Once there, Frey soon learns that the land is in the grip of a terrible corruption called the Break, created by the Tantas, four powerful mages who once defended the world until they fell into madness. One night after pissing off the local gang by ditching a stolen car, Frey narrowly escapes an attempt on her life and comes into contact with a sentient vambrace, which transports her to the fantasy world of Athia. She’s a homeless girl from New York City (which she will remind the player and every nearby NPC roughly every eight seconds for the entire runtime), who was abandoned at birth and found in Holland Tunnel.

You play Frey Holland, the kind of gobshite teenager popular in 90s suburban adventure movies.

One of those games is an open world action RPG with flashy, satisfying (albeit scrappy) combat and some wonderful traversal options, and the other game is one of the most banal, joy-sapping experiences I’ve ever pushed myself through. It might seem a bit cliché to say it, but Forspoken really does feel like two different games stitched together with wonky seams.

Forspoken early reviews