''Forspoken'' is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by

Luminous Productions is a Japanese video game development studio and a subsidiary of Square Enix. It was originally known as Business Division 2, which was the development team responsible for ''Final Fantasy XV'' and was one of Square Enix#Development organization, ...

and published by Square Enix. It is to be released on January 24, 2023, on PlayStation 5 and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

Gameplay

According to director Takeshi Aramaki, the gameplay will be focused on terrain traversal speed and fluidity. Square Enix also described the game as a "narrative-driven adventure". The character will exist in an open world game format where players are able to travel anywhere at any time. The player character, Frey, has access to a variety of magical spells. Following each combat encounter, the player will earn experience points. Frey's cloak can be upgraded in order to improve her combat efficiency and stats, while applying nail polish unlocks special abilities. The player can also craft new items, or rest at a safe location in order to restore

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

. While the player is exploring the game world, they may encounter a "breakstorm", a scenario similar to a horde mode in which waves of demonic creatures spawn and attack Frey. The storm will end with the appearance of a named boss character.

Story

Setting and characters

The protagonist, Frey Holland ( Ella Balinska) is a young woman who is transported from New York City to the fantasy world of Athia. She uses magical powers to journey through it and survive in order to find her way home. Athia is under the tyrannical rule of the Tantas, which include Tanta Sila (

Janina Gavankar Janina Zione Gavankar (; born November 29, 1980) is an American actress and musician. She is trained as a pianist, vocalist, orchestral percussionist and majored in theatre at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her roles include Shiva on ''The ...

) and Tanta Prave (

Pollyanna McIntosh Pollyanna McIntosh (born 15 March 1979) is a Scottish-American actress and director known for her roles in films ''Exam'' (2009), '' The Woman'' (2011), ''Let Us Prey'' (2014), the first season of Joe R. Lansdale's '' Hap and Leonard'' (2016), ...

). Other characters include Frey's sentient bracelet Cuff (

Jonathan Cake Jonathan James Cake (born 31 August 1967) is an English actor who has worked on various TV programmes and films. His notable screen roles include Jack Favell in '' Rebecca'' (1997), Oswald Mosley in '' Mosley'' (1997), Japheth in the NBC telev ...

), the archivist Johedy ( Keala Settle), and Auden (

Monica Barbaro Monica Barbaro (born June 18, 1990) is an American actress. She is known for her film roles in '' The Cathedral'' (2021), '' Top Gun: Maverick'' (2022), and '' At Midnight'' (2023). She has also appeared in leading roles in the television series ...

Development

''Forspoken'' is the debut project for

; the company was originally assembled from employees working on ''

Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, Microsoft Windows in 2018, and as a launch title ...

''. Earlier in development, the game was known under the title ''Project Athia''. It is being developed to take advantage of the graphical capabilities of the PlayStation 5 and will also release for

. Technologies featured in the game include ray tracing for greatly enhanced lighting effects, and procedural generation for the creation of large-scale locations. Initially set to be released on May 24, 2022, Square Enix delayed its release to October 11, 2022, and then to January 24, 2023. The game's writing team includes

Gary Whitta Gary Leslie Whitta (born 21 July 1972) is an English screenwriter, author, game designer, and video game journalist. He was editor-in-chief of both the UK and US editions of ''PC Gamer'' magazine and contributor to gaming magazine ''ACE''. Whit ...

, Amy Hennig, Allison Rymer, and

Todd Stashwick Todd Stashwick is an American actor and writer. He is known for his roles as Dale Malloy on '' The Riches'' and Deacon on '' 12 Monkeys''. Early life and career After performing at several local improvisational theaters, he was hired to tour wi ...

Bear McCreary Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video game scores based in Los Angeles, California. His work includes the scores of the television series ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), ''Age ...

and

Garry Schyman Garry Schyman is an American film, television, and video game music composer. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in music composition in 1978, and began work in the television industry, writing music for such t ...

are composing music for the game. The game will be a PlayStation 5 console exclusive for two years.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.forspoken.com Upcoming video games scheduled for 2023 Square Enix games Action role-playing video games Japanese role-playing video games Fantasy video games Open-world video games PlayStation 5 games Windows games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring black protagonists Video games featuring female protagonists