Forspoken's Use of New York City Could Be Crucial

gamerant.com:

When it releases early next year, Forspoken will only be the latest game to join the isekai genre, thanks to protagonist Frey Holland's roots in New York City. Frey's role as a fish out of water in Athia may not be an entirely original idea, but her origins in New York help to set her apart. That's why Forspoken needs to make sure that New York City gets a fair shake over the course of the story, even if Athia is dominant. In order to keep the story impactful, all sides of Frey's life need to be displayed front and center.

So far, most Forspoken marketing has focused on Frey's life in Athia. That's natural, considering just how much the magical new world has to offer her. Forspoken fans can look forward to leaping across all kinds of twisted, abandoned places that were touched by the Break, making them inhospitable to everyone but Frey and Cuff. Frey's desire to go home will conflict her duty to help Athia, and as the story progresses, she'll likely get more and more attached to this place. Nevertheless, Forspoken's story will be more compelling if Frey's old life is displayed for the player, rather than a nebulous goal that Frey hopes to attain.

Cuff is One of Forspoken's Biggest Remaining Mysteries

Forspoken footage implies that players will spend very little time in New York City. They might control Frey in NYC for the game's opening, seeing her usual haunts and old routine, but getting transported to Athia is the game's inciting incident, so it probably won't take long. Luminous Productions and Square Enix haven't suggested that players will see Frey's hometown very much after that point. On the contrary, much of Frey's character arc revolves around homesickness, so she probably won't get any brief visits to home that