Square Enix's next big action-RPG, Forspoken, launched this week to extremely mixed reviews on PC: maybe it's the January Void, but the game's tone to how the publisher distributed (or didn't distribute) review codes There has been a lot of discussion about everything from the tone of the game to how the publisher distributed (or didn't distribute) the review codes: PC Gamer's review is still ongoing.

But one thing is for sure: Forspoken has ridiculous system requirements (open in new tab), and the PC version doesn't seem to justify them. Steam reviews of this title are very mixed, with some complaining about the talking bracelets (they really are) and many others angry about the state in which the game was released. Currently, about 55% of the total reviews for this title are negative.

Hastur (opens in new tab), who uses an RTX4080, says the game is "an unoptimized mess," and also says that the visuals are downgraded from the advertised trailer due to the awkward console. They are not the only ones complaining about this apparent visual mismatch: YoutubeMajed says "inaccurate graphics" and "not at all like the trailer."

Some reviews get a bit existential about it. You can see that even the cat's meow is voice acted" (Shiba.gif (open in new tab)), "Why even the cat's meow is voice acted" (Shiba.gif (open in new tab)), "The fps drops significantly just by looking at moving objects, but in a stationary setting it is completely No problem at all" (Shiba.gif (open in new tab)). We recommend installing next year's GPU.

In other words, if this doesn't work well on such a GPU, it suggests a rather fundamental problem. "I literally can't play on my RTX 3070 at 1440p," laments poor Phoenix (opens in new tab), "because the game uses [bleep] so much VRAM to run, the textures don't even load." Another user simply calls it "stutter city (open in new tab)."

"There may be a memory leak," Darth_Vapour (open in new tab) reasoned. 'The longer you play the game, the more frames will stutter and eventually crash.' I have my own water-cooled 3080 12GB, I9 processor with 64GB ram. So it's not my hardware's fault. So I don't even know what the first big boss is."

One negative review, obviously a subjective judgment, said that even those who enjoy the game's characters and world are disturbed by the game's current state of recommendation: "The textures are blurry, there is a lot of stuttering in the city, the models are grainy/blurry/. Blurriness is a big problem," says OnlyMyGameRules (opens in new tab).

"Waiting to see if [developer] Luminous can fix the performance issues and lower the requirements before purchasing feels like the right decision, at least on a PC.

That user also said he stopped playing after a particularly nasty crashing bug, and crashes seem to be a common occurrence throughout. And it feels unusual that a publisher of Square Enix's stature would release such a premium-priced title in such bad shape on PC. Some of these negative reviews may seem a bit mean-spirited, but let's not forget that the writers are shelling out $70 of their own money for the privilege ("Note to self," writes Mr. Io (opens in new tab), presumably not a "Hitman" developer Don't buy any Square Enix games in the future.")

In other words, this is what is expected of this publisher: speculation about the assignment of review codes for "Forspoken" was about the quality or otherwise of the game, but it was more about the state the game had to launch in than about its content It may be. As some well-known examples have shown, it can be incredibly difficult to recover from a bad first impression, especially on a platform where users can be reimbursed within the first few hours.

Or, as one Steam user put it, "I like speedrunning," SchfiftyFive wrote (opens in new tab).

Aside from performance issues, the overall reception to the game has been mixed. Some of the reviews have indeed been positive, and some people like the strange direction the publisher has taken with the game (other than the performance issues). Sadly, however, many others consider it quite normal once you get past the discourse (open in new tab).