As the most powerful sorceresses in Athia, they pose a dangerous threat to Frey.īeing who she is, when Frey first arrives in Athia, she has very little interest in the Tantas. However, without warning, the former protectors mysteriously became oppressors, becoming aggressive and hateful. They were once beloved by the people of Athia, who enjoyed lives of plenty under their guidance. Each embodies a different virtue and possesses a unique strength. We have a game with a cool concept, launching with little competition, that has sensed a gap in the market, and they’re promoting it not with the unique gameplay, but the corny dialogue? So… that just happened.The Tantas are the former rulers of Athia. Video games are a little more skittish about sex, so Forspoken might avoid that pitfall by accident, but Whedonisation and a female lead makes me very nervous. I know it’s technically a Ripley clone and it’s to show the change in her nature, but it’s also incredibly lazy and incredibly on-point for Whedon’s writing. Alien Resurrection, written by Whedon, has one of the most iconic women in cinematic history in Ellen Ripley say “so who do I have to fuck to get off this ship?”. Whedon’s women were badasses, sure, and pretty progressive for the ‘90s, but they were also defined by sex appeal and seemed built for male desire, even as they provided a platform to young women. Of course, I don’t think that poorly written Whedonised quips means the Forspoken studio was a hotbed of abuse, but I do worry about the character’s direction. Writer Jose Molina claimed Whedon used to revel in making female writers cry, even boasting about his skill at the art of being mean. Another of Whedon’s shows, Firefly, is also rife with allegations. Michelle Tratchenberg claimed Whedon was “not appropriate” with her on the Buffy set and there was a rule that he was not allowed to be in a room alone with her. Whedon was for a long time defined as one of media’s greatest feminists, which showcases how low the bar was - especially when it was all a lie. Buffy is a legendary character, but I’m fearful for what it could mean for Forspoken. Prior to the MCU, Whedon found fame as showrunner of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and subsequently made a career off the backs of creating badass, quippy, smartass female characters - much like Forspoken’s lead. There is, however, another slice of Whedonisation that I’m more fearful of than just some overused bad jokes. Audiences seem to be growing bored of this style (hence the poor reaction to the trailer), but so long as Marvel keeps seeing success with it, others will continue to copy it. The Forspoken trailer starts with ‘so let me get this straight’, before listing the basic premise of the game in a very ‘oh boy, how did I get myself into this mess?!’ tone, which screams Whedonisation. That video game movies have found their feet after Marvel set a baseline for adapting geek-fuelled source material is no accident. The idea of a ‘cinematic universe’ has been pushed into the mainstream by Marvel, and for all Marvel’s faults, there has been a huge upswing in the quality of nerd cinema post-Iron Man. Its power is so vast that the DCEU, Marvel’s closest rival, has just burnt itself to the ground in order to rebuild and replicate what Marvel is doing. The most influential piece of media over the last decade has been the MCU. But boy, does the latest trailer want me to. Mindless fun is Forspoken’s sweet spot and I’m not giving up on it. Forspoken appears to harbour some Control-shaped ambitions, but a layered, intelligent experience already seems beyond it. I’m expecting to like it in the same way I like Agents of Mayhem or Sunset Overdrive. I’m not sure it will be that good, but with its much healthier January release window and funky looking gameplay, I’m on board. Against my better judgement, I’m excited for Forspoken.
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