I was sat up with a coffee waiting at midnight to dive into Horizon forbidden west like a child on Christmas eve and after a ridiculous number of hours later its where things began to click for me. It was the early morning and Aloy was powering up a ruined cityscape of Las Vegas after an intense battle with a robotic loch ness monster under a casino, sadly it was time for bed for me, but her adventure would continue later. This is what makes this game special, It’s the type of game that will be talked about for years to come for everything it achieved technically, narratively and mechanically. It has that addictive nature of just one more hour, just one more quest, let’s see what is that question mark on the map is.
The new gold standard for PlayStation to be sure and a goal for other developers to meet or surpass with their own projects. For me it is simply the most fantastic gaming experience I have had in a long time. It is a triumphant sequel to an already established and beloved franchise with only minimal faltering. Being set six months after the events of the first game Horizon Zero Dawn where Aloy successfully averted the end of the world against an evil AI Hades that turned the environments protective machines into murderous robots. Horizon Forbidden West picks up her search for further answers to how this came to pass. Leading her into a new journey to fix the intelligent ecosystem AI known as GAIA, to finally bring the planet’s environments and the machines under control.
This is a continuation and a further arc for Aloy and her world, the first 3 hours is merely a tutorial to showcase everything the developers, Guerrilla, have aimed for and ease you into its universe. There is even an introductory cutscene to catch you up on previous events if you did not play the first game. Everything, and I mean everything has been carefully enhanced upon in numerous ways. Visuals being the most drastic overhaul that hits your eye initially with its environments, facial animations and overall graphical fidelity.
This is the most mind-blowing game you could play on modern gaming hardware without a doubt with its intense visuals. The detail of foliage, water, characters and even rusting old world structures is just beyond expectations of what a game can achieve with its scope of detail. Even new game mechanics such as flying mounts and underwater traversal just helps build more scope to explore within this world with moment-to-moment gameplay. However, Horizon Forbidden West is not all just eye candy lacking substance, it has an amazing narrative plot to follow with supporting characters that feel so alive with their own personality, drive and backstories. Unlike the first game we're they felt like cardboard cut-out NPCs to simply push the story forward like a bad McGuffin, in this sequel they feel like real people.
To set the scene, Aloy is tasked with journeying to a whole new location known as the forbidden west, where a civil war is breaking out within a brand-new tribe known as the Tenakth. A fearsome tribal race living in a ruined museum with a culture based on the American Air Force. After establishing the conflict situation, she begins to learn how to fix GIAS AI system with lots of adventures that have you venturing and interacting with numerous beautifully designed primitive societies. Uturu, another new tribe being my personal favourite. An all-natural entity of people living off the land, wearing foliage as attire and carrying seeds since childhood upon their chest until their death. These are then planted in their grave as a religious sentiment.
Culture is an integral aspect of Horizons world design and carefully crafted tribalism makes it difficult to imagine these are not in fact real world cultures. Nevertheless, it’s not always about everyone else inhabiting the world. Aloy has her own personality, drives and a new story arc to explore that I found quite relatable in this entry. She’s always felt isolated, alone and cast aside. Although capable and learning to keep her distance, throughout the 50-hour runtime of this games main story, you see her open emotionally to her newfound family. She drops her guard to develop long lasting relationships with a sense of love and loss interwoven. This is the mirror opposite to the Aloy we knew in Zero Dawn back in 2017.
The first 20 hours of Horizon Forbidden West will have you adjusting to a new environment, it’s almost overwhelming how large the open world is at first glance. Every time you feel a climax of storytelling is coming, the world just opens more and offers you further adventures which was an incredible feeling to see unfold for the first time. This game demands to be played because it is addictive by nature, the photo mode alone will waste hours of your time with its stunning vistas and close ups that exhibit such details you would normally miss. You will spend your time battling robotic animals and dinosaurs between and during questlines, the world is vast, and the enemies are numerous.
Hunting down an increased variety of new machines from meerkats, Spinosaurus, giant bats and everything in between. Boasting a fleshed-out combat system full of combinations with move sets and weapons to take down the array of enemies on offer never got old. Interwoven between questlines regarding reuniting families, exploring old world ruins, helping communities, or exploring the depths of the ocean was magical. The verticality and traversal have just been completely redefined and expanded with the unique use of new abilities such as the pull-caster, glider, rebreather and flying mount. All of these allowing so much more freedom in movement.
Additionally, there is a fleshed-out skill tree system to improve Aloys combat skills and playbook of abilities with the brand-new valour surges that are ultimate moves to devastate adversaries. An expanded sense of progress can be felt as you grow and learn these tactics as you traverse the world and its story. These are most welcome changes from its predecessors basic and limited list that ultimately felt limiting and very checklist like. You also have lots of weaponry at your disposal too that puts the first game to shame that features a multitude of bows, spears, slings, deadly frisbees and way more. Fresh varied outfits if you wish to make Aloy a true fashion icon of the forbidden west is available for the fashion centric fans, all coming with modifiable slots, dyes and even face paints to truly express yourself as the character.
All these aspects mentioned are incorporated with improved nuanced dialogue options adding meaningful conversation and deep character design to boot. These exciting moments that get you hooked into the story like no other game in recent memory were well done. You truly empathise with Aloys struggle too, her adversaries and triumphs all thanks to the highly improved conversations and characters you will come across in the world. Even small quests, side errands and open world tropey checkbox style activities feel worth completing because the world building, and its inhabitants feel so intriguing. Side characters are so fleshed out that they feel like the main cast at times, which is an achievement in quest design to say the least. This game is full of these details in other ways too such as, walking through tall grass seeing Aloy lower her hand to touch the stems. Foliage trampled underfoot, desert sand and snow building up on her clothing.
Water rippling around you, sweat dropping off Aloys brow and her cheeks becoming red in the heat. All these small details add to a game’s immersion on a macroscopic level. Almost every complaint I had has been improved upon within this sequel and the fact that Guerrilla listened to what fans wanted in Aloys next adventure is proof of a symbiosis between developers and the community that needs to always exist. As mentioned, the first game has many downfalls such as its ending battle, lack of climbing, poor facial animations and its lacklustre one trick pony combat. All in all, these have been addressed and improved upon beyond expectations here which is great to report. This is how you make a sequel, build upon what is there, take away what does not work and make additions that are meaningful for the gameplay loop. The only serious problem I encountered with the game was with the ambitious scale of some titan machines that were so large they would throw you around the environment like a yoyo. This can become so frustrating in the heat of battle. A personal nit-pick but a valid criticism of being constantly stun locked and brought out of the moment.
What Horizon Forbidden West offers fans and newcomers is something truly special, a unique post-apocalyptic adventure with characters you know and love, new challenges to face and a brand-new world to explore. There are strong political and environmental themes throughout the story that ring true in the world today which I'm happy to see Guerrilla address and will leave players thinking. it's truly more art with a message than a mere video game. This is the magnum opus of open world design put simply; its formula has been perfected here and will be the standard moving forward. While some maybe exhausted with the tropes of these genre of games, trust me when I say, this game is different enough and special. After reaching its narrative climax I was left wanting to see more, do more and explore more of this beautifully crafted world. Not because it left me wanting, more so that I was addicted to Aloy and the world she lives in. I can’t wait to see what the third instalment brings us in the future as this is one of those iconic sequels in media people will remember for years to come.
(Full video review here)
(Written By John.P)
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