Forspokendirector Takeshi Aramaki recently explained why the upcoming action RPG is not coming to the PlayStation 4. Developed by Japanese studio Luminous Productions and published by Square Enix, the game’s expected to launch for PlayStation 5 and PC, witha demo ofForspokenavailable now.
Revealed in September 2021,Forspokenwill follow the adventures of Frey Holland, a young New Yorker who finds herself magically transported to the fantasy world of Athia. With the help of magical powers and a supporting cast which includes her talking bracelet, Frey will embark on an epic quest to defeat Athia’s authoritarian rulers and find her way home.Forspoken’s creators describe it as an open-world narrative-driven adventure, with Director Takeshi Aramaki emphasizing the game’s focus on terrain traversal and fluid movement.
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Aramaki and a few members of his team recently spoke to VG247’s Dom Peppiat with the assistance of an interpreter. The primary topic they discussed is whyForspokenis skipping the PS4 in favor of releasing as a PlayStation 5 and Windows PC exclusive. “From the very early stages of game design, we always thought about doing something that could only be done on PS5,” Aramaki explained. Luminous Productions is building the game toshowcase everything the PlayStation 5 is capable of. Aramaki believes that what the studio’s doing with the engine, graphics and gameplay would not be possible on the older console.
While developers have high hopes forForspokenas a new IP, Luminous is open about the game’s status as a performance showcase. The PS5 version utilizes several of the console’s exclusive features. For example, the controller’s light bar will change color based on which spell Frey is casting.Forspokenalso takes advantage ofthe DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. Aramaki explained that was something Luminous really wanted to explore, with developers trying to give each spell a unique physical feel. Given the reported hundreds of spells that players will switch between, that will be quite impressive ifForspoken’s developers manage to pull it off.
Haptic feedback is part of the studio’s goal to maximize the player’s immersion. This extends to the visual effects and gameplay, where developers carefully designed each spell to be unique and easily readable to the player.Forspoken’s Creative Producer Raio Mitsuno described how Luminous Productions wants to create a sense of “one-to-one immersion” between Frey and the player controlling her.
According to Luminous Productions, these goals would not be achievable working within the limitations of the PS4 hardware. Even the PC version may not be the full experience.Forspoken’s Co-Director Takefumi Terada noted that PC hard drives might create a performance bottleneck compared to the PS5’s built-in SSD. Luminous optimizedForspokenfor the PS5, and that seems to be the best platform to experience it on.
Forspokenreleases July 26, 2025 for PC and PS5.
