Forspoken got off to a rough start even before the game launched back in February. Certain early trailers featured a few awkward, out-of-context lines from the protagonist, Frey Holland. Those became a major talking point online, drawing attention away from what the focus should have been on: the terrific parkour.

Forspoken could never quite shake that initial negative impression, but despite what the internet would lead you to believe, the game deserves a lot more praise than it received, especially when it comes to its unique, magical movement.

Frey gets transported to a fantasy world shortly after the story begins, and once tutorials end, the land of Athia is yours to explore. The map is much larger than you'd expect, and Frey has nothing but shoes on her feet and a bit of magic to help her get from place to place. The wide-open areas aren't exactly littered with buildings or closely built structures to latch onto, which rules out any kind of Spider-Man-like movement system. Instead, developer Luminous Productions decided to go for fancy footwork with stylistic flourishes.