How Forspoken Stands Out From Other Isekai Games

gamerant.com:

The upcoming action RPG Forspoken from Square Enix and Luminous Productions has turned a lot of fans' heads since it was revealed in 2021. The narrative-driven action adventure is a brand-new IP and follows the story of Frey as she's transported from her home in New York City into a challenging fantasy world filled with magic and monsters.

The bare bones of this premise may sound familiar, and that's because Forspoken could be seen as very at home in the isekai genre, where a character leaves their normal world behind for a completely different one. While Forspoken seems to fit a lot of the prerequisites for an isekai story, there are also one or two elements that help to set it about from other games in the genre and establish the upcoming title as its own thing.

Frey Will Probably Belong More in Forspoken's Athia Than New York City

Isekai games have found a lot of popularity in recent years, with players enjoying the classic «fish out of water» storyline. But the genre is so much more than just a focus on displaced characters. Usually, the protagonist is transported magically or through some kind of teleportation into the new world, and this process often grants them special abilities or highlights an innate quality they already have to help them in their new environment. The worlds vary, from fantasy to sci-fi to a multitude of different settings, but at the core of each story is a similar focus – adapting to a new life, whatever that may be.

There are a lot of examples of isekai stories across multiple medias, but it's also achieved prominence in the world of video games. Titles like Genshin Impact, Brutal Legend, and Ni No Kuni all feature displaced characters who are forced to come to terms with their new environments.