Hot on the heels of Forspoken’s appearance at the 2021 Game Awards, which revealed a Steam release date set for spring next year, we’ve now got a pretty chunky new look at the upcoming RPG’s gameplay. A new four-minute-long clip posted by IGN shows main character Frey Holland tearing across Athia, its rugged-looking fantasy setting, battles against enemies, and some character customisation elements, giving us a flavour of what the game will bring.
Kicking off with a run through a fortified stone city (that still looks under construction, with scaffolding lining its streets), the clip then offers a glimpse at the world beyond its walls. A brief view of its map doesn’t give a huge amount away, but we can see what looks like a fair degree of verticality in its terrain, with Frey later shown flying and free-running down cliff paths using powers to leap and boost her way forward. We hear chatter between the character and what sounds like her sentient bracelet companion, Cuff, as she goes.
Glimpses at the game’s mechanics reveal what seem to be unlockable magic skills – for example, we see a level-three ability called ‘Burst Shot’ which flings lumps of explosive rocks at enemies.
As for gear, there will be cloaks that offer certain buffs, such as boosted magic recharge rates, and some intricate nail varnish designs – yes, you read that right – will offer Frey similar advantages. One shown, called ‘Blue Flash’, lets her charge attack spells more quickly. The power of looking fierce, eh? Here’s the new gameplay clip, from IGN’s YouTube channel:
Combat comes in at around two-thirds of the way through, with Frey taking on a group of zombie-like foes using her magic abilities. We see her fire bolts of energy from her fingertips, and rain energy bolts down from the sky, among other attacks – all in pursuit of a rather meagre-looking chest of stuff. Well, they can’t all be winners, but we should have a better idea of what spells are coming soon so we can make the best Forspoken builds.
Forspoken is an upcoming RPG from developer Luminous Productions, a subsidiary of Square Enix, and is due out on May 24, 2022. Formerly known as Project Athia, the game got a new trailer at last week’s The Game Awards, though the launch of pre-orders at the same time has raised some eyebrows due to its pricing.
On Steam, Forspoken will set you back £65 / $70 / €80 at its current price point, while a digital deluxe edition featuring extras such as some DLC, a digital art book, and soundtrack is just under £90 right now. These put it some way above many other triple-A releases of recent times, with some other highly anticipated upcoming PC games like Elden Ring and Monster Hunter: Rise going for a fair bit less on Valve’s storefront.