With the Forspoken reviews painting a perplexing picture of Square Enix’s divisive RPG game, the developer has announced that a free PC demo will be dropping on Steam, the Epic Games store, and the Microsoft store on January 24; the Forspoken release date.
While PlayStation 5 players have already been able to preview Frey’s adventure ahead of launch, PC players have been left in the dust, confused and concerned over the sky high Forspoken system requirements.
Thankfully, Square Enix has (finally) come to the rescue with a free PC demo, which will drop on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store on January 24.
“Square Enix and Luminous Productions also released a free playable PC demo (via the Steam, Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store) today [January 24],” reads an official Luminous Productions blog post.
“In the PC demo, players will face-off with a variety of enemies and test their fighting abilities with an extensive arsenal of attack and support magic that will prepare them for the high-octane action they can expect to encounter in the full game.”
Given that Luminous Productions’ vibrant new adventure appears to have split critics down the middle, the demo may be your best bet. The game’s PS5 version (PC reviews are yet to appear) currently holds an average Metacritic score of 63%, with scores ranging from 95% to 40% – quite the jump, eh?
While some have criticised the overly cringy voice lines, others have found a subtle charm in its subtext, in turn allowing them to embrace the mysterious world of Athia. It’s also a good chance to see whether or not your gaming PC will melt, so there’s that, too.
As someone who really wants to play Forspoken, this is the perfect compromise for me. Given just how divided reviews are, giving the demo a go before committing $69.99 /£64.99 makes a lot more sense.
If you’ve pre-ordered Forspoken, though, be sure to check out our rundown of all of the best Forspoken builds ahead of time to make sure you push Frey to her limits. If you’re worried that you’ll be spending far too much time in Athia, we also have the answer to that age-old question: how long is Forspoken? After all, there are a lot of other great new PC games set to drop this year.