So you’re disgusted by J.K. Rowling’s transphobia, don’t want to support her financially, are putting your money where your mouth is, and skipping Hogwarts Legacy. Good for you, the world needs fewer hypocrites.
This is no small sacrifice if you’re a die-hard Harry Potter fan. Hogwarts Legacy is essentially a dream game for the franchise, letting you explore a beautifully modeled Hogwarts, decide your own course of magical development, and follow in Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s footsteps by uncovering dark and sinister magical plans afoot in the Wizarding World.
Sadly for those boycotting it, Hogwarts Legacy is indeed very fun to play. But if you truly believe that putting money in Rowling’s pocket is wrong, then not buying it is the only way to keep your conscience happy.
Fortunately, there’s another new release right there that will fill that gap. Want to play a normie thrown into an exciting, magical world? Want to get to grips with a suite of dazzling magical powers and exhilarating combat? Explore a strange landscape full of surprises? How about meeting a bunch of personable new characters you’ll soon make fast friends with?
Well, Square Enix’s Forspoken may just be the game for you. And yes, I’m being serious.
Despite suffering a full-on assault from the social media hate machine on its launch late last month, many players have since realized that judging Forspoken by a series of out-of-context dialogue clips doesn’t do it justice. Criticism has largely centered around the lead character Frey coming across as annoying, but most of the more mocked clips come from very early in the game and there’s a lot of character development throughout. By the end, we were fully invested in both her story and the wider world of Athia.
In addition, Forspoken is a progressive title with a strong BIPOC protagonist, tells a story almost entirely centered around powerful women, and easily breezes past the Bechdel test. Plus, you can befriend and cuddle a variety of adorable magical cats (whose feline furriness far exceeds the dowdy Hogwarts Legacy cats).
So, if you want a game that’s going to make you temporarily forget all about Hogwarts, we recommend giving Forspoken a chance. It’s far better than its Metacritic rating would suggest and we think has all the makings of a future cult classic. Plus, if that happens, you can smugly say you played it around the time of launch and win some easy gamer cred.
Forspoken is available on PlayStation 5 and PC.
Published: Feb 8, 2023 06:34 am