I will not sit here and take too much of your time. I'm literally using this space to tell you that I've played the Forspoken demo, and I absolutely loved it. Square Enix and Luminous Productions did not shy away from typical action RPG elements, but I think that's the joy of it. It's a little Bayonetta, a smidge of Devil May Cry, and dare I say, a touch of Spider-Man, and definitely elements of Final Fantasy XV. The demo is widely available for anyone with a Playstation 5, and I implore you to not read those dumb Twitter reviews, and play it for yourself.
The demo became available 2 weeks ago, and starts off with a cool cutscene. It tells you about the main character Frey, a native New Yorker, who somehow got transported to a land called Athia. She wakes up with a set of bracelets on her arm. (Think Shang-Chi). She can use these bracelets to conjure up different elements and abilities to defeat a wide range of enemies. The game instantly kicks you into the tutorial and teaches you all the things, including the parkour element. Frey has speed, and can combine this speed, with the abilities to do even more damage. And yes, she can use this to scale up and down the mountains and terrain. The landscape in this demo is HUGE. There's so many places you can go, and it doesn't seem overwhelming or long, because again, Frey has speed. You can pick up items mid run, and mid fight. You can combine magic to execute even more powerful attacks. There's even a button that allows you to scan the entire playfield to see where to go next.
There are also different cloaks, or scarves that you can get throughout the game that have the same properties as armor and accessories. Some of them raise your HP and Magic. You can get specific "nails" (This is well done), that also gives you a boost. And of course, it wouldn't be a Square Enix game if it wasn't for the learning tree, for new abilities. The demo definitely sets you up for success, and there's even a hidden boss that you may think is out of your league, but if you use everything you've learned from completing it, you can make pretty easy work.
The demo probably lasts about an hour, as I totally forgot about the cool parkour thing, so it took me a little longer. And again, this is a demo, so obviously, it's not a finished product. Play it and tell us what you think. You have an hour. And it's free. You can even live vicariously through me in the video below. The game releases January 24th, on Playstation 5, and Windows. Check it out.
