Forspoken Sounds Like Scalebound Without the Dragons

gamerant.com:

For what is already shaping up to be a huge year for potential releases, the first half of 2022 is particularly crammed full of hotly anticipated titles. But with the delays of some other major franchise installments like Final Fantasy 16, increased scrutiny has been placed on upcoming new IP releases like Square Enix's Forspoken. As the first original game from Luminous Productions, there is a lot of interest surrounding the mysterious magical RPG. From trailers and glimpses revealed of Forspoken so far, it's fair to say that players' interest has been piqued, but it's too early to tell whether Forspoken will be a hit or a miss just yet.

One intriguing aspect that fans have been commenting on prior to the game's May release is Forspoken's apparent similarities to PlatinumGames' canceled action RPG Scalebound. While the full details of Scalebound's plot and gameplay were never fully released before the plug was unfortunately pulled on its development in 2017, from what was shown of the game there are some interesting points of comparison between the third-person fantasy epic and the upcoming open-world RPG Forspoken.

Forspoken Needs to Balance Its Combat Carefully

Forspoken is very much untested ground for the studio, with the exploration of a new IP and all of the risks that it entails. The story follows orphaned New Yorker Frey Holland after she is mysteriously transported to a harsh and fantastical world called Athia. The mythical new world she finds herself in is vast, with dangerous creatures and tyrannical leaders in the form of matriarchal Tantas for Frey to battle against. Players will be able to freely explore the varied environments, with fun and interesting traversal options as they uncover various abandoned and