Frey's cloak can be upgraded in order to improve her combat efficiency and stats while applying nail polish unlocks special abilities.

While the player is exploring the game world, they may encounter a "breakstorm", a scenario similar to a horde mode in which waves of demonic creatures spawn and attack Frey.

[5] The protagonist, Alfre "Frey" Holland (Ella Balinska / Umeka Shōji) is a young woman who is transported from New York City to the fantasy world of Athia.

[7] Other characters include Frey's sentient bracelet Cuff (Jonathan Cake / Satoshi Mikami), the archivist Johedy (Keala Settle / Kyo Yaoya), and Auden (Monica Barbaro / Sanae Kobayashi).

[8] Frey, a young woman abandoned near the Holland Tunnel as a newborn, appears in court for theft and is sentenced to community service.

Its ruling council captures Frey, and distrusting her resistance to the Break, imprisons her, but a citizen named Auden helps her escape to the slums.

Frey learns that Athia was once ruled by the Tantas, four benevolent sorceresses, but they began exuding the Break and oppressing the city's inhabitants.

Archivist Johedy explains that the Break's surge was the result of Sila's death; only by killing the remaining Tantas' can it be eradicated.

Frey appears in Svargana, the final resting place for all Tantas, and meets the now-sane Sila, Prav, and Olas.

Forspoken is the debut project for Luminous Productions; the company was originally assembled from employees working on Final Fantasy XV.

[2] Technologies featured in the game include ray tracing for greatly enhanced lighting effects, and procedural generation for the creation of large-scale locations.

[1] The game's writing team includes Gary Whitta, Amy Hennig, Allison Rymer, and Todd Stashwick.

[35] Polygon criticized Forspoken's slow start and noted that the game ended by the time it had presented the player with a full range of abilities.

[36] The game's style of dialogue received criticism from players for its perceived awkwardness and poor quality,[37][38][39] and became the subject of internet memes.

[40] In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version of Forspoken sold 29,055 physical units during its first week of release, making it the third best-selling retail game in the country.