Forspoken Review: Finding Yourself Through the Voosh

Intro: Screaming out into the void does little to quell any anger, fear, or hope that one might have. Frey Holland gets thrust into a larger-than-life mission that will allow her to not only believe in herself but become a part of something bigger than her and grant her the family she’s always wanted. Through the many bosses that I faced along the way with a wise cracking, colorfully sarcastic Cuff, I found myself curious, excited and questioning this strange world. Worlds collide, beliefs clash and Frey must make the choice through all of her bitterness and longing to be a part of something bigger than herself.

Big Apple, Big Strengths: We start our journey In Manhattan with a homeless 20 something year old and her cat, Homer. At first when diving into this game I thought the story was setting us up for tears and (based on the trailers and proceeding through chapter 1 and 2) it would be simply about getting home. This story is so much bigger than that and happily took me by surprise. From the dialogue that doesn’t take itself too seriously, to the meaningful character interaction, I feel as if this world from the get-go had so much to offer. Freys character was designed to be witty, smart, intuitive and just the everyday girl from New York. Her genuine expressions and interactions with other characters and Cuff felt sincere and something that I could hear take place as a real-world interaction. As Frey goes on her journey she is meant to, at a certain point remove from existence if you will every Tanta, but what she doesn’t know (until almost the end of the game is), is that one of the Tantas is her mother. When this, amongst other things made itself known in the story I actually felt shocked in a way I haven’t in a while. Normally with stories now a days you can see how the process and story will take place. When it came to the story of Forspoken different things took me off guard that I never thought would have.

The Mechanics: I think the thing I was most excited about besides the story were the mechanics. It is the by far ones of the best things about this game. The quick change between powers, the integration in how everything is utilized, it all came together so smoothly I feel. The part I wasn’t too happy with, and I’m unsure if this would even be considered a mechanic but I’m letting you all know about this in this section because it does have to do with interaction of characters. The cut scenes are paced in a very awkward manner. The fade to black, the long pauses in the dialogue, even when the characters speak in certain sections it almost looks like the words aren’t lining up with their mouths. Yes, the dialogue in how its written I feel is good, but it’s just paced poorly I feel. I felt as if some moments I was playing a game from back in the early 2000’s and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I just think certain things made the game look simpler and older than it actually was (the fades the black, the long pauses, the way you couldn’t move while talking to cuff). Another thing to note, you can’t change the dilouge settings for when you pick up items or are at key points. It will stay that size for every item or text you read. It’s rather annoying at times. I had to wear my glasses to read it, almost every time I picked up a text. It’s the small things that get noticed at the end of the day and all those small things add up.

Representation: When it comes to representation there is so much that this game is doing great and some that still needs work. I’m not a black woman, so I can’t possibly know how it feels/how it is to go through life as one and can only speak about this from my perspective seeing what I have in the game. With that being said in the gaming community there is a lack of content that is diverse (even though it's getting better, there is still a way to go) and when it comes to Frey, having a black woman front and center as a form of positive representation I feel is crucial to show the upcoming generation “look, change is happening!” For example, when we saw Halle Bailey grace our screens as Ariel in the upcoming live action film trailer, there were filmed reactions of little girls going “look that’s me mom” (paraphrasing here) and my hope is that some young girl out there who looks like Frey can play this game and go “Look mom! Its me”

The parts that I object to with how Freys character is portrayed were actually pointed out to me by friends of mine who have played the game. Following their comments, and after doing some research I found out that the character of Frey was written by a white woman. Now, before you say anything, I don’t care if you’re white, black beige, green or purple if you do your research and write the character accordingly then it can be done in a successful manner. But in my eye’s Freys consistent cursing was inaccurate to both New Yorkers and Black women. Yes, in my play through I was giggling at the cursing at first and at certain moments because it took me of guard at points with how consistently she was cursing. At points it came off cheesy and other moments it was actually warranted and most of the time I was asking myself "why? you didn't need to curse there?" Overall, I think there is progress being made, little by little but we still have a long way to go. Through The Voosh… Through the technical mishaps, beautiful mechanics, and a story that teaches us no matter the cards you’re dealt with you can be whatever you want to be in life, Forspoken created an undeniable atmosphere and charming world for me to get lost in, and to ultimately find my "voosh”