As 2022 draws to a close, Forspoken's January release date finally looms on the horizon. After multiple delays, Luminous Productions' action RPG is almost within touching distance, and more details are being uncovered as a result. Forspoken follows Frey Holland, an ordinary woman who is plucked from her daily life and transported to an extraordinary location known as Athia, brimming with magic and discovery. With this transportation comes a host of new magical abilities for Frey to master, and doing so should allow her to enter into some highly dynamic and fluid combat situations.
Frey is accompanied by Cuff, a sentient bracelet that is able to talk and acts as her guide as she traverses this mysterious new land. Along the way she will begin to uncover new powers and abilities as she slowly transitions into a fierce and fearless warrior capable of opposing Forspoken's primary antagonists, the Tantas. Recent information about these abilities has given gamers a taste of how combat and traversal will work in the game, and it looks like magic will be the engine that powers almost all of Frey's move set, from combat through to fluid movement.
Forspoken's Combat Looks to be Dynamic and Unique
Many action RPGs place the emphasis firmly on melee combat, and understandably so. The usual combination of light and heavy attacks, blocks, dodges, and ranged attacks are found in the majority of games in this genre, and not too many titles tend to deviate from this, especially given the success of titles like Elden Ring, which in many ways perfected that specific tried and tested formula. Magic and parkour are taking center stage in Forspoken though, alluding to the fact that this RPG is looking to break the mold.
It is not known exactly how Frey has been given these abilities, but gamers have now been shown enough to have a decent idea of how magic will work in Athia, and it's safe to say it will very much be the main weapon in her arsenal. As well as being able to damage enemies with a range of magical and elemental attacks, Frey will also be relying on her magic to power some of her traversal mechanics too. Abilities such as Flow, Rush and Shimmy will all aid Frey in quickly and effectively navigating Athia's unpredictable terrain.
Interestingly, Frey will also have a stamina meter to contend with, which will slowly drain as she uses certain parkour abilities. The abilities themselves can be enhanced by completing Spellcraft challenges, which will either reduce the amount of stamina consumption the ability uses, or boost the recovery rate of Frey's stamina meter. These various abilities will not only give Forspoken players a useful means of traversal but they can be used effectively in combat too. Timing them just right will allow the player to successfully avoid an enemy's attack, and, in effect, it can be assumed that this will be Forspoken's version of the dodge mechanic.
All of this should add up to some fresh, innovative gameplay, whether Frey is moving around the open world, or in the heat of battle. Luminous Productions has clearly chosen to go in a different direction with Forspoken's combat, and this is a courageous move from the developer. The outcome of this bold statement is a system that looks different from anything that gamers have seen before, and as a result, fans will be keen to understand exactly how this plays out when the game launches in January.
Forspoken will be released on January 24, 2023, for PC and PS5.