Yet, the game has a certain charm that I believe makes it worth giving a try to anyone. In the end, I recommend Forspoken to anyone who loves Final Fantasy XV or Ubisoft-style open worlds and especially anyone who has a thing for character mobility. I am not sure how many steps forward versus how many steps back Forspoken takes, but there are steps taken forward. There is a lot of diversity in the cast too, in a way we don’t usually get from big-budget RPGs.

And I also can’t deny there are some eyebrow-raising moments as to how the writers chose to portray a black woman like Frey, despite personally liking her quite a bit when viewed through the lens of having finished the game.

But at the same time I can’t help but be disappointed with how safe Forspoken plays the open world, and I am unlikely to go back to clear out all of those rote points of interest. There is a lot of fun to be had exploring Athia and the main quest keeps things interesting even when you get bored with the open-world checklist. Forspoken is a far better and more compelling game than I had feared, but it also doesn’t reach the heights I dreamt of.

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