Forspoken – I like it! But can we talk about annoying tutorials?

No, this is not a test yet. Of course it will come in the next few days, but we also only got the key recently, which is why I’ve only been on Forspoken or in his world Athia for a few hours. And as I was actually already aware of after the pleasantly detailed demo, what I particularly like is what makes the core: the combat system.

What can this do? It combines brisk parkour moves with a tactical combat system that involves a lot of shooting and punching, but also involves using magic and switching between different sets of elemental spells. I wouldn’t be surprised if Square Enix copied Assassin’s Creed’s fast dashing around – after all, it’s also used here as a means of transport to explore a large open world with giant strides.

However, you have to dose it cleverly, otherwise the lady fighter Frey will run out of breath and she will be relatively defenseless in front of her opponents. In addition, it is now and then necessary to dodge at the right moment, so that both timing and tactics as well as potions with good target water play a role. Coupled with colorful particle fountains, more movement options and a previously motivating development of equipment and skills, I feel very comfortable with it.

Now, of course, Forspoken is more than a Diablo with a glance over the shoulder, i.e. the plot and characters should also fit. And in the relationship, I’m not that enthusiastic about getting started. In any case, I find it disappointing that storyteller Square Enix, of all things, creates cutscenes in a very old-fashioned way, instead of staging modern game cinema, as has been the case with Sony in particular for several years.

After all, you initially walk with Frey through her neighborhood in New York, but relatively simple film snippets alternate with short walking distances and if you’re unlucky, you’re not even allowed to move the camera – that’s not a flowing experience, but feels rather stop-and-go and will continue for quite a while when the heroine finally arrives in the fantasy realm of Athia. Its connections to the real world are also pounded in with fence posts… “subtle” or at least “emotional” are probably not terms that were underlined in bold in the design document.

I don’t want to go into detail about the actual game world at this point. But the fact that the functional backdrop mainly serves the purpose of enabling Frey’s brisk fire dance and has little to do with a lively role-playing scenario is no longer a secret.

However, what got on my nerves in the first few hours was the frequent stopping to have something explained. Is there really no other way? Why can’t I get to know the world the way I did in the demo, first on the preset and then on the highest level of difficulty: by thanking the tutorial windows and simply throwing myself into the fray? That should at least be an option. It’s the same in many other games.

Precisely because Forspoken functions primarily as a colorful adventure playground, that would be an excellent fit. I’d rather overlook a little thing and look it up later in Frey’s exemplary diary than have the already sluggish progress in the first two hours be constantly interrupted.

This does not only apply to Forspoken. But it’s no fun when a game initially feels more like a lecture than an experience. The fact that you have to click away a text makes me feel like I’m missing something if I don’t read it carefully. So I try to understand something that I haven’t tried at the moment – that’s where the root of the problem lies for me. This feels more like work than entertainment by the fifth or tenth time at the latest. I’d rather just jump in and enjoy exploring the game.

Precisely because a number of interested parties have already played the demo and Forspoken was presented as an action-adventure in a large open world, you want to start with exactly this image in mind. Instead, you watch a number of short video snippets and explanatory texts, and to top it all off you are forced through a playfully almost completely undemanding, but minute-long sneak sequence. To sneak! This is what I was looking forward to here…

Which solutions would I have liked better? On the one hand, trying everything out for yourself. On the other hand, if such descriptive texts appear without pausing the game – like several times if you never use a tactical option, for example. As I said, always with the possibility to switch everything off.

And by the way, we’re always happy to have a demo where you can let off steam far away from the actual adventure! That was great, and I’m really excited about how consistent Square Enix is ​​currently making sample snippets of many games available. As I said, I had a lot of fun with that. So much that I started it again right after I finished it. Which is why I am now very excited about what awaits me in Athia.