Square Enix had previously teased a big budget, open world action game called Project Athia during last year’s PlayStation 5 event. During the Square Enix Presents livestream this week, Project Athia now has an official title, Forspoken. We were treated to our first (brief) look at gameplay, as well as introduced to the actress playing the lead character, Ella Balinska (Charlie’s Angels 2019).
Balinska plays Frey Holland, a woman from our world who gets transported to the fantasy world of Athia. She’ll have to use her new magical powers to survive the dangerous land, which includes, and I quote from the trailer, “a motherf— dragon!”
“As the first video game I’ve worked on, and growing up a huge fan of video games myself, it’s remarkable to see the incredible world and story of Forspoken come together, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy,” said Balinska. “Frey as a character is real, she’s raw, she’s a girl who lost her way—both figuratively and literally—and is a character I immediately connected with, as I feel many people around the world will too when they set off on this adventure.”
The open world, action gameplay reminds us of Horizon Zero Dawn, which we absolutely loved.
Forspoken is being developed simultaneously for PlayStation 5 and PC by Luminous Productions, a new game development studio established by Square Enix in 2018.
Square Enix isn’t ready to reveal any details about the game, beyond a tentative 2022 release date. Given the language used in the trailer, it’s safe to say they’re shooting for an M-rated game.
