PlayStation gamers checking out underrated open-world PS5 game while it's free

PlayStation gamers are recommending others to check out an underrated open-world PS5 game for free.

Subscription services such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass can be great ways to save money. After all, just a one-month subscription to either is way cheaper than the vast majority of fully-priced AAA games.

Check out the Forspoken trailer below!

What’s more, both PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass are great for playing games that we might not have heard of or even reluctant to spend our money buying the full game after social media was flooded with negative reviews.

One such game is the 2023 open-world RPG published by Square Enix and developed by the now-defunct, Luminous Productions, Forspoken. Granted, this game wasn't well-received on Metacritic with a review score of 64 and an even lower user score of 4.1, but that doesn't mean that you won't like it.

“Forspoken follows the journey of Frey, a young New Yorker transported to the beautiful and cruel land of Athia. In search of a way home, Frey must use her newfound magical abilities to traverse sprawling landscapes and battle monstrous creatures,” reads the synopsis of the game.

Earlier this month, Sony added 15 games to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium which included the likes of Sonic Frontiers, Rabbids: Party of Legends, Coffee Talk, and more, as well as the aforementioned Forspoken.

“I tried Forspoken because it is free,” announced Redditor OutspokenOne456 to fellow members of the thread, kicking off a discussion.

“Did any of you get past the beginning? I honestly couldn’t as it was so unnecessarily long and the dialogue was cringe,” they exclaimed. “So, I started skipping cutscenes only to get stuck in place when she [the protagonist] talks to her bracelet. The parkour wasn’t good either. I didn’t even get into combat. I want to give it an honest run but jeez.”

While this Reddit user doesn't paint a very positive picture and has just as valid of an opinion as anyone else, other users we’re keen to defend Forspoken.

“I actually got it day one and got the Platinum trophy. I loved the combat and traversal,” replied TehLoneWanderer101.

“I switched the audio language to Japanese, which made things much better. It doesn't fix the subpar writing, but the voice acting is much less exaggerated and easier to deal with,” suggested kindastandtheman.

“I powered through the long intro and found myself enjoying it once the game opened up,” explained loondoonandu.

That being said, the thread was also full of gamers who simply could not get on with Forspoken, as reelected by Renflowku, who said: “I somehow got up to the Castle Praenost part then quit. I couldn’t take it any more, this game sucks.”

Forspoken is out now on PC and PlayStation 5.