Everything we know about Forspoken, Square Enix's next big action-RPG

We don't have much more of a wait before the release of Forspoken, the new open-world RPG from Square Enix. It's an international effort from Luminous Productions, a new Square Enix team of Final Fantasy veterans who've combined their talents to realize a long-ignored dream: wizards with parkour magic.

While info has slowly emerged as we approach Forspoken's release—notwithstanding a few delays—you might have a few questions before you're ready for magical double-jumps across the fantasy world of Athia. What's there to know about protagonist Frey Holland? What kind of spells are in her enchanted arsenal? How overwhelming are the game's quips?

We're here to help. Here's everything we know about Forspoken.

What is Forspoken's release date?

Forspoken will release on January 24, 2023, as announced with the game's second delay. An earlier delay moved the game out of its original release window in May 2022, pushed back to the theoretical window of October 2022.

According to the latest delay statement, Forspoken's release date was pushed back once more for "strategic reasons." It's unclear what exactly that means, but the released Twitter statement described the game's development as nearly finished, saying "all game elements are now complete, and development is in its final polishing phase."

Here's the latest Forspoken gameplay showcase

In this gameplay overview from December 2022, we get some (slightly spoilery) story setup for Frey's quest in Athia. We then watch a boss fight to see how Frey's traversal and on-the-fly spell swapping looks in wizard duel combat. Interestingly, it seems like you'll be earning a performance grade during quests with score points gained from actions like dodging attacks, and higher grades look like they'll act as experience and item drop rate multipliers.

From there, we see a highlight reel of the corrupted creatures Frey will run into while exploring Athia's open world. If you ask me, the most dangerous thing out there remains the game's compulsive combat quipping. Finally, we see Frey wandering around a conjured New York mindscape, thanks to a sorceress who was probably pretty into Inception.

What other Forspoken trailers are there?

This Deep Dive: Magic Parkour trailer gives us a close up look at what powers Frey has at her disposal, and how they can combine to let her jump and skate around this unfamiliar land. We have a full breakdown of the abilities mentioned in our "What will Forspoken play like?" section of this article. Another feature showcased are spellcraft challenges, which allow Frey to upgrade skills to buff abilities with augments like shorter cooldowns or lower stamina consumption.

This 10-minute gameplay overview from August 2022 gives a pretty full sense of what the standard flow of gameplay will feel like in Forspoken, as Frey explores the open (and almost entirely corrupted) world of Athia. In the trailer, Frey picks up a sidequest to grab some crafting materials for an artisan in the hub city of Cipal, and then its out into the wilderness to fling fistfuls of magic. On display is the variety of different combat spells and magic parkour traversal options that Frey can deploy—and it looks to be a substantial one. In some of her shown skirmishes, Frey switches between magic bolts, whips with energy tendrils, and coup-de-grace finishers with a conjured knife. 

There's some additional context to note for this gameplay trailer, by the way. Frey is more quiet than you might expect, particularly if you caught the reactions to another, shorter Forspoken trailer released on Twitter earlier in August. Here, Frey's near-terminal "yeah, that just happened" quippiness felt—to seemingly everyone who watched it—like all the most nauseating writing tropes that come to mind when something is described as "Whedonesque." Not surprising that Square Enix turned Frey's zinger dial back a bit for the next video drop, but it's left some fear about how the game's banter will land on release.

In Forspoken's debut trailer from March of 2021, we're introduced to protagonist Frey Holland by Ella Balinska, Frey's voice and motion capture artist. Beginning with a cinematic of a freshly-isekai'd Frey reacting with understandable distress to suddenly having to contend with things like dragons and big, spooky wolf monsters, the trailer then shows our first glimpse of Forspoken's magic parkour as Frey zips across badlands and forests.

This story intro trailer from the 2021 PlayStation showcase doesn't have a ton of story info, if we're being honest. We get a glimpse at Frey's life before stumbling into a fantasy world (mostly characterized by wanting a different one), and are introduced to Frey's companion Cuff, a sentient wristlet with an English accent. Then, over clips of combat gameplay, we overhear as Frey is apparently enlisted for political assassination? I'm sure that'll be developed more.

Who's the main character in Forspoken?

The hero of Forspoken is Frey Holland, played by actor Ella Balinska. In the reveal trailer, Balinska says she's "a young woman in a beautiful yet threatening world." Balinska also said that Frey is a character she "immediately connected with," and she's performing both the motion capture and voice work in Forspoken.

That threatening world is doubly so, since Frey is actually a "gritty yet street smart young woman" who is unexpectedly transported from New York City to the nightmarish fantasy world of Athia. Thankfully her passage into this world is accompanied by the discovery of magical abilities, which she'll need as she fights her way to the "twisted all-powerful matriarchs" known as the Tantas, who control Athia. Sounds like she needs to get rid of them.

The first thing we saw in the debut Forspoken trailer was Frey's sneakers, which seemed ill-fitting in a fantasy game. Well: now you know why she's wearing sneakers! This has the whiff of an "isekai" story, a popular genre in Japan where characters are transported to a fantasy world. Y'know, like Space Jam.

This bit of text from the official site summarizes that setting: 

IN A WORLD NOT HER OWN

WHERE RESOLVE WILL BE TESTED

TRUTHS WILL BE QUESTIONED

AND DEVOTIONS WILL BE DOUBTED

SHE WILL RISE.

How about the other characters?

Cuff is your main companion in Forespoken, and as his name implies, he's a cuff. Literally. He's a "magical, sentient bracelet of uncertain origin" who speaks in an arch English accent, as witty videogame companions are wont to do. He's played by Jonathan Cake.

We've also learned of Tanta Sila, who is played by Janina Gavankar. She's the big baddy among the Tantas, the group of "twisted" matriarchs you'll be targeting in Forespoken.

Two other key characters have also been revealed: Johedy is played by Keala Settle, and is a "hard-nosed archivist who provides Frey with guidance," while Auden (Monica Barbaro) is a young woman Frey meets in Athia. They become besties.

What will Forspoken play like?

The most recent Forspoken trailer released in September provides a good overview of how the fantasy RPG will play, and then we got a virtual preview of Forspoken in December that gave us even more. The latest Deep Dive: Magic Parkour video also showed us an in-depth look at Frey's abilities. 

• Square Enix is going for high fidelity cutscenes and environments here, much like its Final Fantasy games
• Frey moves fast
• Frey can run up/climb cliff faces and do some twirly moves to gain bursts of speed. Think magically aided parkour. Platforming is a key part of the game's traversal, as is Spider-Man style swinging
• Frey has a huge arsenal of magical parkour abilities: The flow ability grants her high speeds, and is the baseline movement. The rush ability pushes Frey even faster, and restores stamina. Frey can use the shimmy skill to perform massive leaps off the floor as well. Float makes sure your falls are safer, and the glide skill lets you surf on water. You can use zip to dodge enemies and fling yourself across mountains. Soar and scale let you climb craggy vertical heights. All of these abilities can be combined for traversal or combat uses.
• Enemies shown in the trailer: an imposing golem, an imposing zombie bear, and some wild-lookin' sabretooth cats
• Frey's magical powers include forming a shield of light and making vines explode out of the ground. She can also fire high speed magic projectiles at enemies. 
• Spells seem to be from a variety of schools, that can be swapped between like stances.
• Spellcasting is mobile - Frey fires off her spells on the move, not rooted in place like so many others.
• The open world appears to be a mix of medieval fantasy architecture, cliffy and craggy wildlands, and open green pastures
• Frey is accompanied by a fairly unconventional companion in 'Cuff'. He's literally a golden sentient bracelet attached to Frey's arm

Based on what's been shown so far, Forspoken reminds me of open world games like Insomniac's Spider-man and Sucker Punch's Infamous, where using your movement abilities to get around the open world is as big a part of the game as combat.

Who's working on Forspoken?

It's a Luminous Productions game, but the studio has recruited some high-profile talent to write the script. These writers include Star Wars writer (and ye olde PC Gamer editor) Gary Whitta, Naughty Dog veteran Amy Hennig, as well as Allison Rymer and Todd Stashwick. Square Enix has brought out the big guns, so expect a narrative-driven adventure.

It's also confirmed that God of War (2018) composer Bear McCreary will be handling Forspoken's score.

Here are the Forspoken system requirements

As listed on Forspoken's Steam page, the game's system reqs are a little unconventional—particularly when the minimum specs will theoretically only net you 30fps at 720p.

Minimum system requirements

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit (After November 2019 Update) or Windows 11 64-bit
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (3.7GHz or better) / Intel® Core i7-3770 (3.7GHz or better)
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB VRAM
• Storage: 150 GB available space
• Additional Notes: 720p 30fps

Meanwhile, there's a substantial hardware jump if you're looking for the recommended experience's 30fps at 1440p.

Recommended system requirements

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit (After November 2019 Update) or Windows 11 64-bit
• CPU: AMD Ryzen5 3600 (3.7 GHz or better) / Intel® Core i7-8700K (3.7GHz or better)
• Memory: 24 GB RAM
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB VRAM
• Storage: 150 GB available space
• Additional Notes: 1440p 30fps

Seriously, check out this freaky bear