Each offers its own progression tree of skills to enhance, balanced between attack and support spells. The first time you encounter a swarm of Breakzombies – humans warped by the Break, turned into semi-crystalline shamblers – turns from a moment of panic to one of glee as you find yourself able to almost pirouette through the horde as you dispatch them.įrey’s combat magic is split into four colour-coded categories, unlocked as you progress through the story. While her magically-enhanced parkour skills are primarily useful in navigating the world, canny use of her vaults, flips, and dodges in battle will have you juggling hordes of enemies with ease. In the earliest sections of the game, particularly some sections in New York, Frey feels positively clunky, but as her skills grow in Athia, she becomes a lightning-fast blur of arcane might.

It's a balance that proves not just a delight but an increasingly sublime one as you progress.

As the team responsible for Final Fantasy XV, it’s no surprise to find that game’s speedy combat echoed in Forspoken, but here it’s elevated by a heavy emphasis on parkour and an open world that allows players to make full use of the space in battles. Yes, the toys in Forspoken’s playset are well-worn, but are at least arranged into a compelling diorama in developer Luminous Productions new action RPG. Finding herself both immune to the Break and somehow possessed of magical abilities, the reluctant Frey is guided by Cuff – the gauntlet, now sentient and overly chatty – into uncovering the origins of the Break while searching for a way home. When she discovers a strange, glowing armlet in a derelict building, she almost gets her wish – but instead of somewhere in the American Midwest, Frey finds herself in the blighted world of Athia, where a horrific affliction called the Break has destroyed or corrupted everything but the city of Cipal, humanity’s last bastion. Now a young adult who too often finds herself on the wrong side of the law, Frey dreams of escaping to somewhere calmer and quieter. In Forspoken, the outsider is Alfre ‘Frey’ Holland, abandoned as a baby in New York City.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: modern day outsider gets mysteriously transported to fantasy world, where, after an archetypal hero’s journey, they turn out to be the last hope for an imperilled people.

Forspoken ps5 review