As 2021 comes to a close, the gaming year for 2022 is beginning to take shape. Release dates for major AAA releases such as Starfield have been revealed, and huge delays have also informed how the industry will look next year. The most recent of these major delays comes from Square Enix regarding its next highly anticipated main entry in the long-running Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 16. This puts one of the studio's biggest titles for next year, Forspoken, in an interesting position, as it seems like it has the daunting task of being Square Enix's lone AAA Japanese release for 2022.

While Final Fantasy 16 was never given an official release window, a recent post from producer Naoki Yoshida revealed that the game has been internally delayed by roughly six months, leading to a major shift in when the team expects the game to be ready. This leaves the likelihood of Final Fantasy 16 releasing in 2022 at an absolute minimum, leaving Square Enix's release slate for the year looking pretty clear, save for a few unexpected surprises like the reveal of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy just four months before its release. Forspoken is slated for May 2022, making its release all the more important.

RELATED: Everything Revealed About Forspoken So Far

Forspoken, But Also Unproven

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Forspoken is the first original game from Luminous Productions, the developer of Final Fantasy 15, and some absolutely stunning tech demos courtesy of its Luminous Engine. The game is aiming to appeal to both Japanese and Western markets, hence why Charlie's Angels actress Ella Balinksa is set to star as the protagonist, Frey.

The game's writing comes from the likes of Garry Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,) Allison Rymer (Shadowhunters,) and Todd Stashwick (Visceral's canceled Star Wars game, codenamed Ragtag.) Uncharted and Legacy of Kain writer Amy Hennig is said to have been attached to the project, but according to recent reports, her contributions to the games narrative were during the early conceptual phase and not to the core narrative present in the final version.

Needless to say, Forspoken is new territory for Square Enix. Forspoken definitely has an uphill battle of accomplishing all its lofty goals of being a successful new IP worldwide, on top of being a two-year PlayStation 5 console exclusive. Couple this with the fact that it is coming from Luminous, with its last project having more than its fair share of controversies given its long, tumultuous development and ultimately large amount of canceled content, including three planned DLC episodes. It's understandable that Square Enix might not have initially planned to delay Final Fantasy 16 and hedge all of its bets on such an ambitious title.

RELATED: Forspoken Preview: Details on the Open World, Frey's Character, Combat, & More

Forspoken's Unfair Expectations

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There is another element to the concern surrounding Forspoken, however, and it's that there have been many elements of the game that fans have been quick to raise caution towards. One element of the game that recent previews of the game were critical of was the writing. Forspoken follows a "Isekai" storyline, which anime fans will know from the likes of Sword Art Online and KonoSuba as revolving around a person from the real world being trapped in either a fantasy or video game world.

In Forspoken's case, it is a Final Fantasy-like fantasy world. The lack of originality in Frey's reactions to the world around her in Forspoken has left many unimpressed. While the ins-and-outs of the story are far from a known quantity so far, the elements of Forspoken's narrative revealed so far have failed to impress in the way that Square Enix games are known to.

None of this is to say that Forspoken is doomed to be a failure. Many elements of the game are fascinating, such as its sprawling, gorgeous open world and addictive traversal system, something more open-world games seem to be taking note of thanks to games like Marvel's Spider-Man. The game's combat also looks engaging, with its emphasis on ranged magic abilities over a traditional RPG battle system, or even an action-based one similar to Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. Forspoken looks like it could be a great start to a new franchise, but in the shadow of a titan like Final Fantasy 16, it might have to be more than that to really earn its place in the upper echelon of Square Enix AAA titles.

As alluded to earlier, however, it may not be the case that Forspoken will be Square Enix's only big game for 2022. While the studio is likely to go big on other titles like Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Forspoken is clearly one of the most elaborate and expensive projects the studio has revealed for a while.

Not having the comfort of knowing when to expect Final Fantasy 16 could hurt the game in the long run, as fans could compare it to some of Square Enix's bigger recent efforts like Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Hopefully that's not the case, because for now, Forspoken is looking to be one of the most interesting games of 2022.

Forspoken release on May 24, 2022, for PC and PS5.

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