There is a part of Horizon Forbidden West, about two hours after the game, it made me think: yes. This is the game. This game is absolutely rules.
This is a cinematic introduction to the titular Forbidden West: a gathering of Western tribes – Tenakth. As the name of the game suggests, Tenakth are not the friendliest. They rise above our heroine Aloe with scary, colorful body paints and mohawks, watching us, the outsider. They are threatening violence and death to Aloe if she dares to continue her quest for their territory.
But this is quickly dismissed when a new, greater threat emerges: the antagonist Regala, played by the incomparable Angela Bassett. Regal is a rebellious leader riding a machine, with one thing in mind: death for Kardzha and death for those who dare to agree with Kardzha in the East.
Of course, the appearance of Regalla leads to a terrible clash, as the meeting between Tenakth and Carja is in ambush and we remain to fight for our lives. A good part of this scene takes place in the cut scene, but it is exciting and dangerous. An intense change of pace from the somewhat tortuous (but short) initial lesson in which you will enter the world of Aloy in five years.
Once you set foot on earth in the West, the real fun begins.
Horizon Forbidden West begins six months after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn. Despite her victory in the Battle of Meridian, the war has not yet been won. The corrupt AI Hades may have been defeated, but the disease threatens to suffocate his entire life. The powerful machines that rebuilt the world after the robot apocalypse have apparently left a few refractions.
Our mission is simple: dig up ancient machines and AI to restart the biosphere. The old man turns it off and on again. Naturally, Aloy is the only person who can do that. Of course, there are many obstacles in the way of Aloe. Along with the looming factional war among the tribes of post-apocalyptic North America, there are also mysterious individuals who have other plans for Earth.
The former outsider Aloy takes on the role of a lone hero, burdened with a glorious goal. And look: it will not be easy to be the only person who can save the world twice for a year of an ancient and extremely dangerous existential threat.
Less than a year earlier, Aloy had been an exile, shunned by her matriarchal Nora society. Now Aloy is the Hero, adored by all and surrounded by people who love her – maybe even a few people fighting for her heart (something that is incredibly funny to watch). This kind of pressure would be a lot for everyone – and at first Aloy reacted by keeping his friends at bay, rejecting help and comfort so that they would not suffer because of it.
At first glance, this is a very “strong female character”, a trope that I despise. In the early hours, I realized I wanted to shake Aloy by shouting, “Let them love you!” But in the end, Aloe is still the little girl in exile who’s used to the concept of just being accepted as a member of society.
The themes of belonging and the importance of the relationship often arise, emphasizing the idea: you can’t go through life alone. It’s getting tiring, but luckily Aloe is coming. Which is just as good, because as it turns out, she literally can’t do it alone.
Aloy’s companions bring warmth and comfort to the game. In the first game, the side characters moved in and out as Aloy continued on his way. Now it feels more like an ensemble. Build a home base in an old Project Zero Dawn base by gathering friends and allies along the way. Old friends Varl and Erend set up camp, along with Zo and Kotalo, new friends of Utara and Tenakt, and Alva, an academic from the mysterious Quen tribe across the great ocean.
There is an atmosphere of Mass Effect, which at first felt forced and opposes the personality of Aloy Lone Wolf. In the end, it becomes a nice addition to the game. This is a place where Aloe can go home. It’s fun to hear comrades talking as they try to make sense of the world of the “old.” We hear Zoe trying to explain Varl’s soda concept, Erend’s newfound love of sports and death metal, and Varl’s hatred of stuffed animals. It is also a lot of fun to think about what kind of culture was saved and is now consumed by these tribal people a thousand years from now.
From a gameplay standpoint, it’s nice to have a place where everything you need is in one place: storage cache, a desk, and a new undo creation station where you can create new replacements for different machines.
Hello world
Horizon Forbidden West is without a doubt an incredibly beautiful game. The West brings with it a number of new environments: the Las Vegas desert, snow-capped mountains, lush redwoods and now the strangely tropical San Francisco. Each biome is fascinating and wild with settlements, ruins and many opportunities for hunting machines.
Although the story of Forbidden West is a little simpler and less tormented by the mystery and endless twists of Zero Dawn, it is full of incredible world-building. The West, despite reports of being wild, unfriendly and dangerous, is much more revealing than Aloe’s home in the East. It’s fun to explore every corner of the world because you really don’t know what’s beyond the hill.
The best places are San Francisco and Las Vegas. Both cities now lay in ruins, with a significant number of cities submerged. Which is great, because Forbidden West uses its amazing new swimming mechanics. Diving underwater reveals a completely different world, full of life and colors. After all, the breathing mask allows you to swim underwater indefinitely – which is useful because there are whole levels. I do not want to spoil anything, because I want you, dear reader, to experience it with new eyes, but Las Vegas is stunning. I highly recommend that you return to Vegas and complete side missions there; You will not regret this. This game has the most enjoyable swimming experiences I’ve had since playing Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb with my father when I was ten.
Gameplay and battle
The battle in Forbidden West is super satisfying. Removing giant machines and removing vulnerabilities was one of the highlights of the original and is back with revenge in the sequel.
A wide range of weapons are back, such as the classic ropes, tripkaster and explosive slingshot, along with new additions such as projectile and explosive spears – the MVP weapon of the whole game. All weapons can be upgraded, as well as clothes that are beautiful and deadly. You can even customize outfits with vegetable dyes that you find all over the world.
Dressing up with the most sophisticated outfits and weapons is only half the journey. Using all this is where the sparks fly. Elementary weapons are so much fun and effective. Using them is really intuitive – there is no huge learning curve. It’s incredibly satisfying to reach for a machine and plan your attack by watching stupid creatures wander right into your traps. The PS5 controller’s haptic feedback is a great addition to the battle, adding more weight to each bow and pull. The battle with people is a little less visceral, but at the end of the day I prefer that. There is less fighting between people and when that happens, you have the opportunity to work on your stealth skills, which is always fun.
While the systems are more or less similar to the last game, additions to the new skill tree and special weapon movements add variety to the battle. One small criticism: you can’t really stick to enemies in battle. At least I couldn’t find a way to do it. It’s good most of the time, but when you’re fighting a rebel or a fast-moving machine, it would be really helpful to stay locked up.
How it works?
I played Forbidden West on PS5. For the most part it was a really smooth voyage. The visuals of the PS5 are beautiful. The lighting, the water, even the way the snow and sand are animated – this is a view. I’m not a big person in photo mode, but I found myself indulging in all the breathtaking views I came across. As for bugs, I didn’t come across much. There have been a few instances of Aloy’s hair defying physics and water as I swam, but Aloe’s hair is a hero in itself, and nothing felt far from the end of the game.
I loved this game. Full disclosure: Horizon Zero Dawn is one of my favorite games of the last decade. I’ve been looking forward to the sequel for a long time, but it far exceeded my expectations. The main story took me about 40 hours to finish and I had the feeling that I had a lot of it. There are also many great side quests, orders and tasks.
The story is fascinating from beginning to end, with enough twists and surprises to keep you hooked. The ending, while not as emotional as the first game, effectively lays the groundwork for a potential third game really well. In this respect, he falls victim to the penultimate installment syndrome, a disease I just came up with in which, you guessed it, the penultimate ending doesn’t really stand alone, but rather is used to irritate what’s coming. It’s not so negative, it’s just that. And it still works.
Nevertheless, this game was worth the five-year wait. It’s wonderful, it’s fascinating and I can’t wait for you to play it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to study experimental memory erasing procedures in hopes of trying out this game for the first time.