The flawed fairy tale that cast a spell on me: PETER HOSKIN reviews Forspoken 

Forspoken (PlayStation, PC, £64.99)

Verdict: Both bad and bewitching

Rating: *** 

Seeing as this game is called Forspoken, might I, er, forspeak — and cut straight to listing its bad points at the very start?

It features — in the conversations between its main character, a scrappy Noo Yawker called Frey, and the sentient piece of jewellery that’s pulled her into a fallen fantasy kingdom — some excruciating attempts at funny dialogue.

It has moments of gameplay that are so pointless as to be insulting. 

One early sequence has Frey and another character ducking and sticking to the shadows to avoid the city guard — except you don’t actually have to duck or stick to the shadows. The game does that. You, the player, simply press forward.

There’s always a ponderous, scripted cutscene to interrupt the flow. And each of those cutscenes seems to contain a dozen fades-to-black

Even when it does let you play, it doesn’t let you play for long. 

There’s always a ponderous, scripted cutscene to interrupt the flow. And each of those cutscenes seems to contain a dozen fades-to-black. It’s weird, disjointed and irritating.

In short, Forspoken is not a good game in any traditional sense. And yet… I kind of loved it.

Forspoken is not a good game in any traditional sense. And yet… I kind of loved it

The reasons I loved it are all the things I haven’t mentioned yet, starting with Frey’s magic powers

Frey runs up walls, shoots rocks from her hands, and calls tree roots to her aid. All this looks fantastic, but, more importantly, it feels fantastic too.

The reasons are all the things I haven’t mentioned yet, starting with Frey’s magic powers. 

Thanks to that item of jewellery, whom she calls ‘Cuff’, and her own latent abilities, spells start exploding out of her in great glittery arcs. 

She runs up walls, shoots rocks from her hands, and calls tree roots to her aid.

All this looks fantastic, but, more importantly, it feels fantastic too. 

There’s always a ponderous, scripted cutscene to interrupt the flow. It’s weird, disjointed and irritating

There is the realm of Athia itself, a beautiful open world that has been corrupted by a coven of very naughty witches

The combat in the game has you trying to outflank your enemies and exploit their weaknesses. It’s a fine mix of tactility and tactics

The combat in this game has you, as Frey, bouncing through the air and switching spells (literally) on the fly

The setting, Athia, is a beautiful open world familiar from other fantasy games, which has been poisoned by witches 

The combat in this game has you, as Frey, bouncing through the air and switching spells (literally) on the fly — zoom, zap, zap! 

It also has you trying to outflank your enemies and exploit their weaknesses. It’s a fine mix of tactility and tactics.

Then there is the realm of Athia itself, a beautiful open world that has been corrupted by a coven of very naughty witches. 

One early sequence has Frey and another character ducking and sticking to the shadows to avoid the city guard — except you don’t actually have to duck or stick to the shadows

This is a familiar place from other fantasy games — your Skyrims and Elden Rings — yet it’s also distinctive

‘Forspoken’ doesn’t mean what I thought it did. It’s actually an old Scottish word meaning ‘bewitched’ — and that’s what I am

Strange, shimmering rock formations stick out from hillsides. Mutant animals, with teeth where their bellies should be, roam the prairies.

This is a familiar place from other fantasy games — your Skyrims and Elden Rings — yet it’s also distinctive. 

There’s something more of the fairy-tale about Forspoken, as though its world of hooded cloaks and simple moral lessons were designed by the Brothers Grimm.

By the end, I’d even started to enjoy Frey’s banter with Cuff. 

Turns out, ‘forspoken’ doesn’t mean what I thought it did. It’s actually an old Scottish word meaning ‘bewitched’ — and that’s what I am. Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. By one of the worst best games of the year.