REVIEW -- 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 2017's 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 can explore the open world and complete quests using ranged and melee weapons against hostile machine creatures.

Horizon Forbidden West was released on February 18, 2022, for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Synopsis

Setting

Horizon Forbidden West continues the story of Aloy (Ashly Burch), a young hunter of the Nora tribe and a clone of the Old World scientist Elisabet Sobeck, as she leads a band of companions on a quest to the arcane frontier known as the Forbidden West to find the source of a mysterious plague that kills all it infects. On her journey across these uncharted lands, Aloy encounters new regions ravaged by massive storms and deadly machines, and conflicts with a tribe of nomadic raiders who have tamed the machines as war mounts. She discovers a vast array of environments and ecosystems, including lush valleys, dry deserts, snowy mountains, tropical beaches, ruined cities, and underwater settings.

Plot

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

In the six months following the defeat of HADES (Anthony Ingruber), Aloy has been searching fruitlessly for a working backup of GAIA (Lesley Ewen) to restore the planet's rapidly degrading biosphere. Sylens (Lance Reddick), having stolen HADES, contacts Aloy and asks her to continue her search in the Forbidden West region.

Aloy and her friend Varl (John Macmillan) cross into the west to find the ruling Tenakth tribe in the midst of a civil war between Chief Hekarro (Geno Segers) and the rebel leader Regalla (Angela Bassett). 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 (Dan Donohue), his lieutenant Tilda (Carrie-Anne Moss), enforcer Erik (Marc Kudisch) and accompanied by a clone of Sobeck named Beta (also voiced by Burch), possess advanced technology that renders them invulnerable. They take a second GAIA backup while Aloy barely escapes.

Zo (Erica Luttrell), a member of the nearby Utaru tribe, guides Aloy to a control center where she rejoins GAIA with her subsystem MINERVA (Morla Gorrondona). GAIA locates the other subsystems AETHER (Wil Coban), DEMETER (Sophie Simnett), and POSEIDON (also Donohue), and advises Aloy to retrieve them before attempting to capture the more advanced HEPHAESTUS (Stefan Ashton Frank). GAIA also reveals the extinction signal that triggered HADES originated from the Sirius system; Aloy suspects that it was sent by the futuristic humans. She later tracks down Beta, who informs Aloy that her group are in fact Far Zenith, 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. They have since acquired subsystems ELEUTHIA, ARTEMIS, and APOLLO, but Beta has stolen their GAIA backup.

Aloy recovers AETHER after helping Hekarro advance in the war and retrieves POSEIDON from the ruins of Las Vegas. Journeying to California, she encounters the Quen, a foreign tribe who are attempting to solve ecological crises in their homeland. Aloy helps tribe member Alva (Alison Jaye) with acquiring data, while recovering DEMETER. After obtaining a high level clearance from the tomb of a mutated Ted Faro (Lloyd Owen), Aloy uses GAIA to trap HEPHAESTUS, but is 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 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.

Aloy and her companions assault Far Zenith's base, while Beta releases HEPHAESTUS into the Zeniths' network and ties down Far Zenith's army. Sylens disables the Zeniths' personal defenses, allowing Aloy and Zo to kill Erik, while Tilda kills Gerard. Aloy and Beta learn that the Far Zenith colony was in fact destroyed by Nemesis, a failed mind-uploading experiment they created; the Zeniths fled from Nemesis and hoped to steal GAIA to colonize a new planet. Nemesis also sent the extinction signal to Earth, and is en route to destroy the planet. Tilda tries to force Aloy to abandon Earth with her, but Aloy refuses and is forced to kill Tilda. Sylens reveals that HADES told him about Nemesis, and also plans to escape Earth, but has a change of heart and decides to aid Aloy against Nemesis. Aloy's companions disperse to spread the warning of Nemesis, while Aloy and Beta reactivate GAIA.

The Verdict: 

I bought this game when it original released on February 18, 2022 which happened to fall in the same month where many gamers were swept up into the sensation that was From Software's Elden Ring earlier this year. I feel that I should take a moment to comment about the disparity between these two games that sparked gamers and developers to butt heads upon its arrival. 

Here comes Elden Ring, a new IP from a highly recognized publisher with high marks across the board. Elden Ring is a part of the "SoulsBorne" genre, in which depending who you ask is a niche genre that derived from the action/roleplaying game genre that is known for its challenging difficulty for players. On the opposite side of the coin, Ubisoft creates games for almost all entry of players to jump in and play. I'm not saying that newcomers can't enjoy it either as I haven't played the game, but I can emphasize where the frustration seeing Elden Ring's success is coming from as one of Ubisoft's developers, who are making games for players of all skill levels. Elden Ring's minimalist approach is like a slap to the face to those developers, whose consumers demand to have every nuance of the game explained and broken down for them for an easier and more enjoyable experience with their games. SoulsBorne fans don't want every naunce of their games explained for them nor laid out as if they are idiots. They (along with a lot of gamers in general) appreciate a more minimalist approach to in-game HUDs for video games. 

As for the Guerilla Games' developer who criticized the quest design for Elden Ring, I honestly don't have any say in either case as I haven't played Elden Ring to garner my own opinion on the matter, but I will say this much. A lot of these large, open-world games have a massive issue where they mark a destination on the map for where they want you to go (often by a non-linear approach) to take up that particular mission/quest or task at hand. The problem lines in where you really can't please everyone with this type of design as some players are going to want how to get to that destination in explicit detail while others will roam around aimlessly until they get there at some point by virtue of their own enjoyment. 

I have witnessed it since the release from the original Dark Souls that there is a sect of the gaming community that acts as if From Software cannot do no wrong and adamantly refuses that these games aren't for everyone, even getting hostile with other gamers who don't share their infatuation with these games. That sect of the gaming community has done nothing but negatively contribute to the increasingly hostile dude-bro, "git gud" toxic mindset that turns me away from a lot of these online communities. I don't need to have some imaginary dick-measuring contest with my fellow gamers just for bragging rights for finishing a game series that was designed from the ground up to intentionally frustrate and infuriate me at every opportunity. 

If Elden Ring is a great game, then by all means, I want my fellow gamers to enjoy it, but don't come at me for trying to enjoy this title or anything else I happen to enamored with as much as you are with that game. 

With that being said, let's proceed into this review properly at length below.

Narrative
*** SPOILER WARNING ***

If that whole situation where the developers didn't do themselves any favors in terms of criticizing Elden Ring's quest design, the original Horizon: Zero Dawn was already a pretty polarizing game for some, but this sequel kick things up a few notches with the story. Players thought things wouldn't get any crazier than the fall of humanity at the hands of machines that forced the entire planet to revert back to its primal roots, but boy did things go for a loop in this sequel. The most controversial reveal in this sequel was the decision to reveal that the section of humanity that escaped the planet were still alive by making themselves essentially immortal machines/human hybrids with their advanced technology. I thought this took the story into borderline Mass Effect territory in terms of science fiction, but I wasn't adverse to this direction of the story as details were pretty sparse as is in the original game. There had to be some of the "Old Ones" still alive and well or at least their ancestors who escaped on Far Zenith, so the fact that Aloy encounters them in this sequel makes perfect sense since someone (or something) sent the extinction signal to HADES in the first place to spark the events of the first game. 

In all seriousness though, this is a game with primitive people fighting advanced robotic dinosaurs (and other hostile mechanical animals) with a goddamn bow and arrow and spears. We're beyond the point of acting like this stuff is beyond the point of believability. 

The bigger sci-fi twist didn't bother me as I personally felt that this sequel didn't need to be dragged down by another war between tribes and/or rebels that dictated the flow of the plot in the original game. While I did enjoy the subplot between Regalla's rebels and the Tenakh, I never felt like that subplot overstayed its welcome. The rebels were more like a minor nuisance that had to be navigated and ultimately dealt with before Aloy could finally defeat Far Zenith for good. The ending of the game leaves the door open for Aloy and her friends to prepare for the next big apocalyptic threat to their planet and overall way of life, Nemesis, heading straight for Earth. I think this is going to make for an interesting place to start the third game in what I feel like should be a trilogy with Aloy on another race against time before Nemesis arrives. Humanity has to be reeducated with restored APOLLO database from Far Zenith, HEPHAESTUS has to be captured (again) from the Cauldron network he escaped back into, and Aloy's allies have to assemble some sort of countermeasures to defend themselves from Nemesis before it's too late. I just wish the game ended with some sort of tease to give us any idea where this crazy ride is going next. 

It's VERY easy to call Forbidden West's plot "woke" when the main plot and several side quests have LGBTQ+ subject manner. I honestly didn't find myself turned off to it as that culture deserves representation too in gaming culture just like everything else. To be honest, Elisabet Sobeck's sexual orientation was never brought up in the original game, so it was fair game for discussion here in this sequel. Much like Aloy, I had always pictured Elisabet to be an individual who was laser-focused on her work instead of thinking of settling down or having any sort of a relationship. That is why that I thought the reveal of her relationship of sorts with Far Zenith's Tilda was very intriguing. 

Tilda and Elisabet's conversation in one of the early audio files that you receive in the game sounds like two department heads arguing, but not like a spat between former lovers. Initially, Elisabet's alleged involvement with Tilda is intriguing to me mostly as it sounded more like mutual respect between intellectuals that Tilda mostly made in her head (or blown out of proportion) than how Elisabet felt. Let's not forget that we (as players) have to question how trustworthy was Tilda's story too. Tilda was saying a lot just to gain Aloy's trust in the final act of the game. It didn't pan out either as Aloy still didn't trust her completely as she had her own back-up plan if their final battle against Far Zenith since go as desired. Tilda ended up betraying Aloy in the end anyway, so that's a huge question mark on what could or could not be fully believed in terms of what Tilda was telling her. 

For me, I was under the impression that Tilda's affections were one-sided until I brushed up on my reading of this game's lore for the sake of this review. I can believe that Elisabet and Tilda had a serious romantic relationship, until their differing philosophies got in-between them when the Faro Plague started and Ted Faro's selfishness doomed the world. I think Elisabet felt betrayed after Tilda opted to escape the planet instead of contributing to save it like the wealth of brilliant minds attached to Project Zero Dawn, along with the fact that she was among those on Far Zenith who wanted to steal GAIA for their own after Tilda had already convinced her ex to give them a copy of the APOLLO database. In hindsight, I have to cut Tilda some slack. She's had over a thousand years to reflect on the regrets in her former life, hence why it could seem like her feelings for Elisabet are really one-sided on the surface to players playing this casually. She has watched herself and the rest of Far Zenith sacrifice their humanity in favor of becoming immortal as these machine/human hybrids, but she also has had time to question how much of her humanity truly remains after all of this time that passed. She can live forever, but I wouldn't be surprised if the notion stayed in her head that the last time that she was truly alive was back when she was with Elisabet. Simulations and holographic images that resemble memories of the past is one thing, but to truly live and experience those things are what life and better yet, living is really about. In that regard, I can believe that much from Tilda in terms of her stories to gain Aloy's trust. 

Building trust and loyalty is an overarching theme in this sequel as Aloy finds herself recruiting allies for this daunting quest like Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 2. Aloy wasn't initially open nor receptive to the idea of relying on others as adamant of carrying the heavy burden of this task on her shoulders, alone. Much to her own detriment, this mindset proves to be nearly fatal as Aloy comes close to losing her life at multiple occasions at the start of this adventure. The story goes out of its way to show the errors in Aloy's insistence in this mindset, only to educate her to open up and to trust others while accepting the fact that she can't do this alone. She's just as flawed as Elisabet Sobeck in that regard of being laser-focused at the task at hand to the point of being a martyr as long as lives are saved. 

The plot turns into a Mass Effect style chase of sorts in terms of recruiting allies and resources to aid in this "suicide mission" against the futuristic humans known as Far Zenith that want to obtain the back-up of GAIA and complete all of her subsystems that went rogue like HADES and HEPHAESTUS which have settled into the Forbidden West. This quest forces Aloy to trek into this dangerous new territory alone, much to her friends and allies back home dismay. Varl and Erend follow her anyway after refusing to see her face this new enemy alone after her triumph in their homelands at the end of the first game. 

Erend returns in Horizon Forbidden West as Aloy's tough guy friend who rather solve problems with brawn rather than his head. The irony of that statement is that he's an amazingly great Machine Strike player, so we can't paint him as a complete meathead. Aloy seems to be fond of him in some capacity after they bonded during the time where she assisted him in avenging his sister's death in Horizon Zero Dawn, so Erend doesn't hesitate to remind Aloy how much he appreciated her help and how much he wishes to repay that gesture. That's why he, much like Varl, refuses to allow Aloy to take on this heavy burden all on her own. Erend and Varl have a brotherly relationship that just reinforces their common ground to help Aloy wherever and however they can in this adventure. 

Varl returns in Horizon Forbidden West as Aloy's best friend who refuses to allow Aloy take on this massive responsibility all on her own. As a fellow Nora, he is one of the few characters in this game that understands what hurdles that Aloy had to overcome not just to prove herself to her own tribe, but to establish her own identity in this dangerous world. Varl is one of the only characters who realizes what a heavy toll Rost's demise affected Aloy. She has been powering through with a brave face throughout the events of Horizon Zero Dawn while never completely giving herself a moment to process his death and truly grieve. 

I have to admit that I had his death spoiled to me VERY early on by the same people who were trying to convince me that I was wasting my time playing this game in favor of Elden Ring at the time of release. Knowing that information ahead of time caused me to take every opportunity to engage with his character and see him and Aloy's interactions together. Early into the game, I thought him and Erend were positioned as two possible suitors for Aloy and in hindsight, I'm glad that they didn't go that route in this narrative. Varl is more like a big brother figure who wants nothing for the best for Aloy, whether her stubbornness at times likes it or not. He does everything in his power to aid Aloy in her quest and even loses his life protecting her and Beta from Far Zenith. His relationship with Zo makes for a lot of entertaining moments. I thought they have far better romantic chemistry between them from the moment they were first seen together in the story. 

In terms of Aloy's other allies that return from Horizon Zero Dawn, Sun King Avad, Petra, and Talanah return in Horizon Forbidden West. 

Sun King Avad appears in the opening moments of the game, giving his blessing(s) to Aloy on her new quest as he aims to continue restoring order in Meridian after the events of the first game. You can't blame the guy for still being not so subtle with his flirting with Aloy. I understand that Avad has his own duties in terms of ruling his kingdom, but it felt like a missed opportunity for him to send some support to Aloy's cause for the final battle in this game.

Petra returns to offer a few new quests in Chainscrape to help overthrow the local bully who has been bossing the workers around that town around. After that line of quests are completed, Aloy can still return to the town to join Petra for drinks. It's a shame that she doesn't get to join up with Aloy's team later in the game though. For her, I can understand in a sense as Petra is merely an inventor and not really known for her combat expertise. In terms of the inventors in Aloy's party by the end of the adventure, both Beta and Sylens fill that role. I should mention that Petra is one of the openly LGBTQ+ characters in this series who freely flirts with Aloy in both games. Ashley Birch, Aloy's voice actress, has stated that she felt that Petra was one of the few female characters that she could see Aloy have a romantic relationship with. 

Last but not least, my personal favorite character from Horizon Zero Dawn, Talanah, returns in Horizon Forbidden West for a rather lengthy line of side quests that takes her and Aloy across most of the Forbidden West. While I thought Talanah's questline was a fun, yet rather surprising ordeal to see her trek this far away home to follow her then-boyfriend/crush, I thought this sequel wasted her potential as a contributing force on Aloy's team of allies that she had cherrypicked throughout her adventures. Not involving Talanah in this fight seemed like a massive misstep for a narrative sense as it seemed like Aloy was gathering allies, Commander Shephard-style, from every tribe with the Carja being the one tribe that was painfully absent. Having a Sun Hawk on the same team with a Tenakth marshal would have made for some very interesting dialogue and interactions between Kotallo and Talanah. The excuse given in the story felt like a massive copout with Talanah mentioning that she had to return to her duties back home at the Hunting Lodge, but Erend was there and he is the Captain of the Vanguard. It felt like Talanah was being brushed aside without any thought put into contributing to the bigger scope of what was going on in this sequel. It was a massive missed opportunity as Talanah is a fan-favorite character for not just myself, but for a lot of players who were able to experience hunting Red Maw with her in Horizon Zero Dawn. One would think that Talanah would be at the top of the list of skilled, capable hunters/warriors that Aloy would trust to have her back in a battle like this against Far Zenith with so much at stake.

If I may add, I wouldn't mind seeing Talanah as a potential romantic interest for Aloy too given their interactions in this game. It seemed like there was something more there than respect between fellow female hunters/warriors and friends. I could easily buy into the possibility of Talanah being bisexual. 

Aloy makes some new friends and allies in this new adventure that join her team: Zo, Kotallo, and Alva. 

Zo is an Utaru Gravesinger that befriends Aloy and Varl. Zo and Varl quickly hit things off and become romantically attached. Zo gives Aloy's group a "mother-like" figure who fit that role better than GAIA in most occasions in terms of the group's overall relationship. Zo is a very spiritual individual by nature due to her upbringing but unlike the Utaru elders, she has an open mind about the truths of their world. The Utaru represent in this game what the Nora were in the original game in terms of religion being the root of a lot of problems due to individuals taking it out of context or to dangerous extremes, often to the detriment of their own tribe/race. Zo is an exception to her people's ways, seeing and interpreting the truths that are revealed to her by both Aloy and GAIA with an open mind. Zo never turns her back on her people's culture and religious beliefs, but uses her newfound knowledge to aid them in ways that she couldn't before, such as the side quests where she asks Aloy to assist her in restoring the machines that aid her people in harvesting the surrounding lands for food. 

Kotallo is a Tenakth marshal who Aloy earned his respect as a warrior in battle. Kotallo represents the battle-hardened warriors who have braved the Forbidden Wilds despite staring death in the eye on numerous occasions. After losing his arm in the events at the start of the game when Aloy first encounters Regalla and her rebels, Kotallo is adamant about proving his worth on the battlefield and doesn't consider his handicap a liability in the least. Aloy earns his respect and loyalty as a fellow hunter and capable warrior. His "loyalty mission" where he asks Aloy to assist him in gathering materials from Far Zenith's campsite to the follow-up side quest where he asks her to join him in testing out his new robotic arm were some of my favorite side quests in the game. 

Alva is part of a new tribe that is introduced in this game among the many in the Forbidden West that hail from across the seas, the Quen. If Horizon Forbidden West gets any downloadable content, I hope we get to explore the Quen's homeland in detail and learn as much about that tribe as this game spend on educating players about the tribes calling the Forbidden West home. I think there would be interesting interactions with that tribe in particular, especially how they see Elisabet Sobeck's clone (Aloy and Beta respectively) and Ted Faro as "saviors" of humanity in their culture. The Quen are rather selective about how much information that they allow their culture to absorb and to be made aware of, so I think the pending crisis with Nemesis heading straight to Earth will be highly problematic in terms of enlightening them about the truth of what is going on with their planet. I think the Quen would be a bigger problem in terms of preparing the world for its pending doom and/or resistance to Nemesis rather than sending Aloy and Alva more resources to aid them without being coerced to do otherwise, especially after their history of idolizing Ted Faro of all people. 

Out of Aloy's newest allies introduced in this game, Alva is one of the most intriguing additions. I could see Alva may be forced to make a dangerous choice in terms of having her family (or potentially her briefly mentioned girlfriend) back home in the Quen's homeland used for leverage. Let's not forget that the Quen were introduced in this game initially as antagonists to Aloy until she bumped into Alva in that laboratory. The Quen who are still residing back in their homeland could easily deem the information that Alva has accumulated with Aloy as far too dangerous for the rest of their society/culture to be exposed to and opt to eliminate Aloy from "tainting" Alva further. Alva has learned things during this adventure that could completely dismantle her society as she knows it. I seriously doubt the Quen would be open to having their entire way of life uprooted in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, the Quen are a topic that we don't get to spend as much time with as I would have liked in this game. 

Aloy insists on keeping her friends at arms' length for their own safety often at the cost of her own personal safety as she finds herself knocking on death's door time and time again during her journey. Varl gives Aloy one of the most powerful quotes in reference to this dilemma: “Look, allies—friends—can help.” 

It's not until Aloy meets Beta (another Sobeck clone) and rescues her from Far Zenith that she realizes that they aren't so different in that regard emotionally. Aloy and Beta bond over their shared experiences and Aloy promises her "sister" that she won't have to suffer alone anymore. 

Beta is another clone of Elisabet Sobeck that was raised and educated by the members of Far Zenith. In contrast to Aloy, she's timid and fearful of her masters, who treat her more of a prisoner than an individual. As a result, her upbringing has left her devoid of the confidence and any notions of defiance to her former masters. I found Beta's addition in this story was an intelligent means of conveying to the player that Aloy wasn't a Mary Sue of sorts since she inherited everything that made Elisabet Sobeck great due from her genetics. Beta is identical to Aloy on the genetic level and yet, they are completely different in terms of personality. Sobeck's confidence wasn't inherited. Aloy found that inner strength within herself due to her upbringing and allies/friends that she made throughout her life. Aloy shares her memories of her adoptive father, Rost, with Beta to show that despite being raised in a hostile environment, he gave her the strength and support that she needed early on in her life. He didn't treat her as a mere tool like the Far Zeniths did with Beta. He gave her the tools to survive with his training and upbringing and Aloy continues to use those skills to this day. It is what has been keeping her alive all of this time. 

One of the most powerful scenes between Beta and Aloy comes after Aloy shares her memories of Rost with her. Aloy lets Beta know that she's not "broken" or a defective clone since she lacks Sobeck's confidence; she merely on lacks the care and support that others have. That scene resonated with me as a lot of times in my life, I feint an air of confidence when in reality, I don't have any at all. I end up feeling mentally isolated, despite having a loving family and friends who care about me. I find myself wondering what is wrong with me or missing that is preventing me from being who I want to be or going where I want to go in life. What Aloy does afterwards brings her whole journey of pushing people away full circle. She offers Beta a choice to aid them on their deadly mission to hopefully stop Far Zenith or not. If Beta chooses to go, Aloy promises to protect her with her life. Aloy is supporting someone else after spending the entire game up to that point pushing people away and refusing to be responsible of their well-being, despite their good intentions of wanting to help her in turn. At the same time, Beta has someone to trust and confide in now with Aloy - someone who can support and care for her like Rost did for Aloy. Aloy's breakthrough here is her first step in healing from that loss and learning to trust and confide in others again. It's a massive risk, much like the dangerous mission that she is asking Beta to undertake, but it's one that they can do together. 

Sylens continues to operate from the shadows; this time manipulating Regalla and the Tenakth like he did with the Shadow Carja previously by providing these rebels with the means to override and mount machines. I was hoping for Sylens to have a bigger presence in this sequel after spending so much time off-screen or merely speaking to Aloy via their Focus devices, but he settles into essentially the same role that he had in the original game for the most part. By the end of the adventure, Aloy reluctantly recruits him too to side with her against Far Zenith, but by that point, I felt that we didn't get enough time with Sylens as what I have liked. This guy has been a master manipulator and puppet master behind the scenes in all of his shady dealings all in the pursuit of knowledge. It was really surprising to me that he didn't take the Zenith's ship and escaped the planet when he could during the game's ending. Maybe Aloy's heroic qualities have rubbed off on him more than he cares to admit. His methods are just a little more extreme than what Aloy would go for in terms of the ends justifying the means. Then again, Aloy is one of the few intellectuals who are able to challenge Sylens so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to believe that she has earned his respect in that regard in a world of savages and primitives. 

Gameplay

Horizon Forbidden West is an action role-playing game played from a third-person perspective. The player controls Aloy, a hunter in a world populated by dangerous, animalistic machines. In an open world, she explores the mysterious frontier known as the Forbidden West, a post-apocalyptic version of the Western United States, specifically the states of California, Nevada, and Utah. The map is larger than in the previous game. Exploration is improved with new underwater discoveries, and improvements to traversal using the Valor Surge system, freeform climbing, and tools such as the Shieldwing, Focus Scanner, Diving Mask, and Pullcaster. The mission structure for quests better supports variety in objectives with compelling reward systems.

Your Focus Scanner works as the same as it did in Horizon Zero Dawn, but there's an added twist to aid Aloy in combat. Players are now able to tag specific vital parts on enemy machines to highlight weak spots (for dealing massive amounts of damage once that part is destroyed or hit with elemental weaponry to trigger status ailments to disable them even further) or potential weapons or canisters that house valuable components for crafting and upgrading items. The Focus Scanner is a highly beneficial and pivotal tool in discovering what machines have the rare components and materials that Aloy needs to upgrade her equipment. I'm sure there will continue to be skeptics who consider this tool to be a crutch for players in the same vein as Detective Mode was in the Batman: Arkham games. 

The Shieldwing is Aloy's answer to Link's Paraglider in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. She acquires the tool early into this adventure from a rebel using it for defensive purposes, but Aloy reconfigures it to allow her to glide down safely from great heights that would instantly kill her otherwise. This tool allows Aloy to glide down safely from high cliffs/ledges and mountain tops while simultaneously positioning her for potential Death From Above stealth kill prompts. 

The Igniter is used to ignite and remove Firegleam from blocking passages and cavities. Players should be warned that the accompanying explosion that results from detonating Firegleam can damage Aloy and alert nearby enemies.  

The Vine Cutter is crafted from blueprints designed by the Old Ones. It is a module that deploys a code to dissolve Metal Flower vines. Once a Metal Flower has been split open, the module is inserted into the Flower's core, releasing an enzyme that dissolves the vines from within. Throughout the first portion of the game, Aloy will encounter paths that are blocked off by mysterious vines, forcing her to discover an alternative route or to return whenever she has acquired this special tool. 

The Diving Mask allows Aloy to explore underwater areas without having to worry about running out of air. There are several underwater caverns scattered throughout the game that house very rare materials and treasure that can be used for upgrading Aloy's equipment or for selling for shards. If I had any major complaint about the underwater sections of this game is that Aloy has absolutely no means to defend herself offensively. You can use smoke bombs underwater to conceal yourself or to give Aloy a small window to escape but it's by no means a surefire bet once spotted by marine-type machines.

The Pullcaster is mostly used for solving puzzles as it pulls away debris or drags objects into position for Aloy can interact with them easier or within her range to interact with further. Too bad there weren't any applications to use this tool in combat. 

Weapon Types

The selection of weapons mostly stays the same in Horizon Forbidden West outside of a few new additions, but I personally found myself sticking with mostly what worked for me the best (or out of sheer personal preference for my playstyle) since the original game: Spear, Hunter Bow, and Sharpshot Bow. Forbidden West definitely got me to adopt playing with the Blastsling (mostly for crowd control and dealing out a lot of elemental damage over a wide area quickly) a lot more in this game as that was something I didn't pick up until The Frozen Wilds DLC in the original game. I personally never saw the novelty around Warrior Bows outside of a few of the challenge trials in the Hunting Grounds optional content. Tripcasters felt like that were significantly weaker in this game in comparison to the previous game, but I could be wrong in that regard since I didn't devote Aloy's equipment and abilities entirely around them. I didn't rely on them as heavily as I did in the previous game outside of the opening hours of the game, but I did go out of my way to purchase and upgrade the rarer, more powerful versions late in the game. Ropecasters serve their purpose and that's all what they are good for in terms of immobilizing the large machine types and the more agile machines which allow players to be able to easily target their vitals and strip off components. I never used the Boltblaster enough to garner a solid opinion on them either way, but the Spike Thrower was definitely a welcome new addition in terms of dealing with the machines with large health pools. Sure, you might end up destroying precious components and losing some valuable loot/drops in the process, but in some of those encounters with larger machines where your primary objective is Aloy's survival above all else, you can't go wrong with relying on that weapon. Last but not least, I thought the Shredder Gauntlet was interesting enough on its own right, but I couldn't find enough uses for it to rely on the weapon heavily. It's a shame too as it has a very unique, yet rewarding playstyle. 

Crafting & Upgrading Equipment

In Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy can craft items and ammunition on the fly as long as she has the required materials in her inventory, just like she was able to do in Horizon Zero Dawn. She can also craft new weapons and upgrade her equipment via merchants and any workbench she comes across in the Forbidden West as long as she has the materials and machine components that are key to those specific upgrades. Retrieving key components can be tricky, because the components have to be knocked off before killing the machine, and if the machine dies first, the components will be destroyed. This creates a unique layer of depth to the gameplay where players aren't just trying to defeat machines just to destroy them. Instead, players have to approach each machine encounter differently depending on what key components that they wish to harvest from that machine by stripping off it's components before killing it dead. Unfortunately, Tear arrows are nowhere as potent as they were in Horizon Zero Dawn to trivialize stripping off components either. Players have to utilized a multitude of different weapons, especially with those of the elemental variety to make the most of this new layer of combat if they want to acquire the means to upgrade their equipment. 

This change is even more apparent in the endgame for Horizon Forbidden West as rare legendary weapons and armor have upgrades and even ammunition that this locked by requirements from key components that are only found from looting Apex machines. If players want to fully upgrade their legendary equipment then they will need to master taking down those machines systematically to make the most of those rare loot drops. I have a love/hate relationship with this approach to upgrading the legendary weapons and armor. On one hand, it forces players to continue to challenge themselves even though they have already conquered the wealth of the game's content by the time they are able to acquire these rare pieces of equipment, but on the other, it's as tedious as unlocking the sigils and crests for the Ultimate/Celestial weapons in Final Fantasy X. 

The Resonator Blast builds up from Aloy striking enemies with melee attacks. Once her spear glows blue to signify that it's fully charged, Aloy can energize that target, leaving a random portion of their body affected with bright blue energy. If Aloy hits that spot with her bow, it will explode and deal massive damage to the target and anything surrounding it. This is Aloy's go-to strategy for dealing with most enemies one-on-one or multiple foes all at once in melee combat. 

Learning the combos for Aloy to seamlessly transition from melee attacks to ranged with her bow to make the most of this ability takes a bit of practice, but that's mainly what the Melee Pits are for that are scattered around the open world. 

With these new additions to Aloy's close quarters combat skills, her offensive gameplay feels more rounded out than ever. 

Machine Types

Horizon Forbidden West has a grand total of 43 machine types, with 22 being brand new additions with the returning 21 machines from the  original game. If these weren't enough threats to worry about, some of these machines have elemental variants as well that can be regarded the same in terms of classifications and/or distinctions as sub-species variants in the Monster Hunter series. If that wasn't the only comparison to the Monster Hunter series, then players have to look forward to Apex (hunter-killer) variants of machines too that appear in unique conditions (mostly at night) throughout the game. Apex machines are the most dangerous variants of any machine type in the game, clearly identified by their black armor, with gold trim and purple markings. Monster Hunter series fans can easily compare these variants to Tempered and Arch-Tempered monsters from that series. 

To make a long story short, I felt that the game had great assortment of variety when it came to a lot of these encounters with the various machines throughout the game. The game never loss that sense of excitement, awe, and wonder when encountering a new machine type as players were always encouraged to approach these battles strategically no matter when or where you encountered them in the game. Spotting and targeting their vitals/weak points were one thing, but knowing how to systematically take these machines down not just effectively but to your benefit to get the most optimized components in terms of materials to loot from their remains for upgrading Aloy's equipment. For example, you might want to destroy one component to make that particular machine type to be easier to deal with in combat, but at the same time, you may risk missing out on a rare loot drop. 

I thought the combat AI for the machines was just as intelligent and amazing to behold whether they are in action or idle in their natural habitats and up to their routine behaviors. I can easily see why Capcom's Monster Hunter: World team approached Guerilla Games for some pointers on programming their own AI behaviors for their own game during its development. I thought the returning cast of enemy machines never missed a beat in terms of reminding players of why they were a threat in the previous game while offering a few new tricks to keep players on their toes. I thought Stalkers were a lot harder to deal with in this game than in Horizon: Zero Dawn with the same going for a few of the other returning machines, with my own encounters with Stormbirds, Longlegs, and Scorchers immediately filling me a sense of dread.

That being said, all of those (both old and new) encounters never felt unfair nor cheap, but demanded a much more cautious approach in comparison to a lot of other battles in the game. 

Optional Content (Side Quests, Errands, ACtivities, & Collectibles)

Side Quests & Errands

In Horizon Forbidden West, Side Quests are a key aspect and are more important than ever before. Not only are Side Quests handy for earning additional experience and skill points, but they also provide unique rewards such as powerful weapons and outfits that can either be given as rewards or obtained through obscure and well-hidden superior chests. Horizon Forbidden West includes 29 Side Quests that complement the Main Story Quests. Side quests are not as long as the Main Quests, but they are longer than Errands. Depending on the objectives, you can expect to spend about 45 minutes to an hour on a side quest. Most Side Quests will have you help someone in need and more often than not, you will have to fight some tough machines. 

Much like Side Quests, Errands are a key aspect of Horizon Forbidden West as they provide meaningful stories, XP and Skillpoints, as well as unique armor and weapons as rewards. Horizon Forbidden West includes 20 Errand Quests. Errands are given to you by people in need of assistance in a variety of tasks such as fetching items, finding people, or gathering resources. Most Errands are not as long as Side Quests, so expect to spend about 30 minutes to complete an Errand. Errands also do not reward as much experience and skill points as Side Quests, but you can still earn unique weapons, armor, and face paints.

Tallnecks

Tallnecks are a type of machine in Horizon Forbidden West. Aloy must find and scale them in order to unlock clouded sections of the Map, which also makes objective markers for that area appear.

Tallnecks still serve as Horizon's version of scaling a tower and scanning the surrounding environment to reveal more of the lay of the land to highlight significant locales and points of interest in the same vein as Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series. This time around these quests are a lot more interesting as I found myself looking forward to whatever "craziness" was going to be involved in discovering one and what would be required to scale them as none of these are as easy as they seem at first glance. 

Rebel Camps & Rebel Outposts

Rebel Camps are a type of side Activity in Horizon Forbidden West (not to be confused with Side Quests). They involve clearing out camps of Tenakth Rebels and their Leaders before they cause more trouble. 

Rebel Outposts are a type of side Activity in Horizon Forbidden West (not to be confused with Side Quests). They involve infiltrating a camp of Tenakth Rebels and wiping out their Leader. While they are very similar to Rebel Camps, they aren't as detailed.

This questline concludes with a final confrontation against the Sons of Prometheus' leader, Asera, who was the one of the rebels that Sylens contacted and provided resources to that supplied Regalla's forces with the means to override machines. 

I personally found all of the rebel camps and outposts a nice diversion to occupy some free time between main story quests. The camps were often quickly completed but some of the outposts could take as long as an hour to complete with so many enemies to defeat and dispose of. Asera's final challenge was quite the obstacle in its own right, even though you have Erend backing Aloy up on that side quest. 

Salvage Contracts

Salvage Contracts are possibly going to be one of the earliest side quests that most players will stumble across as soon as Aloy crosses into the Forbidden West. Aloy must complete a series of Contracts assigned to her and collect specific machine parts for Contractors. Once Aloy locates and completes all of these Contracts, she can obtain one of the rare legendary armor sets in the game. 

I always found the Salvage Contracts to be fun diversion to whatever I was tasked to do in the Main Story. They always involve sending Aloy to a secluded location to hunt specific machines, most of which are those that you don't stumble into normally. In that regard, it's highly beneficial to pursue these quests as you can obtain some rare loot and components for upgrading Aloy's equipment as well. It should be noted that each of the Contractors that assign these quests sell rare materials and components in their unique merchant shops. 

The Arena

The Arena is a side Activity (not to be confused with Side Quests or Errands) that you can do alongside Main Quests in Horizon Forbidden West. It involves a series of timed combat Challenges that Aloy can participate in for Arena Medals, which are exchanged for Very Rare and Legendary weapons, outfits, and Coils.

I'm not even going to sugar coat this, but I thought The Arena was the single worst addition in this game. In paper, it was a great idea for players looking to test their skills against some of the best enemies and a variety of different layouts of them of varying difficulty. It ends up being executed horribly though. 

Unfortunately, if you want to acquire the best weapons and armor in the game, then you're going to have to play through all of the ladders of increasing difficulty of the Arena to build up enough coins to spend on buying them. Let's not forget that some of these enemy layouts in these battle royals are some of the hardest enemy types in the game to deal with the preset load outs that you are given. The leaderboards are full of people taking advantage of the fact that you can change the difficulty settings in the Options in this section of the game and drop it down to the easiest setting to simply one shot everything you encounter in The Arena, but it doesn't alleviate how frustratingly annoying a lot of these enemy layouts are in general. I couldn't even imagine trying to complete these in any capacity via normal means without cheesing it with the previously mentioned exploit. 

Cauldrons

Cauldrons in Horizon Forbidden West are essentially mini-dungeons you need to discover and complete in order to unlock machine overrides. There are a total of four Cauldrons that can be discovered and completely optionally, but a fifth one (Cauldron: GEMINI) that is completed as part of the Main Story. 

My personal favorite Cauldron was the one that shows how Tallnecks are created and maintained by the Cauldron network. What seems like a wild goose chase throughout that Cauldron ends up being a two-in-one adventure where by the end of it, Aloy acquires more overrides AND a new Tallneck to uncover more of the world map. Players are going to want to seek out and complete all four of these Cauldrons if they want to be able to override and possibly mount every machine in the game. 

Gauntlet Runs

Gauntlet Runs are a type of side Activity in Horizon Forbidden West. They involve racing against Tenakth Rebels on Charger mounts for first place.

Gauntlet Runs are races scattered throughout the Forbidden West that require a mount. Aloy stumbles across the first one while traveling throughout the West but it is up to players to discover the other races on their journey throughout the game. You are allowed to attack other riders during the races, but Aloy is limited to using only her Hunter Bow and Spear as the only weapons allowed in this mode. Ammunition can be picked up during the race, Mario Kart-style along with bursts of speed for your mount. Each race has various stages of difficulty with the reward for completing them all is another weapon on the list of rare legendary weapons for Aloy to acquire. 

I personally found this to be entertaining for the first few times that you run into this sidequest/activity, but in all honesty, I grew bored with it and never really came back to again. 

Hunting Grounds

Hunting Grounds are a type of Side Activity in Horizon Forbidden West - not to be confused with Side Quests. Aloy must complete a series of Trials using combat techniques against various machines to win.

I found these activities to be rather hit or miss, especially the later ones that required specific weapon layouts to complete effectively and efficiently. Some of these have little to no margin for error, which makes a lot of the late game Hunting Grounds very frustrating. 

Melee Pits

Melee Pits are a type of Side Activity in Horizon Forbidden West - not to be confused with Side Quests. Aloy must complete a series of combat challenges using close-quarter fighting techniques to win before taking on the Pit Master. There are 15 Challenges across Melee Pits in the game, with some Challenges locked behind certain Skills in the Warrior Skill Tree. Each Melee Pit has a Pit Master that will give Aloy a medal upon completion. If she gets them all, the waypoint for The Enduring Side Quest will update.

The battle that unlocks against The Enduring is easily one of the best in the game and makes the game's late game battle with Regalla a cakewalk in comparison in my humble opinion. It definitely ranks as the best melee encounter in the entire game that I highly recommend players experience at least once. 

Melee Pits also provide Aloy the means to practice and hone her melee skills in general if players want to experiment with their expertise with integrating both melee combos and Resonator Blasts into their close-ranged skillsets effortlessly. 

Relic Ruins

Relic Ruins are a type of activity in Horizon Forbidden West, which tasks Aloy with puzzling her way in to earn collectibles called Ornaments, supply caches, XP, and skill points. These can then be handed in to someone located in The Stillsands to unlock a Legendary Weapon.

If Cauldrons weren't comparable enough to the optional tombs in the Square Enix Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, then Relic Ruins essentially take the cake in that regard. These are all combat free puzzles scattered within a confined space throughout the Forbidden West where Aloy must deduce the means to acquire a hidden artifact, an Ornament. 

Machine Strike

Machine Strike is a grid-based 1v1 tactics game played against NPCs. Each player builds a set of machine pieces that have different stats and abilities, as well as a point value that determines both how much room in your set they take up and how many victory points they are worth when killed. You then take turns moving two pieces each turn, and the first person to earn seven points by killing their opponent’s pieces wins the match.

As you progress through Horizon Forbidden West’s world, you’ll find more Strike opponents and better Strike pieces to bring into each match. The layout of the board and its different tiles will also change depending on the opponent you face, and taking advantage of the terrain can make a big difference in the set of pieces you choose to use and how you deploy them.

During my casual playthrough, I jokingly regarded this minigame as Horizon Forbidden West's answer to Final Fantasy VIII's Triple Triad game if it were laid out like a chess board. The game is interesting enough to pick up and to dabble with as a minor diversion in a game with a LOT of them to boot. It's easy to lose a few hours slaving away trying to just learn and figure out the basics of this minigame. Every major settlement/town has a player of note worth testing your skills against while Aloy can seek out various merchants throughout the game who can craft stronger and rarer pieces to make up her set. 

To be honest, I never invested too much time into this minigame to see any major significance to it. By the time you reach the end of the main story, just about every settlement has highly advanced players, so if you weren't taking the time to stock up your deck with a lot of powerful pieces then you're wasting your time trying to overcome those players. Even Erend in The Base has a pretty good Machine Strike set that took me several attempts to overcome before I was able to beat him regularly. 

Collectibles

Collectibles in Horizon Forbidden West come in six different flavors this time around. 

• Relic Ruin Ornaments

Relic Ruin Ornaments are the prizes for completing each of the Relic Ruins. They can be exchanged at Hidden Ember to change the display lights that show up over Las Vegas in the silhouettes in the sky. All of the displays pay tribute to various holidays and actually show up in-game automatically if you visit that location on those particular days throughout the year.  

• Vista Points

Vista Points are a unique puzzle-like Collectible in Horizon Forbidden West that requires two stages to complete. First, you must locate a Vista Point Tower to discover a clue, followed by finding the exact location where the clue lines up with the environment.

• Black Boxes

Black Boxes are a rare Collectible found inside air crash sites scattered throughout the Forbidden West, and can be traded in for Resource rewards at The Maw of the Arena in The Memorial Grove. 

• Signal Lenses

Signal Lenses are a Collectible only found in The Daunt, all of which are located at the top of the Carja watch towers. They're related to the Signals of the Sun Errand Quest, although you do not need to start it to begin collecting the Lenses.

• War Totems

War Totems are a rare and extremely hard-to-find Collectible that references another video game franchise (God of War). They're unique because they're the only Collectible not marked on the map, but they do still give a reward!

• Survey Drones

Survey Drones are little flying robot Collectibles that can be found scanning each biome of the Forbidden West, which Aloy can collect by jumping onto them to recover their data. She can then use this data to change the cosmetics of a room in the game.

New Game Plus, Transmog Options, & Other Cosmetic Options.

New Game+ is a game mode that becomes available after finishing Horizon Zero Dawn or Horizon Forbidden West on any difficulty. New Game+ carries all the experience, gear, modifications and skills that players obtained from their original playthrough, except for Shadow Stalwart outfits in the inventory and any modifications equipped to the Shadow Stalwart outfit(s). New Game+ also introduced two new trophies for Zero Dawn and three for Forbidden West. 

New Game+ is unlocked immediately following the completion of the final main quest, but is not started from the main menu. Instead, there will be a new Far Zenith device in the main area (see the image above) of the Base that can be used to create a new loadout and start New Game+. As in the first game, loadouts will contain a snapshot of Aloy's current inventory, skills, and pouch upgrades that will be loaded upon starting a New Game+.

When starting a New Game+, players will have the option of starting from the tutorial level Reach For The Stars or skipping directly to Aloy's arrival in the Daunt at the beginning of the main quest To The Brink. Should a player choose to repeat the tutorial, Aloy will only be equipped with a basic un-upgraded Hunting Bow and the Nora Anointed armor, and the New Game+ loadout will only be restored upon reaching the Daunt.

Similarly to the first game, overrides (except for Chargers and Sunwings) , results for Hunting Grounds, Gauntlet Runs, and the Arena, and quest items will not be carried over. However, special tools (Shieldwing, Igniter, Pullcaster, Vine Cutter, and the Diving Mask) do not need to be crafted again and can be used immediately (despite this, the tools still need to be crafted during the quests in which they were originally unlocked in order to advance those quests). While the Sunwing Mount Call can be seen in the tools menu, no Sunwings are available for override until Aloy reboots GAIA and unlocks the Base during the main quest The Eye of the Earth.

Like before, "ghost levels" which have no impact on gameplay allow Aloy to continue gaining experience even after reaching the level cap.

Unlike the previous game, scanned datapoints and machines from the previous playthrough are still accessible and readable through the menu, but remain grayed out until the datapoint or machine has been scanned again in the New Game+ playthrough.

New Game+ also introduces several new unique Legendary weapons that can be purchased from merchants with Champion's Tokens, which are earned through completing quests and activities in a New Game+ playthrough:

• All-Mother's Blessing (Tripcaster)

• Brawlbreaker (Boltblaster)

• Defiance (Spike Thrower)

• Iriv's Downfall (Sharpshot Bow)

• Legacy's Reach (Blast Sling)

• Rain of Sparks (Warrior Bow)

• Tears of the Land-God (Hunter Bow)

• The Final Chapter (Shredder Gauntlet)

Additionally, more face paints and dyes become available, which also cost Champion's Tokens.

Transmog and Changing Armor Appearance

After a post-launch free title update to the game, Horizon Forbidden West has allowed players to "Transmog" Aloy's outfits and change armor appearance by keeping the stats of one outfit but swap to the look of another outfit. Transmogrification (commonly referred to as transmog, tmog, xmog or simply mog) is a feature commonly associated with World of WarCraft that provides the ability to replace the appearance of your armor and weapons with those of other items, or to hide certain pieces of armor. As a Monster Hunter fan, I'm familiar with this feature being regarded as "layered armor" in that series, whereas armor treated in a similar manner. 

To make use of this feature, the first thing to do is to make sure you have the latest version of Horizon Forbidden West installed. If you don't, you might not have access to the transmog feature. Once that's sorted, follow these steps to mix and match Aloy's outfits:

First, open the Inventory menu by pressing the Touch Pad and cycling over with L1. Scroll down to Outfits and select it. All your currently owned outfits will be shown in a grid. Your currently equipped outfit is shown with a green tick in the upper right corner of its icon.

If you wish to apply a different outfit's appearance, scroll over to the desired outfit and press Triangle. An eye symbol will appear in the upper left corner of that outfit's icon, indicating that you have its look applied. You can change your outfit's look at any time.

The stats from the original outfit remain in place, but the look is changed.

Applying a different look means that the stats of your equipped outfit remain in place, but the appearance will change to your desired style.

As of this posting, I haven't tried this feature out myself, but I'm looking forward to giving it a shot down the road whenever I have a chance to revisit the game on New Game+.

Accessibility

The PlayStation Blog has a detailed article up that explains every nuance that is available to all players. I was blown away at the sheer amount of customizable settings to tailor this game to how you see fit, ranging from visual helpers (to signify what structures in the environment are climbable surfaces), various difficulty settings, to fine tuning the Dead Zones on the analog sticks for your DualShock controllers for increased precision for movement and aiming, and even assisted options for riding mounts and picking up and spotting loot in the environment. 

Players have more than enough means to enjoy this game anyway they see fit in terms of these customization option settings. 

Visuals & Performance

For the sake of this review, I am commenting on my experiences from playing through the game on the PlayStation 4. I bought the steelbook collector's edition of the game, so I'm willing to upgrade my copy of the game whenever I make the jump to PlayStation 5. 

After initially loading the game, the PlayStation 4 runs fine and looks great for the most part, despite your console sounding like an airplane taking off when first booting up the game and/or loading your save file into the open world. After that, there weren't any significant long load times outside of fast traveling or loading cutscenes throughout the story at random points on the game. I still find it amazing to see Guerilla's attention to intricate details on character models and minor details within the environment, such as blades of grass moving independently of each other or the fact that Aloy's hair and her weapons are NOT clipping through her body while she's moving around or standing still.

Speaking of Aloy's in-game character model, she boosts numerous improvements over her original model that can be seen in the renders above from the PlayStation 5 version of the game. There was a bit of a controversy concerning her appearance in this sequel after the initial reveal trailer for this game was released. Even I thought that Aloy's features looked "off" in that trailer, but I can pleasantly say that the end result looks great. We can't be too quick to judge something that is in development. Aloy is modeled after Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra despite her motion capture and voice is provided by Ashley Burch, so I was optimistic that the developers would have maintained the course in terms of retaining the same look for this sequel. 

More often than not, I found myself standing still and just soaking in the gorgeous environments in the open world and watching the various NPCs and machines act independently in their natural habitats. Simply put, this is a beautiful game to look at, even on last-generation hardware (PlayStation 4). This game makes the simplest of things, such as a gentle breeze flowing through the environment, look amazing. 

As a POC (person of color), I have to applaud Guerilla Games for their attention to detail for making all of their black NPCs and characters look distinct from each other. A lot of video games usually pick one way to depict black characters without any sort of variety, but Horizon Forbidden West made every black character stand out in some capacity (for better or worse in some cases). I thought this game did an excellent job with diversity as a whole in terms of representing multiple races, but with numerous sexual orientations too in the story. It's up for debate on whether or not the latter felt "forced" but I thought it was a breath of fresh air to see a video game recognize that the world is made up different kinds of people and that a work of fiction should reflect that if it is supposed to mirror reality in any capacity. 

Not to take any digs at other games, but the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI could take some notes in that regard in terms of their controversy concerning a lack of diversity in their world...

Closing Thoughts: Where Do We Go Next?

After this title's release, Sony has been rolling out news over the last few months about spin-offs in the Horizon universe. I thought I would share those in this portion of this review before I give my thoughts on where I think this series should go next. 

Color me surprised when I heard that Horizon Zero Dawn was getting a spin-off, but for the upcoming PlayStation VR2 no less, starring a new protagonist that's NOT Aloy. I will end up watching a Let's Play of it at least since I can't play those virtual reality games in any capacity without getting nauseous. 

There's even rumors floating around about Horizon getting a MMORPG and/or multiplayer spin-off too. 

Much like Horizon Call of the Mountain, I can see why Sony wants to expand onto this series with some spin-offs. There's so much going on in this world outside of just Aloy's core adventure and so much that would make for great television, especially the final moments of humanity as so many brave men and women make a last stand against the machines to buy more time while Elisabeth Sobeck and her team painstakingly put all of the Earth's remaining resources into Project Zero Dawn. Alternatively, I would love to see more of the dynamic between tribes and possibly the Red Raids portrayed in some sort of spin-off or television series in any capacity since it's referenced heavily in these games' lore. 

After seeing what Netflix has done with both live-action adaptations for Death Note and more recently, Cowboy Bebop, I can't say that I have high hopes for these live-action adaptations to be fruitful though. I'll keep my fingers crossed though. 

What would I want to see in the next Horizon sequel though? 

Obviously more Zo, Alva, and Kotallo since I grew to love these new allies as much as Aloy's friends in the first game. We have to get more of Talanah in the main story for the sequel since this game did her dirty for the most part. I wouldn't mind seeing Petra brought back into a bigger role in a sequel since she is an inventor of sorts. Imagine what she could do once she's introduced to GAIA and the wealth of knowledge in mechanics and crafting. Zo shouldn't be going anywhere since she has Varl's child to raise and to introduce to his mother back with the Nora. Seeing how the Nora adapted (or refused to do so) following the events of Zero Dawn would be great to see along with Sun King Avad rebuilding his kingdom after Aloy saved Meridian. I'm dying to see more of the Quen and what will be the consequences of the wealth of knowledge that Alva has been exposed to that her tribe will more likely want to revoke her access to. Let's not forget that the Quen are much more advanced than the other tribes that have been encountered so far, so we could end up seeing them as antagonists in a sequel. Since Sylens is working with Aloy now, he should be willing to share his backstory in-depth without keeping her in the dark about everything. I'm sure Lance Reddick wouldn't be opposed to portraying that story in live-action either since he already voice the character and performs his motion capture for these two games. Additionally, I wouldn't mind seeing Far Zenith's "evolution" in a flashback either - revealing their decisions to strip away their humanity and cheat death in favor of their cyborg, immortal bodies. 

Last but not least, I want to see how Beta continues to evolve as Aloy's sister into her own individual. Call me crazy, but I can see Aloy being a martyr at the end of this trilogy, sacrificing herself to protect Beta (along with everyone else) and leaving her to continue the fight. It would be eerily similar to Heavenly Sword's ending but I think Aloy would want to put everyone's safety above her own no matter the cost, just like Elisabeth Sobeck before her.