There’s a lot of anticipation surrounding the upcoming dark fantasy ARPG Forspoken, which has been developed by Square Enix’s internal Luminous Productions studio. As the game gears up for its release in January, Square Enix has been sharing even more details about the fantasy action title’s gameplay and mechanics. The latest of these updates comes in a new post on the official PlayStation blog and focuses on protagonist Frey Holland’s use of magically-enhanced parkour.
Playing as Frey in Forspoken, players will find themselves ripped away from modern-day New York and mysteriously transported to the mythical land of Athia. It’s not all bad news though, as Frey will have an array of spells at her fingertips, alongside some pretty nifty traversal abilities. Chief amongst these skills is the slick and smooth parkour that Frey is able to implement. The latest update on Forspoken also comes alongside a new video which showcases Frey’s movement skills to the max. Check it out here to get a feel for what’s possible in the magical lands of Athia.
As is evident in the footage, players will be able to make use of some flawless motions when navigating the treacherous terrain of Athia. Frey’s primary parkour skill is described as “Flow,” something that players can make use of simply by holding down the circle button. Whilst held down, Frey will be able to swiftly and seamlessly traverse the world space, leaping across ledges and hopping up smaller walls pretty fluidly. Flow has its limitations though, so players will need to understand how to use Frey’s other moves in order to get across larger obstacles, such as cliff faces or tall structures.
Implementing one of Frey’s other core parkour skills, “Rush,” will allow players to speed up the effects of Flow and propel Frey forward at her fastest possible pace. Players should also make use of Frey’s “Shimmy” action by tapping the X button at the right moment. This will speedily push Frey forward with a series of quick leaps and most importantly, it won’t drain Stamina in the same way that other moves can. Shimmy and Rush can be combined with Flow to ensure quick-paced traversal, evasion and general fluidity of motion around the game world.
Frey’s other moves include “Scale,” which is a key skill for vertical exploration. Scale will allow Frey to create an additional jump thanks to phantom floating platforms that she can use to launch herself upwards. To bolster this, Frey can also make use of “Soar,” which is another move focused on vertical propulsion. It allows Frey to jump even higher by doing a number of upward leaps in rapid succession.
Using the square button will cause Frey to “Zip,” by which she’ll launch a magical tether that she uses to quickly pull herself forward, with the Zip able to latch onto any wall or structure to give that Spider-Man-style swinging effect. It’s also pretty useful for evasive manoeuvres, as can be seen in the video. Frey can also use “Float” to control the gravity around her, ensuring a slow and soft landing when players hold down the X button in mid-air. Finally, the “Glide” ability will let Frey skim across the surface of any water she encounters like a surfer and is activated automatically while in Flow mode.
It certainly sounds like Forspoken will bring some fun challenges when it comes to mastering the art of movement. Thankfully the game’s release isn’t too far away, so fans can start learning some moves in time for January.
Forspoken is set to launch on January 24. It’ll be available on PC via Steam the Epic Games Store and the Windows Store. The game will also be released on PlayStation 5.
