Forspokens Predominantly Female Cast Breaks The Video Game Mold

Forspoken’s Predominantly Female Cast Breaks The Video Game Mold

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Forspoken includes a diverse cast of female characters, both evil and good, unlike many AAA video games that only use women as plot devices.

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Forspokens Predominantly Female Cast Breaks The Video Game Mold

Until recently, most AAA video games without customizable characters featured a certain kind of protagonist: a man, often white, with an athletic build and either a wisecracking or a stoic personality. The Witcher’s Geralt of Rivia is a prime example, as are Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher, Red Dead Redemption’s John Marston, and The Last of Us’ Joel Miller. Square Enix’s upcoming open-world RPG Forspoken, however, refreshingly features not only a female protagonist but a cast comprised predominantly of women.

Female video game characters have prominently shirked relegation to being love interests, quest givers, and plot devices in recent years. Women took starring roles in games like Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last of Us Part 2, where they were given respectful treatment and character development to showcase their own personalities and strengths. While these made important strides in representation, Forspoken is the first game in recent memory to feature a mostly female main cast. It’s not the first with a female lead, but rarely have games included so many women in so many roles.

In Forspoken, protagonist Frey Holland is teleported to the fantasy world of Athia. There, she is able to use magical abilities through her talking bracelet, Cuff, as they work together to defeat the villainous Tantas – “destructive and twisted all-powerful matriarchs who have dominion over Athia,” as developer Luminous Productions described them. Very little else has been revealed about the game thus far, but Forspoken’s PlayStation Showcase 2021 trailer delivered a glimpse into its story and revealed a set of new characters.

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Forspoken’s Female Cast Could Highlight Complex Women In Gaming

Tasked with saving her newfound world, Frey fills the role of the classic “Chosen One” trope, but with a modern twist: She isn’t the typical, stoic hero, duty-bound to complete their epic quest, nor is she portrayed as somber or desperate. Like many young people today might, she appears to view her new powers and surroundings with wonder, seeing this as an amazing adventure. She does seem to want to get home, but Athia is also exhilarated by her situation.

The new Forspoken trailer also introduces the game’s antagonist, Tanta Sila. Said to be the most powerful of the Tantas, she appears to easily defeat Frey in a few attacks. Johedy and Auden are Frey’s support, filling the roles of mentor and friend, respectively. Aside from Cuff, voiced by English actor Jonathan Cake, every named Forspoken character so far is played by a woman. It doesn’t seem to feature anyone close to the gruff, grim, brooding male characters so often featured in AAA video games; even the character seen briefly in trailer’s opening seconds, beating up Frey back in New York, is feminine-presenting.

Forspoken’s so-far mostly female cast is an important opportunity to showcase diverse and complex portrayals of women in video games, not oversexualized ones relegated to one-dimensional characteristics. If executed well, the game could break the mold of AAA video game casting and set a new precedent for the usually male-focused medium.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/forspoken-female-video-game-characters-women-cast-tropes/

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