So, the verdict for Forspoken is in, and it’s looking… dubious. The game, the latest tite from the developers behind Final Fantasy 15, made a lot of promises before it launched; whether it was claiming to solve the tricky proposition of open world fatigue, or making a point of pushing the PS5 as hard as possible, Forspoken had a lot to say before it launched.
And, as it turns out, the game has just got quite a lot to say more generally. The core conceit of the game is that down-and-out New Yorker, Frey Holland, gets transported to an otherworld – to the magical land of Athia – where a sentient Cuff binds itself to her wrist and guides her through this peculiar fantasy. Thing is, Cuff won’t shut the hell up. Similarly to High on Life’s mouthy guns in 2022, cuff seems to think that we want incessant feedback on everything we do.
But, safe to say, a lot of players aren’t really into this. The reaction to the game’s demo (and a massive leak that kicked off jut before the game launched) has demonstrated this in no uncertain terms. And it makes sense; it requires a lot of attention to listen to your smug, somehow British, Cuff flapping its proverbial gums when all you’re trying to do is set fire to some weird magical alligator or something.
So you’ll be pleased to know you can turn the frequency of Cuff’s smart alec quips down – or, should you prefer, turn it off entirely. Thank Christ, right?
By hitting pause and heading into the menus, you can find a little sub-menu called ‘Cuff Settings’. In here, you’ve got a series of options, including toggles to determine whether or not Cuff shows you where to go in-game, and options to determine how often Cuff talks to you. If you knock the latter down to ‘minimal’, cuff will only kick off with dialogue that’s directly related to the story. You can turn the frequency up, too, but we can’t really report on that option because we’ve avoided that one like the plague.
Knocking it down means there’ll be less ‘banter’ between it and Frey as your protagonist parkours her way around the lush world of Athia, and less verbal fencing between the two unlikely allies. For you, player, that means fewer headaches and more headspace to dedicate to the game’s actually-not-that-bad combat.
Accessibility options like this in games are only good things; whether it’s the option to gag irritating NPCs like this, or the option to wholly remove spiders in games, we’re happy to see this get more and more common. Platform holders are making moves into accessibility; the PlayStation 5’s baked-in options and Xbox’s amazing adaptive controller are all part of the picture, and we hope things keep getting better as the industry continues to mature.
Forspoken is out now on PS5 and PC.
Dom Peppiatt
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