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The Backlash Against ‘Forspoken,’ Explained Games

The Backlash Against ‘Forspoken,’ Explained

Forspoken-Cinematic-PV_01-09-23

Forspoken

Square Enix

Square Enix’s Forspoken, a videogame set in a high fantasy setting where the protagonist is a jaded teenager transported into the magical realm, is going viral for all the wrong reasons.

The game has earned a lowly 68 on Metacritic and faced criticism for a poorly received demo, performance issues, as well as high spec requirements, but most of the attention the game has received focuses on the game’s “Whedonesque” dialogue, also known as “soy banter.”

It doesn’t help that adults are, generally, terrible at writing know-it-all teenagers – it’s not an easy task to pull off.

What is “Whedonesque” dialogue?

It’s a self-conscious style of writing, seemingly popularized by Joss Whedon, that pokes fun at genre tropes while actively engaging in them, in which characters practically turn to the camera and wink at the audience after something kinda silly happens.

If a character reacts to, say, their newly discovered superpowers by saying, “umm …. so that’s a thing that happened,” well, that’s “Whedonesque” dialogue.

This style of writing was once viewed as cool and clever, but is now generally perceived as annoying and “cringe,” as it often undermines serious moments, or seems to make fun of the audience for enjoying the story.

It isn’t always horrible – this kind of humor works for a character like Iron Man – but the MCU has used this style excessively, often to its detriment. For example, in the height of an intense battle during Age of Ultron, Hawkeye says: “Okay, look. The city is flying, we’re fighting an army of robots and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense.”

Disney’s Star Wars adopted it, to some degree (they fly now!), and there’s a new Dungeons & Dragons movie coming out, that, from the trailer, looks far more obnoxious than Forspoken.

Marvel still uses this style, despite the fact that the MCU audience happily accepts silly comic book tropes, and have for years now; even the most recent Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, sees Peter Parker burst out laughing at the name “Otto Octavius.”

Although, the negative reaction to the constant wisecracking of Thor: Love and Thunder shows that there’s a limit to how much self-awareness the audience can tolerate. Not everything has to be Rick and Morty; hell, even Rick and Morty’s compulsive meta-commentary can be too much.

There’s an argument to be made that the backlash can appear selective, and can seem racially motivated; after all, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool never sparked the same level of backlash as Mindy Kaling’s Velma, despite their near-identical shtick, constantly reminding the audience that they are in on the joke.

Part of the reason Forspoken sparked such a negative reaction might be due to the fact that the developers created a world that didn’t need to be mocked; the game boasts beautiful landscapes, unique costumes and an intriguing story.

What’s the point of putting in the effort to craft an interesting fantasy world, only to compulsively poke fun of it? Players are more than capable of doing that themselves, but they’re certainly not going to take any of it seriously if the protagonist can’t.

Perhaps we’re nearing the end of the “well, that just happened” era, as fans are ready to earnestly embrace the wonders of fantasy and sci-fi, without being mocked for immersing themselves in the fiction.