End of the world aside, why does she look such a mess? Similarly, Tanta Cinta, who’s pivotal to the plot, seemed to be modeled by whoever did the dirty to poor Auden. She’s also one of the main sources of information about Athia, why the Tantas are now unhinged despots and well, just how bleak everything is. She often interacts with Frey in the first and final few chapters of Forspoken – arguably she has more screen time than all but one of the Tantas. Take Auden, Frey’s first friend in Cipal, a city that’s the final bastion of humanity in Athia. The only populated region of the game, Cipal, is so underwhelming, relative to the antagonists and their fortresses. While most of the elemental effects, Frey’s movements and a lot of the desolate world of Athia is beautifully realized, other parts aren’t. Until Frey kills one of her fellow Tantas. Surrounded by her own watery creations, she’s judge, jury and executioner – except there’s no one left to judge. Take Tanta Prav, the water-wielding Tanta of judgment (they all have a handy job title to explain how they’ll probably rough you up): She is delightfully unhinged and argues with herself. Luminous Productions even said that the Tantas were a “ labor of love” for the team, and that’s apparent. Fighting, talking to and learning about the four leaders and their fall from grace are some of the highlights of Forspoken.

The matriarchs that control the world, the Tantas, are fearsome, with a fascinating array of spells, lots of intrigue and a great wardrobe. Still, most of the elemental effects, Frey’s movements and a lot of the world of Athia is beautifully realized. Running on Square Enix’s in-house Luminous Engine (the team that made the game is a newly-formed group called Luminous Productions), Forspoken gives some beautiful moments of magical pyrotechnics, but it’s not quite up to the consistent environmental beauty (and attention to detail) of games like Horizon Forbidden West or Returnal. You keep moving, through the lands of Athia, through the adventure, because it’s really fun and satisfying, but also because when you slow down, you start to see the cracks.

In Forspoken, you control the agile, angry Frey (voiced by Ella Balinska), slinging elemental attacks (and f-bombs) at multiple monsters before leaping off a cliff face and swinging from a molten outcrop.

Forspoken bumbershoot