Square Enix has shown off a ten-minute in-game trailer of footage for Forspoken, its upcoming open-world adventure game.
Frey Holland, who is played by Ella Balinska, is an “ordinary young woman who must harness her magical abilities to survive” in an adventure through a “beautiful yet cruel” world known as Athia. The trailer includes the city of Cipal, which is the only safe haven within Athia.
Cipal hosts refugees and citizens taking a breath from corrupted forces, as well as providing important information to Frey. The trailer introduces us to one such resident, Jodehy, a former blacksmith-turned-archivist. Frey tells her about an important odvaha ore she’s found on her journey, but in order to help her, Jodehy needs tools first.
Frey interacts with citizens to accept quests and trades within Cipal, before heading out on dangerous missions throughout regions such as Praenost – a desert with corrupted enemies, and Avoalet, home to dangerous, mutated creatures.
Frey’s magical abilities include combat spells to deal with encroaching enemies and powers that aid her ability to traverse the lands, including searching for chests which contain craftable ingredients that can also be useful for trading in Cipal.
Frey’s magic-enhanced parkour skills make even the most challenging environments fun for her, and Square Enix promises in a blog that details the trailer, that players will have “total control over how she traverses the world”. Frey is able to jump up walls, latching on to the environment to launch or swing, glide, and pull herself forward in midair.
Belfries scattered around the locations will give more information to Frey and the player, and allow her to see nearby points of interest. There could be “something fun” nearby as an added bonus.
Scattered around Athia are Pilgrim’s Refuges, small structures which provide a safe zone to craft and upgrade gear, which requires resources. These resources can be found in chests, by completing missions or out in the world.
The in-game currency of Mana can be found in shimmering waters and is used to unlock abilities, spells and rewards such as XP, lore, gear and has the ability to increase Frey’s stats.
Combat is also touched upon in the trailer, with Frey’s powers being shown off including attack and support magic. Creating traps, manipulating enemy movement and behaviour, charging area of effect attacks and healing yourself are all possible with Frey’s magic.
Utilising an “expansive and flexible toolset”, players are rewarded for expressing themselves through combat, as well as being able to completely control their fight style and approach.
Forspoken will release for PS5 and PC on January 24, 2023 and is available to pre-order now.
In other news, Destiny 2 launched Season Of The Plunder on August 23, and heavy grenade launchers are already broken, dealing up to 150 per cent more damage than intended.
The post ‘Forspoken’ trailer shares ten minutes of new in-game footage appeared first on NME.
