Here's ten minutes of new Forspoken gameplay footage

Following a not exactly inspiring showing earlier this month, Square Enix has once again reached deep into its Forspokeon promotional sack, this time pulling out a ten-minute trailer showcasing new gameplay from its upcoming open-world fantasy adventure.

Forspoken casts players in the role of Frey Holland – played by Ella Balinska – an “ordinary young woman who must harness her magical abilities to survive” in a “beautiful yet cruel” world of Athia. We get a much better closer at that world in Square’s latest trailer, which includes a glimpse of the city of Cipal, Athia’s only safe haven, where refugees gather to escape the corrupting force of the Break.

Here, players can speak to citizens to take on quests and trade before heading out to explore Athia’s more dangerous regions, including Praenost – a barren desert where the only signs of life are corrupted enemies – and the lush region of Avoalet with its dangerously mutated beasts.

Out in the wild, players can put Frey’s magical abilities to use, deploying combat spells against enemies, or using her magically enhanced traversal powers to explore, perhaps searching for chests containing items to use for crafting or trading back in Cipal. Frey can also find Mana in glowing pools on her travels, used to unlock new spells and abilities, and seek out other rewards such as XP, stat increases, lore, and new gear.

Exploration is aided by scanning belfries to locate nearby points of interest, which include the likes of quest locations or Pilgrim’s Refuges, where Frey can craft healing items, upgrade gear, or get rest. All this is illustrated in Square’s new ten-minute gameplay trailer, and an accompanying blog post helps provide a little more detail.

Following two delays, Forspoken is now set to release on 24th January next year. It’s coming to PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store.