And she also swears to the point of parody, which never stops feeling out of place. There are moments where she almost becomes likable, and she certainly has a few choice lines delivered with confidence and style by the voice actor, but most of the time I just really wanted her to shut up. You could switch her backstory with that of a selfish rich girl and it wouldn’t make any difference.Īll she talks about for the entire game is going home, despite the fact that when she left Earth she brought with her literally everything she owns – the clothes on her back and a mobile phone, which inexplicably keeps its power for the entire game so she can take landscape pictures. The issue here is that no matter what’s happening to her or because of her, Frey is an insufferable brat. Her actions inadvertently lead to the rescue of one of the city’s beloved elders, while also bringing the wrath of the Tantas down upon the people. Frey has unexplained magical gifts that rival the Tantas’ own, and becomes the default protector of the city of Cipal by being in the wrong place at the right time. Forspoken’s plot is fine, as fantasy plots go. Cuff is voiced by character actor Jonathan Cake, who brings a dry British humour to proceedings that is sorely needed – even if he and Frey do repeat the same four dialogue exchanges to the point of apoplexy.

This is all explained by the vambrace, which Frey names Cuff (despite it clearly being a bracelet or, of course, a vambrace). Once there, Frey soon learns that the land is in the grip of a terrible corruption called the Break, created by the Tantas, four powerful mages who once defended the world until they fell into madness.

One night after pissing off the local gang by ditching a stolen car, Frey narrowly escapes an attempt on her life and comes into contact with a sentient vambrace, which transports her to the fantasy world of Athia. She’s a homeless girl from New York City (which she will remind the player and every nearby NPC roughly every eight seconds for the entire runtime), who was abandoned at birth and found in Holland Tunnel. You play Frey Holland, the kind of gobshite teenager popular in 90s suburban adventure movies. One of those games is an open world action RPG with flashy, satisfying (albeit scrappy) combat and some wonderful traversal options, and the other game is one of the most banal, joy-sapping experiences I’ve ever pushed myself through. It might seem a bit cliché to say it, but Forspoken really does feel like two different games stitched together with wonky seams.

Forspoken reviews