Forspoken (2023)

So Forspoken dropped all the way back in January and I, like an idiot, completely missed it (after impatiently waiting several months for it to drop). But I digress.

Forspoken is game, not a film or show. The story follows Alfre "Frey" Holland, a girl from New York who's mystically transported to the magical realm of Athia, where powerful matriarchs called "Tantas" have lost their minds and are wreaking havoc across the land. There's also the Break, a miasma sweeping through Athia and corrupting every living being it touches (except for Frey, of course).

Once in Athia, Frey goes through all the unwilling "Chosen One" tropes: self-discovery, battling evil, and...well, you know how it goes.

You can ignore the critics; this is a pretty good game (at least, the people actually playing seem to enjoy it). It appears to me that some folks just didn't like having a brown girl as the protagonist. Better still, Forspoken's ending sets us up for a potential sequel.

Of course, while I do enjoy watching The Rad Brad play, I'm not going to play this one myself.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm waiting on the next Skyrim. I miss the versatility, the openness, and the fact that the game never really "ends". You can't buy or build a house in Forspoken, or get married, adopt tiny humans or a furbaby. You can make friends, but they don't travel or live with you. I need all that and now that I've had a taste, I can't go back. I can't do quest-focused, combat-heavy games because RPGs--for me--are supposed to be vacations. I'm an old woman; I'm not trying to mess up my blood pressure. I want an RPG that that transports me to places I can't physically go, and let me just enjoy being there.

Which raises another issue; I'd love, love, LOVE to write a Forspoken fanfic, but the game wasn't giving me enough to work with. There's some great lore and history potential, but I still have so many, many questions. I think I need the sequel, and we already know how long it takes these types of games to come out.

Here's hoping qet a sequel anyway, and some companion media (books, comics, short film, SOMETHING).