“It was a social media post that took a bunch of pieces of dialogue that we’ve used in previous trailers and put together for a new video. “I’m really glad you brought it up,” Mitsuno tells me at the preview session. I asked creative producer Raio Mitsuno about this trailer and the subsequent backlash. And getting to know Frey as a character, these types of lines make sense, love it or hate it. A few lines here and there retain that tone, but unlike that trailer, Luminous Productions spreads them out enough in Forspoken that it feels organic. One of the biggest surprises for me is the dialogue, mostly void of the shotgun blasts of cringe, Joss Whedon-esque lines many criticized in a 30-second trailer released in August. But her apprehension about getting involved when she first arrives is understandable. Over the few chapters I played, she grew attached to Athia and its plight against the corruption, or the Break as Frey calls it, that’s turning what was once a peaceful and protected land into a place filled with mindless and dangerous monsters. Frey’s fish-out-of-water personality is mainly by the books, but her initial apathy in this foreign fantasy realm is sometimes funny. There is a moment when Cuff is getting on Frey’s nerves, and she tells him to shut up, adding, “You’re f***ing stupid,” and I laughed out loud. The dynamic between Frey and Cuff stands out for me, namely in how hilarious it can be. In fact, she struggles to trust anything, including the talking vambrace on her arm she calls Cuff. She struggles to trust anyone as a result. Frey is a woman from New York City with a history in and out of foster homes. In Chapter two, Frey has just arrived in Athia, still unaware of how or why she ended up there – questions that remain unanswered through the chapters I play. This preview session was focused solely on the story, with the team encouraging me to worry less about exploring Athia and more about finding out what happens on the main path of Forspoken’s second, third, and fifth chapters.

Forspoken project athia