The tepid reception given to it by international critics was not enough (it currently has a Meta Score of 68), The prophesied it has also become the object of criticism due to a controversial scene placed at the very beginning of the adventure.
The scene in question, which went viral, takes place in a house on fire. Despite the command given by the player, the protagonist Frey Holland refuses to pick up a bag full of money placed right at her feet because, at that moment, her absolute priority is the cat. She has nothing against her feline friend, who has all our love and affection, but why doesn’t he grab the bag too before rushing to her rescue? A moment would be enough since it is right there, and in that moment that money is vital for her, as it represents her escape route to a new life.
The clip, which you can also see at the bottom of this news, has been branded online as an example of bad writing. Although she had nothing to do with writing the script for Forspoken, the writer Rhianna Pratchett (author among others of Tomb Raider (2013), Heavenly Sword and Mirror’s Edge) wanted to have her say, pointing out that the problem could lie in the bad coordination between the writers, the level designers and those who arranged the placement of the objects.
“Coming from someone who has an idea of how these things work, and for those who might be interested in the subject,” began Pratchett, who then added: “This is not a narrative problem, as it might appear. According to me is due to a misalignment between the narrative, level design and item placement departments This is not a criticism of the game, I have not played it. [Quello che dice Frey] is the classic suggestion [per il giocatore], and certain things are often considered rote and not narratively, which is part of the problem. They are often written very early or very late. According to me, it’s possible that line of dialogue was written without context – perhaps very early on. Most likely the writer did not know where exactly the bag would be, or the context changed during development. I don’t think the writer would have written that line of dialogue knowing the bag would be right under her“.