Forspoken A Parkour Spell-Slinger in a Broken Land

Getting around Athia is the best part of the game. Frey's parkour is magic-enhanced: she scales walls, vaults across canyons, leaps from dizzying heights and dashes over vast distances without breaking stride. Once it clicks, crossing the map becomes fast and fluid, and the game is one of the few where running from point to point stays fun instead of becoming a chore. The world itself is striking, with remarkable vistas and otherworldly creatures, and the emptiness is part of the story: a blight has killed or corrupted nearly everyone, and the survivors have retreated to a single city. Outside its walls you mostly find ruins, beasts and silence.

Combat runs on four schools of magic: earth, fire, water and lightning, with dozens of spells between them. You swap between schools freely, mixing fast, aggressive play with slower, more methodical tactics. The spell effects are a visual treat: fire blades for close combat, walls of water, charged attacks that fill the screen with particles. There is real depth here, and the later schools, especially lightning, pack some of the most useful and spectacular abilities in the game. One honest note: the best spells arrive late, and the opening hours lean on the least flashy element, so give it time before judging the combat.