9/21/2023 0 Comments Forspoken developers"The merger is part of the Company's efforts to bolster the competitive prowess of the Group's development studios, a goal set forth under its current medium-term business strategy," a press release reads. But now, it seems that Luminous Productions as an individual entity will be no more and, thus, won't be seeing its name appear on future titles. It's a strange announcement, given that Luminous Productions was already a studio under the Square Enix umbrella. I wish they held my attention for longer.Following the release of Forspoken earlier this year, Square Enix has announced that the game's developer, Luminous Productions, will merge into the company. The detours at least progress and become available or unavailable depending on where you’re at in the story, but the slow pace of most of them is in stark contrast to the fast parkour and combat you can find in the rest of Athia. The only times they held my attention was when there were cats involved (yes, there are lots of cats in Athia), adding some much needed levity to the dark and broody proceedings. An early one sees you simply exploring the town and then feeding sheep, while another simply has you taking photos in the world to share with the curious children who idolise you as a hero.Ĭharacters themselves are also lacking and feel lifeless in that dead-behind-the-eyes kind of way, which makes interacting with them feel stilted. It’s a shame that so many of these abilities aren’t unlocked until later in the game, and you’re stuck with one ranged rock attack for a little too long.īeyond the open world exploration components of Forspoken, there’s also a range of detours (side quests) in the grey town of Cipal, the main hub you keep returning to, that you can take on to gain experience, but these distractions are rarely worth it and often drag. When you’re flinging giant rocks, sparking large electricity fields, dropping Frey decoys and then lighting up baddies with a volcanic, fiery death all in quick succession, it feels good, and visually looks impressive with particle effects flying all over the place. Enemies aren’t super varied, but you quickly learn that they have their weaknesses that can be capitalised on with the right magical abilities at your disposal. This is all to say that, when all of these moving parts eventually come together, Forspoken’s combat is actually enjoyable. Her fire sword and ability to bring flames from the ground an a large inferno makes for a fun time, and even later on you’ll unlock a water based skill tree (where you can summon a watery vortex to suck enemies into) and then electric based abilities that have you shooting lightning arrows before detonating them in satisfying fashion. It’s fun for a bit, but it isn’t until a good five hours in when you unlock a melee attack, through her unlocked fire abilities. Her core “earth”-based abilities allow her to fire rocks as projectiles and summon large rock spikes in the ground to disable foes. Blitzing through Athia is enjoyable, and fast-travel is everywhere if you really want to skip the traversal entirely.įrey’s abilities take a bit too long to get fun, which is a shame. There isn’t much to do on the map itself between all the various waypoints of activities, but I think that’s a design choice given you really wouldn’t want to have to slow down and stop constantly. Parkour is free-flowing and fun, simply holding a button and moving in a direction to have Frey easily zipping across the map at high speeds. Where Forspoken has moments of brilliance is within its various parkour and combat systems, which improve and become more satisfying the deeper into the game you go. It often slows things to a crawl, particularly when spending time in the main hub town, which takes away from the fun you could be having parkouring around the map like a badass. Long cut-scenes with heavy exposition dumps, lore with lots of writing that has to be read, conversations between Frey and Cuff (that literally force you to stand there and listen, rather than have them take place while exploring). The story hits a lot of the familiar beats that you’d expect, which isn’t egregiously bad in and of itself, but the way it’s presented is quite slow and meandering throughout. She loves her cat and cats in general (relatable), and before you know it she is whisked away to the cruel world of Athia, forced to bond with a sentient speaking cuff wrapped around her arm (that she calls… Cuff), and save the world. Forspoken is a classic Alice in Wonderland story, featuring Frey Holland, a young New Yorker who is consistently finding herself on the wrong side of the law, running with the wrong people and doing whatever she can to “get by” in the harsh city.
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