Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust - Review

In Tanta We (Dis)Trust.

Console: PlayStation 5

Ah, Forspoken. Square Enix's deeply flawed AAA open-world PS5 exclusive that fell short of the technical showcase it was advertised to be. From an unlikable protagonist and an overly talkative sidekick to a mundane map with visuals and performance that failed to meet expectations. Online criticism quickly snowballed, cementing its status as a flop.

Credit where it's due, Luminous Productions improved Forspoken after its release with a plethora of patches that somewhat improved performance and introduced quality-of-life updates. It's still not a particularly great title, but it's also far from being bad. It's an okay game, one that I enjoyed and am happy to see has found its way into more hands in recent months.

But that's not the whole story. Luminous Productions still had one trick up its sleeve before disappearing into Square Enix. A small piece of DLC called "In Tanta We Trust". One that addressed a common issue with Forspoken: its open-world design.

So, is this little slice of extra content a worthwhile addition, an improvement, or just as flawed as the base game? Let's talk about it.

Two months after defeating the Tantas and the evil force that drove them mad, Frey and Cuff are searching for a way to rid Athia of the Break. Compelled by a mysterious voice, the two travel to a relic located in Visoria, which transports them 25 years back into time during a Rheddig invasion. Stuck in the body of a soldier named Thalia but with the aid of some mysterious new magic and the past version of her mother, Cinta, the pair seek to escape the city and learn why they've been sent to the past, hoping to rid themselves of the Break.

The story of this extra content is decent. It neither bothered nor thrilled me. The problem is that it's too brief to have any impact. I understand what Luminous Productions was aiming for, but it just didn't land.

The character work between Frey and Cinta is very superficial. They each receive one clear character trait, and that's it. For Frey, it's her newfound heroic attitude. Where she previously wouldn't have thought about helping others in danger, now it's her first instinct. Cinta is stoic and all business, a front which hider her doubt. However, everything else, like Frey actually getting to know her mother, feels like an (in)complete afterthought. Frey clashing with Cinta when the latter shows no concern for the citizens is glossed over almost immediately. There just wasn't enough time to delve into it.

The Rheddig and their big dastardly plan fell pretty flat as well. The main villain is one-dimensional and grovelling, failing to be anything but a boring obstacle in your path. The payoff, though expected, was engaging because of the well-done cutscene and cool preceding boss fight.

To end this section with a positive, I do have to say that I like the more antagonistic 'frenemy' relationship between Frey and Cuff. It’s more unique than what we had in the base game, where he’s more your typical 'snarky knowledgeable British Butler' type.

You can't tell me that monster isn't a cool boss.

Gameplay-wise, "In Tanta We Trust" simplifies, well, basically everything. What made Forspoken work was its exhilarating parkour and flashy fights. Both have been streamlined, with the latter also receiving a bit of an overhaul. Said overhaul is both an improvement and a downgrade.

It's an improvement because of the simplification. There's now only one type of magic, 'Yellow Magic', instead of four. This makes fights snappier and less hectic since you don't have to constantly switch between sets. This only greatly reduces the number of buttons you have to push, one of my biggest issues with Forspoken itself. 

 

However, that simplification is also what hurts it. Your combat options are very limited. You only have a basic shot & sword and three different specials at your disposal. Combined with there being only three types of enemies to fight, every combat encounter feels the same. They're all the same flying 'general' hovering over the battlefield while you take down archers and spearmen across three waves. All the variety the base game had in that department is all but gone here.

The addition of Cinta as a combat companion, akin to God of War's Atreus, isn't a winner either. Her skills are powerful but pretty random and thus not really all that helpful. Building up her combo meter for her big 'all out' attack does feel nice, but it's dependent on the random chance Frey's specials stun a foe. The only skill you can activate yourself unlocks right before the final boss, so it's not helpful for long.

Now on to the other big change: this DLC is not an open world. Many, myself included, feel that making Forspoken an open-world game in the first place was a mistake. It resulted in a very empty world filled with meaningless tasks that bloated the game with 'content'.

"In Tanta We Trust" does what people wanted the game to be instead: a linear experience with some larger open areas here and there, akin to Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This design fits the gameplay well. We get tighter storytelling and level design. The one open area we have, Vistoria, is more manageable if not as friendly for the parkour system due to how cramped the city is.

Now that I've played Forspoken this way, the base experience really would've benefited from being designed in this way. The story just feels more focused now that there are no long waiting periods, and I didn't miss the emptiness of Athia at all. I can't help but wonder how Forspoken itself would've played with this same focus.

Sadly, though, I couldn't enjoy this style for very long. The DLC is very short. "In Tanta We Trust" is about 3 hours long, which is not a lot. The price reflects this, yes, but the effect of this short length is very much felt. There's a lot of copying and pasting. Each chapter has the same basic structure: find/do something to progress with the same enemy encounter blocking your path every time. It's very repetitive and gets boring quickly.

The big boss fights were nice, though. Cool designs, especially that dragon thing with its golden armour and multiple arms, and attack patterns that make them a good challenge. They really play into their scale, with them dwarfing you. True 'David vs. Goliath' fights.

And that's all she wrote. When it comes to my other usual 'review points', there's not much to tell. It's an expansion after all, and a short one at that. That only leaves me with two musings I want to discuss.

The first is that you can start the DLC by either selecting it straight from the menu or by opening the game and travelling to the starting point in Visoria. There's no difference between the two; your progress won't carry over either way, but it's still neat. 

The second is that knowing that there will not be a sequel, actually stung a little when the credits started rolling. Forspoken is not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a decent title. One that had a lot of potential which could've been brought out in a second game that learned from everything this one did wrong. Plus, I do find the setup of going to the Reddig homeland intriguing. That we will never see any of that happen saddens me a little. It is what it is though.

Frey looking at a sunset is quite the fitting visual to end this DLC, and thus Forspoken, on.

Conclusion

Just like the game, it's attached to, Forspoken: In Tanta We Trust is a decent little package. It's a very brief experience that trims down the gameplay to a more focused, linear experience. One that works better than the open-world design, as it isn't so bloated, and where the combat isn't as clunky. However, this is also to the DLC's detriment. Because it's so short, the narrative is underdeveloped, there's a lack of variety, and the combat has become too shallow. It's predictable and boring, even.

Even so, it's an enjoyable experience for those who liked Forspoken, like me, and the core is much improved. In that, it's a bittersweet send-off to a flawed but potential-filled game that received a lot of unwarranted hate.