Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Western United States, recovering from the aftermath of an extinction event caused by a rogue robot swarm. The player, assuming control of Aloy, must venture into the Forbidden West to find the source of a mysterious plague that kills all it infects. The player can explore the open world and complete quests using ranged and melee weapons against machine creatures and hostile rebels. Forbidden West introduced new gameplay mechanics to the franchise, such as new traversal tools, underwater exploration, and expanded melee combat.
Guerrilla Games began developing Forbidden West in 2018. The development peaked at over 300 full-time employees and cost around US$212 million, making the game one of the most expensive ever to develop. One of the team's goals was to "recapture the magic" of the original game, and the team made efforts to expand exploration and combat to support various playstyles. Guerrilla also invested more resources into creating the game's cinematics and spent more time creating character-driven side quests for the game. Ashly Burch and Lance Reddick returned to provide the voice for Aloy and Sylens, respectively, and they were joined by Angela Bassett and Carrie-Anne Moss. As with Zero Dawn, the game was powered by Guerrilla's in-house Decima engine. Announced in June 2020, the game was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on 18 February 2022.
The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, combat, quest design and the cast's performance, but criticized its story and Aloy's characterization. Most reviewers agreed that Forbidden West was bigger and more refined than Zero Dawn, though it was more of an evolutionary experience than a revolutionary one. It sold over 8.4 million units by April 2023. It was nominated for several end-of-year accolades, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022 and the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. An expansion, Burning Shores, was released for the PlayStation 5 in April 2023. The game and the Burning Shores expansion were collected together, re-released as Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition for PlayStation 5 in October 2023, and ported to Windows by Nixxes Software in March 2024. A sequel is in development.
Gameplay
Horizon Forbidden West is an action role-playing video game played from a third-person perspective, set in a world populated by dangerous, animalistic machines. The player controls Aloy, a hunter who ventures into an uncharted frontier known as the Forbidden West, a post-apocalyptic version of the Western United States, to investigate a mysterious plague. Aloy's primary weapons of choice are bows and arrows. Other weapons in the game include a blastsling, which allows Aloy to slingshot bombs towards enemies, and a Shredder Gauntlet, which launches serrated discs useful for tearing armor and components. She can also lay down traps and tripwires, and use the ropecaster to tether enemies to the ground, immobilizing them. Certain weapons in the game have different ammo types, allowing the player to inflict elemental damage on enemies. For instance, acid ammo may melt an opponent's armor, while shock ammo can stun enemies. Elemental damage can also be chained. For instance, purgewater arrows may result in a "drenched status" for a machine, making them more vulnerable to shock arrows and stopping them from unleashing elemental attacks of their own. The elemental status of a machine will gradually accumulate, and the machine will be significantly afflicted by that elemental status for a brief period of time once a meter is completely filled. The player can use Aloy's Focus, a wearable augmented reality device she collected during the events of the first game that gives her special perceptive abilities, to tag an enemy and scan them to identify their weaknesses. Aloy may also detach parts of the machines through her attacks, crippling a large amount of their health, removing their attack capabilities, and occasionally allowing her to use their own detached weapons against them.Aloy can also attack with her spear, and can now chain up her attacks with various types of combos. Stealth is also a viable tactic, as Aloy can hide in tall grass, distract unsuspecting enemies, and silently strike enemies without drawing attention. As the player progresses in the game and completes various quests, they earn more experience points. With sufficient XP, Aloy's health will increase, and skill points may be unlocked. Skill points can be spent on one of six skill trees targeting six different playstyles: Warrior, Trapper, Hunter, Survivor, Infiltrator, and Machine Master. By playing the game tactically, the player is granted additional combat points, ultimately enabling them to unleash "Valor Surge", a powerful special attack that inflicts a large amount of damage on enemies.
Exploration
Like its predecessor, Forbidden West is an open world video game. The game offers two modes of exploration: Guided mode highlights key items and locations of interest, while Explorer mode has a more minimalistic user interface, requiring the player to reach locations with the help of a compass. Fast travel points can be accessed after discovering campfires in the wild, while visiting shelters enables the player to change the time of day. The player will meet different non-playable characters and complete side quests for them. While conversing with other NPCs, the player can sometimes choose from one of three dialogue options, with each representing Aloy's tone and attitude towards a scenario or a character, though they will not affect the game's narrative. The player can identify locations of interest by ascending to the top of a Tallneck and overriding it. They can also venture into "cauldrons", which are often a series of platforming challenges culminating in a boss fight. There are a large assortment of side activities the player can complete in Forbidden West, including finding collectibles such as survey drones and ancient black boxes, clearing rebel camps and outposts, completing salvage contracts and timed hunting challenges, competing in fight pits against humans or machines, finding relics through solving environmental puzzles in ancient ruins, and participating in races riding overridden machines. At major settlements, the player can also play an in-game board game named "Machine Strike".Aloy is an agile character, and her Focus allows her to highlight climbable surfaces. As the player progresses, they will unlock the pullcaster, which can pull down obstacles. It also serves as a grappling hook, allowing the player to access difficult-to-reach areas. She will also unlock a diving mask, which enables underwater exploration, and a Shieldwing, which allows her to glide through the air, further aiding transversal. Completing cauldrons in the game allows the player to unlock "machine overrides", enabling them to tame certain machines and use them as mounts to travel great distances or turn them against other machines. A new feature is that Aloy can specify overridden machines to take offensive or defensive actions. As the player explores the world, they will also collect various resources, such as medicinal berries to restore Aloy's health and other crafting components necessary for expanding Aloy's inventory and upgrading weapons and outfits at workbenches. Both weapons and outfits are divided into different levels of rarity, with the rarer weapons providing stronger perks. Ingredients can also be brought to a village chef, who will cook a meal for Aloy to briefly improve her combat efficiency. While Aloy can only carry a limited amount of items in her inventory, extra items collected in the wilds will be directly transferred to a cache found in major outposts or settlements in the game. Accessing the cache allows Aloy to restock necessary items.
Synopsis
The game continues the story of Aloy, a young hunter of the Nora tribe and a clone of the Old World scientist Elisabet Sobeck. In the six months following the defeat of HADES, Aloy has been searching fruitlessly for a working backup of GAIA to restore the planet's rapidly degrading biosphere. After she discovers that her former associate Sylens did not destroy but instead stole HADES, he contacts Aloy and asks her to continue her search in the region known as the Forbidden West.Aloy and her friend Varl cross into the West to find the ruling Tenakth tribe amidst a civil war between Chief Hekarro and the rebel leader Regalla. Aloy tracks Sylens to a facility where she finds HADES badly damaged and permanently deletes it. She recovers a GAIA backup without its subsystems but is interrupted by a group of futuristic humans. The group, consisting of their leader Gerard Bieri, his lieutenant Tilda van der Meer, enforcer Erik Visser, and a clone of Sobeck named Beta, possesses advanced technology that renders them invulnerable. They take a second GAIA backup, while Aloy barely escapes, and passes out when Varl manages to find her.
Aloy awakens days later in the village of Plainsong, home to the Utaru tribe. Zo, a member of the Utaru, guides Aloy to a control center, where she rejoins GAIA with her subsystem, MINERVA. GAIA locates the other subsystems AETHER, DEMETER, and POSEIDON, and advises Aloy to retrieve them before attempting to capture the more advanced HEPHAESTUS. GAIA reveals that the extinction signal that triggered HADES and mutated the subsystems originated from the Sirius system; Aloy suspects that the futuristic humans sent it. She later tracks down Beta, who informs Aloy that her group is, in fact, Far Zenith, an organization of billionaire colonists who fled Earth during its global extinction, having managed to extend their natural lifespans. After their colony on Sirius collapsed, the Zeniths returned to Earth to use GAIA through Beta's genetic make-up for their own recolonization. At this point they have already acquired subsystems ELEUTHIA, ARTEMIS, and APOLLO, but Beta has stolen their GAIA backup.
Aloy recovers AETHER after helping Hekarro advance in the civil war, retrieves POSEIDON from the ruins of Las Vegas, and recovers DEMETER in San Francisco with the help of Alva, a member of the Quen, a seafaring tribe from foreign lands. Aloy and her companions then devise a plan to help GAIA trap HEPHAESTUS. Aloy, Varl and Beta manage to trap HEPHAESTUS in an inactive Cauldron, but are then attacked by the Zeniths. Erik kills Varl and recaptures Beta while Gerard steals GAIA, but Tilda double-crosses them and helps Aloy escape. Tilda explains that she was romantically involved with Elisabet Sobeck and regretted leaving her; having been inspired by Aloy, she wishes to stop Far Zenith. She further reveals that Sylens has been supporting the Tenakth rebels to use them against the Zeniths. Aloy refuses to sacrifice the Tenakth and instead defeats Regalla herself after thwarting the latter's final attack on Hekarro, forcing Sylens to reconvene with Aloy and help her formulate a new plan.
Aloy and her companions assault Far Zenith's base, while Beta releases HEPHAESTUS into the Zeniths' network, and it builds a near-endless amount of machines that tie down Far Zenith's army of drones. Aloy and her companions defeat and kill the Zeniths, including Erik and Gerard, but learn that their colony was destroyed by Nemesis, a failed mind uploading experiment they created. With Nemesis preparing to pursue them, the Zeniths fled to Earth, hoping to steal GAIA and colonize a new planet unknown to Nemesis. It sent the extinction signal to Earth to deny them that opportunity and it is en route to destroy the planet. Tilda tries to coerce Aloy into leaving Earth with her, but Aloy refuses and is forced to kill Tilda. Aloy's companions disperse to spread the warning of Nemesis while Aloy and Beta reactivate GAIA.