre.
Also high on life only scored 67 on metacritic and people still raved about that, so there's some hope for this game at least.
I’m not worried where the review is. It’s absolute rubbish from what the other critics have said. And I knew it would be. Not buying.
Looks like a serious fiasco from what I've seen so far. In all honesty, it looked bad in trailers too and the demo was boring as hell.. so the writing was on the wall.
Way too many red flags for me I'll most likely pick this up in a sale.
Do we need a review? I'm pretty sure the general consensus is already out on this game.
About the scores I expected after the demo and withholding review codes. I'm a bit concerned for the future of Square to be honest. I really hope FF16 is great
Watching PlayStation Access play it atm. The gameplay looks fun. I'm happy enough to not cancel my order.
Looking forward to the review here too though.
Usually when you're proud and confident in your product you want the game in the hands of reviewers as soon as possible, that way positive word of mouth can start to build up and lead to possibly more sales on release day.
Based on Writing on Games' review this looks like it could be monumentally bad. I'd find it funny but the actor who plays Frey is likely to get a heap of abuse from the usual scum online and she absolutely doesn't deserve that. Bad writing and a horrible character is not the fault of the actor.
"We're chasing freakin' sixes...."
Who needs a re-view when the view is bad enough?
When a major publisher withholds review code from major outlets and restricts it to "certain" favored publications, they might as well just publish their own review and give it a 4/10. Why pretend at that point?
It's ok, this is what Cyberpunk did at launch and that turned out just fine....right? Right?
It's kind of hilarious that Sony bought TWO years of exclusivity of this thing. They can't even give it away on plus until it's so past prime nobody will want it. I'm sure it'll end up there in 2 years, but that's a long wait.
@Tharsman I think maybe it'll put to rest the "Sony should buy Square" rumors finally though. Sony's not going to pony up (heh) cash to buy a publisher that keeps cranking out mediocrity. Sure they'd love to own FF and DQ but that's about all they want to own and Square's dependent on them for cash anyway so it's not worth it. Though I suspect THIS game is kind of like Gearbox and Aliens Colonial Marines. I'm guessing they took Sony money for 2 years for this game, funneled it into FFXVI dev and probably mobile stuff, and made this game on a shoestring budget knowing they already had the cash in hand from the exclusivity payment. I imagine if this fails it spells the end of Luminous though. Even if it's not their fault because budget was probably diverted.
@UltimateOtaku91 To be fair High on Life is garbage, but it has a built in fanbase for the writing among fans of the author's other work, divisive as it may be. I don't get the humor but a lot of people love it. There's enough rick & morty fans it made McDonalds bring back a sauce due to r&m fan demand for a limited time because the show apparently names it a lot.
This, on the other hand does not have a cult following behind the author's format.
@Johnnycide There's also the direction problem where they cast a British actor as a New York punk. Because I guess NY suddenly has no actors available?
Kind of like Pat Summersett's casting as the "British" accented Zelda in BotW that Brits chafed on hearing, even though it sounded ok to Americans, Ella did a commendable job on a fake NY accent, but for a yank, it's weirdly hard sounding, very forced sounding, overly stereotypical, and when I heard her call enemies "fookers" it was just a game ending moment. I'm not sure if it was because of the non-accent that comes from Narnia itself because it's neither NY nor UK dialect, or if the writing that doesn't fit was the turn-off. If there's a cringe "fugetaboudit" moment in in the game I would not be at all surprised.
@Tharsman duh that why they going to be bought by sony lol
@NEStalgia yikes. I didn't know that was the case. Tbh I've only seen a couple of trailers and it didn't appeal to me at all, but I'd be lying if I didn't feel some small amount of shadenfreude after SE pulled that crap with Avengers being a live service, whatever Babylon's fall was, and their attitude to NFTs.
Don't bother, we all knew it was crap after the demo. Their 'selected' media have trashed it anyway!
And a 6 from IGN? By their scoring, it must be REALLY bad. 🤣
@ShogunRok @LiamCroft Always appreciate the transparency.
Looking over twitter a lot of my normal review sources haven't received review codes either, and PC seems to have not been supplied at all as of a few days ago as far as I could glean.
If I was cynical it would say that according to Metacrtic Push Square is "on average, this publication grades 7.3 points lower than other critics." Can't have you lot interfering with their Day 1 scores. lol
@NEStalgia oh I forgot about the two year deal. How many of these failures has Sony forked money for this generation? Babylon Fall (turned out to be a lifetime-exclusive I guess) and Forspoken, they also forked money for Spider-Man exclusive in Avengers. Not a Square game but they also forked money for Godfall.
I feel Sony went way too aggressive on money-hatting these experiments.
As far as DQ goes, I doubt they care much for it either. It’s not big outside of Japan, and Sony has basically abandoned “Japan niche” games.
@NEStalgia And who wants to play a bad game, even when they dump it on Plus? I know I don't. More than enough decent 'free' stuff that I don't have time to get through as it is.
Sony sure effed up on this one.
Far to many average games or slightly above average, just ends up super disappointing. Saints Row, Cyberpunk, Arkham Knights, Callisto Protocol.......the list goes on
And with that, I think this will be a deep sale if I even bother with it now.
Pity as well as it was one that was on my radar to pick up but the demo and now these shenanigans just scream that it's not all it was cracked up to be
@LN78 It is ALWAYS a red flag when big game developers don't release review copies until just before release - not just for this game, but for any major release. Even releasing copies with an embargo a day before release is cause for concern. If it's an indie, maybe they don't have enough marketing experience and sophistication to have review codes ready, but someone like Square Enix knows how to make it all happen.
If they know they have something people will love, they want those reviews out there making a couple news cycles before release day to build hype. It's tremendous free PR, when they believe the reviews will be good.
Waiting for the last minute says they're hoping to lock in preorders and prevent anyone from having time to cancel when they see the initial reviews. It smells like a bid for short-term cash, either (hopefully) to help them finish the beta they just released as though it was ready, or to grab all they can before it flops.
EDIT: I did really hope this was going to be a great game, in part because the studio had the courage to release a demo before they game was out. I want to ENCOURAGE that behavior from studios - I want to get a feel for a game, especially new IP, before I plunk down my cash for it. The fact the demo may have hurt this game's sales is bad news on that front.
@RobN Totally agree on the worry that demos in general will be hurt by this. The mentality that "they shouldn't release demos if it's bad" is terrible. Consumers actually demanding companies hide bad products until after you pay for them so that companies can maximize profits defies logic. How about make your product not suck, then you don't have to hide it?
Although just like the review hiding, the fact that the demo was so short should have itself been a red flag. Square-Enix makes good demos. Capcom has terrible demos, but Square, they gave you the entire first chapter of DQXI in the demo because they were that confident you'd love it and buy it. They gave away numerous missions in Diofield, itself kind of a lackluster game in terms of sales, but it presented the game very well, let me sink a week or so into playing the demo, and did lead to me purchasing a game I otherwise wouldn't have (albeit a few months later on a sale.) Same with Bravely Default 2, Octopath 1, Lost Sphear...they usually give solid chunks of gameplay in their demos. This one was a tutorial and like 30 minutes of boring gameplay - Thanks for playing!. It was like a partial demo. That itself is a red flag. But gameplay was so boring and characters so grating it felt like it was hours and I was glad when it was done.
@Tharsman Yeah, they went super hard into buying third party exclusivity, probably connected with Jim's comment of "this generation exclusives will be more important than ever." They were bent on getting exclusives, but what they got wasn't worth the price. I also think the price of third party exclusivity is probably rising with XB on the upswing vs when they probably inked these deals and XB was pretty much dead weight. But the amount of failures even among exclusives from square probably diminishes any value of the whole "Sony should buy square" mantra. Who'd buy the studio that keeps losing your money when you can keep paying to control the one and only property that makes money from them?
DQ, I agree Sony doesn't care about Japan niche, or Japan sales that much, but I do think they care about DQ since it has significant importance in Japan, probably costs little because of that, but still holds some marketing power in the West. They played some antics with 11, and I'm betting they will on 12, too. If they were willing to bet ton Babylon's Fail and Forspoken, they've bet on DQ12 already, too.
I'd like to lend my support to the theory that PS didn't get a copy due to it's adherence to honesty in reviews. The fact that the site frequently has to remind casual readers that a 7 is still a good score bears that out. It's also the reason Push Square has been a daily check in for me for the last ten years.
I'll wait for push's review. But I'll probably get this on a discount down the road.
Cancelled my preorder at Best Buy. I'll grab it on sale this fall... Looks like the main character is agitating AT BEST.
Don't really need a review after that splendid launch trailer 🤣
Remember how awesome the concept looked in that very first ps5 teaser? Been nothing but downhill from there.
duck quack
Nice try Square Enix, go make mobile games now
The reviews I've seen so far have not been glowing. Downright bad.
@Johnnycide I agree that Push Square has very honest reviews. The thing that convinced me was actually a negative [buying] experience. Push Square rated Ride 4 a 4/10, and handling the bikes was treacherous, but my ***** thought the game looked way too amazing and true next-gen experience to pass up. (Meanwhile, other review sites were giving it much higher scores.) 2 or 3 hours after buying the game and playing it, I realized it was the worst game purchase I had made in 35+ years --- I should have listened to Push Square!!! Been a loyalist ever since.
@Tharsman Avengers wasn't a bomb like Babylon, though. It was one of the best selling games the year it came out.
So let me get this straight....
Only on certain sites is it FORspoken. On others it's more like POSTspoken......
....Thank you, I'll be here all week. Try the buffet!
@Toypop I don't know how people like to watch ACG reviews. I feel like something is grinding on my brain when he speaks, and those puns of his, terrible.
No review code but that didn't stop them from using a quote from you in their "accolades" trailer.
"A solid and expansive combat system" - Push Square
Spent a lot of time with Playstation customer service to cancel my preorder of this game as it was meant to be my anniversary gift from my beloved one, sad to say I'm happy the cancellation went on...
Oh well, see you in the Ishimura next week I guess
make sure to give a bonus point for freys looks atleast
I still want to play this game as I really enjoyed my time with the demo (flaws & all). I don't think i'll be dropping $70 on this.
Take your time PS, I'd rather not have a rushed review that doesn't give a good impression.
@naruball Unfortunantly for fans it rumor it didn't meet Square Enix usually ridiculous sales targets.
Metacritic reviews say it is mixed.
@knowles2 that Marvel liscence mustve been most of the cost tho. Really cant blame them for trying to recoup. They actually botched the biggest IP in the world.
After reading various reviews looks like this is worth $10-20... if in a very generous mood, lol.
girl game like tiny tinas and just cause
@ShogunRok more importantly whens your Dead Space Remake review coming though !
@Uromastryx In time for launch, if all goes to plan!
@Sil_Am Yeah, he's complete ass in my opinion.
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