Forspokenis a beautiful game with solid game mechanics and delightful combat. Withdozens of spells to learnand different ways to combine them, it allows for numerous creative approaches to every fight. The story, however, is not quite as good.
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While many different ideas are introduced throughout the adventure, few are actually answered. As the player, you are left in the dark as much as Frey is, only learning about Athia’s past through random archive entries strewn throughout ruined villages or through short info dumps in dialogue. With so many open-ended story elements, we thought it’d be a good idea to share what we wanted answers to the most.
10Will Frey Ever Meet Her Father?
We find out in the game’s final act that Frey ended up in New York City after her mother, Tanta Cinta, tried to save her from Susurrus and the Break. In one of the memories shown, the idea of leaving Frey with her father is discussed, implying that Frey’s father is somewhere in New York City.
So who is Frey’s father? While the answer is not essential to the game’s plot, it makes you wonder how Cinta met Frey’s father, how much time they spent together, and how much Frey’s father knew about Athia. It seems reasonable that Frey’s father was a decent person that would have taken in Frey and the only reason Frey grew up alone was because of the dire circumstances of the time. Still, nothing about Frey’s father is mentioned.
9What Lies Beyond Athia?
Forspoken’s map is huge… or at least it feels huge. Running around the five realms can take forever, with areas being miles apart, but that’s the thing, Athia is less than ten miles in diameter. In all respects, Athia is an island and is about the size of Kahoʻolawe, the smallest of the Hawaiian islands.
So what is beyond the ocean? We know that there is a country called Rheddig, but other than the Rheddigs being an invading army that almost conquers Athia, no other information is given about them. Are there other countries beyond the sea, and are they also dealing with the effects of the Break?
8Why Did Rheddig Want To Invade Athia?
While we know that the Rheddig army tried to invade Athia the second time, no information is given about why the Rheddigs invaded the island the first time. In the archive entry, Ancient Altar: Inscription 1, it is stated that the Rheddig Athia’s allies until they sent the demon, Susurrus.
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So why did they send Susurrus in the first place? The only answer that seems reasonable is the annihilation of the Athians, but unleashing a demon on a ten-mile-wide island seems excessive. Then again, the first Tanta seemed to be incredibly powerful, so maybe they thought it was necessary.
7Who Was The First Tanta?
Through archive entries, we learn that the four Tantas we encounter were not the first. In fact, in the Athian Writings Archive section, it is said that the Tantas were responsible for creating Athia. This seems plausible, especially since we know the first Tanta was capable of defeating and sealing Susurrus alone, a feat that the Tanta’s Frey encounters couldn’t accomplish together.
So who were they? It is a question that may have been lost relatively recently to the time the game takes place, as there is an entry in The History Of Athia that talks about the Visoria Castle towers holding the bulk of Athia’s knowledge collected over centuries. Unfortunately, it is also said that many of the materials in the towers were lost due to an earthquake, making it likely that any information about the first Tanta was lost when the towers fell.
6Will Frey Find A Way To Stop The Break?
A big question that Forspoken fails to answer is what the Break is and if Frey will be able to find a way to stop it. It is clear that the Break started around the time that Susurrus was unleashed and that the Tantas had the power to resist its effects.
Being the daughter of a Tanta is why Frey is immune to the Break, but even with the combined power of the Tantas and Susurrus, Frey doesn’t seem powerful enough to make any difference. This lingering question was obviously meant to give room for DLC or a sequel, but it makes you wonder where Frey would find the power to save the people of Athia from a seemingly unstoppable force of nature.
5What Happens to Susurrus?
The demon Susurrus (aka Cuff) was powerful enough to corrupt the Tantas of Athia, even after his power was divided into four parts, and though Frey managed to defeat him and bind him to her, what happens next? Even throughout the game, it is clear that Frey finds Cuff annoying, and while they do manage to build a love-hate relationship, it seems reasonable that Cuff’s long-term goal would be to wear Frey down mentally until he could break free.
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Does that mean that Frey has to find a way to re-seal Susurrus in the labyrinths as the first Tanta did? Or will she find a way to use him to stop the Break? Like with many of the plot points, the game ends without giving even the smallest of clues, which is disappointing given how critical Susurrus/Cuff was to the story.
4Why Is Cipal Safe?
Through the various archive entries, it is clear that the Tantas and the citizens of Athia all agreed that Cipal was the one place they would be safe from the Break. But why? The city itself is nothing special, and through the course of the story, it is clear that the Break is capable of reaching into the city.
So what made everyone think Cipal was safe, and why has it not already fallen to the Break? The answer could lie in the enigmatic Mausoleum that the people of Cipal pray to since the archives say that the city was built around it, but other than its existence, there is no evidence pointing to that conclusion.
3What Does Frey Do If She Chooses Not To Save Athia?
Before confronting Susurrus, Tanta Cinta gives Frey a choice: save Athia, or go home. For those who chose to send Frey home, you are only shown a quick cutscene of Frey walking through New York City, holding Homer, and questioning what to do next. Lingering guilt aside, Frey had already made a plan to escape the city with the duffel bag of cash she lost when the apartment she was in burned down.
Unless Cinta took everything from Frey when she went through the Torana, Frey had allthe valuable necklacesand high-quality cloaks with her when she returned to the city. Selling these would have given her enough money to make a new life, so it makes you wonder what her plan was before she was ever transported to Athia.
2Will Robian’s Blue Mist Save Athia?
In the middle of the game, Frey is on a quest in Avoalet to collect some Ballow resin. Through Robian, Frey learns that burning the resin will create a mist that slows the effects of the Break on humans, and the archive says that it can even be used to protect against light concentrations of the Break.
During this time, every part of the plot seems to push the idea that Frey is helping to find the solution that Cipal needs to stop the Break or at least venture beyond the walls of the city to obtain resources. That idea is quickly dropped, however, immediately after Frey defeats Tanta Prav and returns to Cipal. Robian dies and that’s it. The mist and the Ballow trees are never brought up again, leaving us to wonder if Robian’s idea could have saved Athia.
1Will Frey Be Reunited With Homer?
After the apartment fire, Frey givesHomer to Judge Maya, keeping Homer safe from any future dangers Frey may encounter. Homer barely plays any part in the game, only acting as a reference for Frey to compare the cats of Athia to, and until the end of the game you don’t even get to see Homer
If you choose the “bad” ending for the game, Frey takes Homer back from Maya and questions their future together, but given how little effort was put into that ending, it clearly wasn’t the canonical ending. Instead, we’re given a short scene with Homer looking out a window into the night sky as what is possibly Frey fying through the sky in the distance. It seems reasonable that the two could be reunited if Frey mastered opening Toranas, but like many other parts of the game, it is just an open-ended question with no clues to an answer.
