Forspoken actor Ella Balinska is proud of the game, regardless of the memes

(Image credit: Square Enix)

Forspoken's lead actor Ella Balinska has said they're not bothered by all the memes about the game and are actually "really proud" of their work.

In an interview with The Verge, Ella Balinska - who provided Frey's performance and likeness in the game - shared their thoughts on Forspoken as well as all the mixed reactions to it. "This is such an extraordinary game that has come out with this amazing protagonist who’s so bold, so unapologetic, so reluctant in the best way possible," Balinska says. "I think audiences might not be so used to seeing that."

"I think people always have a positive or negative response to something they’re not used to seeing," the actor continues, "and that’s completely okay because that’s the way we incite change." It's no secret that the action RPG dealt with its fair share of criticism upon its release, with the majority of feedback relating to Forspoken's dialogue, which has been branded as "cringe" on several occasions.

"I love the gaming community for how committed they are to really getting in-depth for each game that they play," Balinska adds in the same interview. In fact, on Forspoken's launch day, Balinska channeled "8-year-old gamer girl Ella" when taking to their Instagram account and sharing a photo of themselves in tears after seeing the first trailer for the game for the first time.

It's this experience growing up that's led Balinska to be proud of their performance as Frey in the Luminous Productions title. "I always reference my eight-year-old self whenever I talk about something I’m really proud of doing," the actor told The Verge, "I just never would have thought me playing games downstairs with my mom’s hairdresser’s son while she was getting her hair done. Now, to think that he can pick up this game and play as me, it’s just unbelievable."

Fancy giving this game a try? Take a look at our Forspoken tips before you get started.

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After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.