Forspoken Limited Review Codes Raise Alarming Concerns

According to several gaming websites and Youtube channels, Forspoken review codes have not been received ahead of the review embargo Monday, January 23, as questions mount over the game’s quality.

Prominent reviewers from various gaming sites, along with Youtube games critic, Skill Up, have spoken out that they have not received Forspoken’s review code from Square Enix. This is in spite of reviews set to embargo one day before the game’s 24th January launch date.

Meanwhile, others mentioned how Square Enix PR informed them that the review codes will only be provided until either Monday or even on the launch day. This is especially for the PC version since Square Enix is waiting for a Day One patch before releasing the codes.

The topic of the lack of codes was first started by the owner-writer of VGC, Andy Robinson, who called the incident “an extremely rare occurrence,” via Twitter.

It looks like VGC sadly won't be publishing a Forspoken review on Monday, since Square Enix has decided not to supply us with code. That's an extremely rare occurrence for us, so read into it how you like.

— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) January 20, 2023

One of the most famous and respected game review channels on Youtube, Skill Up, quoted Andy’s tweet and shared their side of the story, calling it a “huge red flag.”

Have now heard from (or about) 7 major outlets/reviewers who did not get review code for this. As always, no outlet is entitled to code but this ‘limited code’ is a huge red flag. I also haven’t heard of any outlet having access to PC code yet (but can’t confirm this). https://t.co/XXAs3MYgxE

— Skill Up (@SkillUpYT) January 20, 2023

It is true that outlets are not entitled to review game codes from publishers. But this causes concern, which usually means there might be some issues with the final product. This may not be the case for Forspoken, however, due to many disappointed with the demo and a recent Youtube leak showing the game’s first hour of gameplay, there isn’t much positive press surrounding it.

We from Kakuchopurei have yet to receive any review codes for the upcoming Playstation 5 and PC game as well, but we’ll definitely review the game at launch. If you’re planning to purchase the game on PC, get ready to gear up your gaming machine.