It’s been a few months since we’ve heard anything about Forspoken, the upcoming ARPG from Square Enix and Luminous Productions. When we last checked in with the game, it had received a name change from Project Athia and received a new trailer.
There, Ella Balinska briefly talked about playing the role of Frey Holland, Forspoken‘s protagonist, and shared a few tidbits about the game’s world and narrative.
Now we know a little bit more thanks to Sony’s September PlayStation Showcase, which brought a new gameplay trailer focused on how Frey ends up in Athia and the dangers she faces there.
Raio Mitsuno, Creative Producer at Luminous Productions, said in a PlayStation Blog post about Forspoken that:
Frey is a directionless, gritty yet street smart young woman who has persevered despite her rough upbringing in New York City. And her life hasn’t really gotten any easier now that she’s about to turn 21. Things take a turn for the unexpected when she’s magically transported to Athia, a land where fantasies and nightmares are suddenly very real.
Athia is a beautiful plane that may or not be related to the earth realm. The anthropomorphic “bracelet” (named Cuff) on Frey’s arm says it’s “not what you would call Earth, anyway.” We’ll have to wait to learn more about the game’s world, but it’s clear that it’s full of magic, mythical creatures (dragons included), and fierce Tantas that control the people.
The trailer shows Frey using her powers to whip around rooftops and land from great heights while wielding elemental magic against not just ferocious beasts but what are assuredly the Tantas’ henchmen.
Luminous also revealed that Forspoken‘s writer’s room includes Gary Whitta (Book of Eli, Rogue One), Amy Hennig (Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Uncharted), Allison Rymer (Shadowhunters, Chasing Life), and Todd Stashwick (Devil Inside, EA and Visceral’s canceled Star Wars project).
The cast so far includes Ella Balinska, Jonathan Cakes as Cuff, Janina Gavankar as big-bad Tanta Sila, Keala Settles as archivist Johedy, and Monica Barbaro as Frey’s ally Auden.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about Forspoken, but we’re sure to learn more soon. It’s set to release on PlayStation 5 and PC in spring 2022.
Sources: PlayStation Blog, IMDB, Wikipedia
