Sony's September PlayStation Showcase event revealed a variety of announcements, as well as new looks at highly anticipated upcoming projects like Square Enix's Forspoken. Forspoken was first unveiled in March, earlier this year. The fantasy action game provoked many more questions than it answered, but it seems Square Enix is now ready to start answering some of those questions. The big one is that Forspoken is now confirmed for a spring 2022 release.
As conveyed in its announcement, Forspoken revolves around protagonist Frey Holland transporting from real-world New York City to the fantasy land of Athia where she has access to a variety of magical abilities. In the new PlayStation Showcase trailer for Forspoken, the antagonist of the game is introduced. Tanta Syla is described as the most powerful of Tantas, which must be the world's magic-wielders. There's even a brief encounter between Frey and this villain in the trailer that doesn't go Frey's way.
What stands out in the new Forspoken trailer are the game's visuals for its magic, in particular. Frey is shown using a variety of incredible magic, including planting bombs in both the ground and sky, pulling herself along in the sky, creating floating water orbs, summoning a large flaming sword, as well as a golden shield, and freezing enemies in a large shard of ice like Final Fantasy's Diamond Dust. Frey appears to have all of the natural elements at her fingertips, which she wields with ease.
Traversal is also heavily focused on in the trailer, with Forspoken previously being confirmed to have open-world exploration. Frey is shown running very quickly and double jumping, which are core movement mechanics. However, the trailer also introduces Frey swinging from grappling points now, too. Even more exciting, she appears to grapple in open air, and even summons platforms to stand on mid-leap.
While Forspoken's visuals surrounding the magical spells and traversal are the most exhilarating portions of the trailer, a good amount of time is spent on the game's story. Specifically, it takes its time introducing Frey and a second character. The second character is a voice from Frey's bracelets named Cuff and there's likely much more to the character than meets the eye.
Even now, with two big trailers and plenty of Forspoken gameplay available, the action RPG remains very mysterious. Square Enix appears to have a special game on its hands, but it may be holding back the most exciting elements of Forspoken for closer to launch. Expect to hear more in the months to come.
Forspoken releases spring 2022 on PC and PS5.