I somewhat loathe to “defend” it as Forspoken isn't an amazing game by any means, but the hate going around feels pretty undeserved. Nothing here is inherently that much worse than most 7/10 open world games on the market.
Hell, in terms of gameplay it has a really janky but unique feel that might end up sticking with me in the long run. Some of the powers, especially the last set (which you get way too late btw lol) are pretty unique and fun! The magical parkour might be one of my favorite traversal systems in a game in a while too, it gives you a ton of freedom to get around creatively and looks flashy as hell. I mostly had a good enough time when actually playing it.
But holy moly, even I find it difficult to defend this story. I'm pretty good at trusting the writer, going with whatever they throw at me, and finding things to enjoy along the way, but the way this story is constructed is incredibly bizarre. No specifics, but I think the story of someone shutting themselves off, feeling ostracized from society, trying to find their place in it is a perfectly fine idea if a bit rote, but it can't be 90% buildup with characters being awful people all the way, and all of the payoff dropped in the final hour. The pacing is just absolutely abysmal. There is a weird part where they create a borderline out of character-feeling interpersonal conflict between most of the named cast with everyone being assholes to each other, and that was pretty much the final straw for me. All of the makings of a decent adventure are there and there are some beats that I think are genuinely kinda good, but similar to Luminous’ last project, the execution is questionable.
Also have to mention that the final boss is a crazy difficulty spike. In general, the last couple chapters feel like a sudden sprint to the end of the story. So strange.
I was pretty excited despite everything, and again the gameplay is unique and fun enough but… it’s just not great as a whole. A shame because I really want to be a champion of Luminous, there is something special and specific to them somewhere in their work... Hopefully whatever their next project is can capture that fully.
Hell, in terms of gameplay it has a really janky but unique feel that might end up sticking with me in the long run. Some of the powers, especially the last set (which you get way too late btw lol) are pretty unique and fun! The magical parkour might be one of my favorite traversal systems in a game in a while too, it gives you a ton of freedom to get around creatively and looks flashy as hell. I mostly had a good enough time when actually playing it.
But holy moly, even I find it difficult to defend this story. I'm pretty good at trusting the writer, going with whatever they throw at me, and finding things to enjoy along the way, but the way this story is constructed is incredibly bizarre. No specifics, but I think the story of someone shutting themselves off, feeling ostracized from society, trying to find their place in it is a perfectly fine idea if a bit rote, but it can't be 90% buildup with characters being awful people all the way, and all of the payoff dropped in the final hour. The pacing is just absolutely abysmal. There is a weird part where they create a borderline out of character-feeling interpersonal conflict between most of the named cast with everyone being assholes to each other, and that was pretty much the final straw for me. All of the makings of a decent adventure are there and there are some beats that I think are genuinely kinda good, but similar to Luminous’ last project, the execution is questionable.
Also have to mention that the final boss is a crazy difficulty spike. In general, the last couple chapters feel like a sudden sprint to the end of the story. So strange.
I was pretty excited despite everything, and again the gameplay is unique and fun enough but… it’s just not great as a whole. A shame because I really want to be a champion of Luminous, there is something special and specific to them somewhere in their work... Hopefully whatever their next project is can capture that fully.