In “Horizon Forbidden West” we travel through a fantastic world with heroine Aloy. We are currently encountering a mysterious illness – and a surprisingly positive post-apocalypse.
Sequels often have a bad reputation. They don’t reach the radiance of the first part, fans miss something new and at the same time want more of the same material. And the expectations of sequels to good games are usually enormous – including “Horizon Forbidden West”.
Successor to the successful game
Horizon Zero Dawn was released for the Playstation 4 in 2017. Critics and fans celebrated the role-playing game. Like the sequel, it takes place 1000 years after our time: Civilization as we know it only exists in overgrown ruins or old documents.
The people of this post-apocalypse live together in tribal structures. And then there are gigantic, futuristic machines that are modeled on animals: towering “long necks”, raptor-like “guards” or the crocodile-like “snap-maw”.
The focus of both “Horizon” games is the red-haired protagonist Aloy. In the first part, she not only finds out where she comes from, but also how the post-apocalyptic world came about. She also fights a great danger and saves the world.
A mysterious disease is spreading
Horizon Forbidden West takes place about six months after Part One. There’s a new, huge problem here: a glowing red disease is affecting plants and animals. Everything points to it: a well-known culprit is behind it – actually one thought he had been defeated. Aloy takes it upon himself to solve this problem and sets out for the eponymous forbidden west.
After a linear opening phase of several hours, a huge, open world opens up in an overgrown North America. The journey takes Aloy to the west coast of what is now the United States, through the ruins of cities like San Francisco and Las Vegas. She travels through dense forests, over snowy mountains, tropical beaches and arid deserts.
This game world is so beautiful and varied that you often just stop and look around. The initial area of the game, overgrown with tropical plants, is already so atmospheric and full of movement and life. One can understand Aloy’s motivation: This world must be saved.
And the game world is not only visually full: the map quickly fills up with all sorts of symbols that stand for smaller or larger tasks in addition to the main mission. Defeat machines, meet new and old characters, find relics, arena battles, rebel camps, settlements and and and. There’s even a game within the game.
There’s really a lot in there
One could blame the game for having too much to do and being overwhelmed by abundance – but it’s better to have the game world too crowded than too empty. According to tests, the main story with a few side missions can be completed in about 35 hours. If you want to see everything, you can easily scratch the 100-hour mark.
Another highlight are the fights against machines. They are mostly very tactical. Aloy can focus opponents and analyze them for weaknesses. With bow and arrow, spear, slings, traps and other weapons, players can focus on these elements and cause a lot of damage.
In this way, you can also counteract certain abilities of your opponents: If a huge snake keeps hitting you with its electrifying tail, you can hit a critical spot there and end this attack pattern.
A grappling hook and skill trees
Aloy has new tools for her adventure in Horizon Forbidden West. With a grappling hook, she can clear obstacles out of her way or get to higher places. And she comes down from there with a paraglider. The protagonist can be adapted to your own play style via several skill trees. For example, with a focus on close combat, long-range combat or trapping.
So is this the sequel that lives up to expectations? To a large extent: yes.
In addition to the first part, “Horizon Forbidden West” uses all kinds of open-world action games such as “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild”, or the series “Assassin’s Creed” and “Far Cry”.
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There is also some criticism
There is little innovation for the genre – but the development studio Guerrilla Games brings everything together into an open-world game that is perfect in almost every facet. There is only criticism at a very high level: the controls are a bit complex and newcomers need some time to get used to it. Climbing is a bit too fiddly. And the story is exciting – but the big secret that was the origin of Aloy and the emergence of the game world in the first part is missing a bit.
And there are also the problems that are always attached to the genre: you quickly get distracted by side missions. Aloy says she needs to solve the big problem urgently, but if the players want it, she’ll still sit for hours in front of an exciting board game or collect ingredients for a stressed-out cook. And if you have longer breaks between your gaming sessions, the question quickly arises: “What did I want to do next?”
Optimism instead of decay and dystopia
At the same time, Horizon Forbidden West offers just that little bit more in the plethora of post-apocalyptic open-world games: an optimistic perspective on Earth after a catastrophic end of the world. It’s not a zombie or mutant infested hell, but a new start for an evolving humanity. And despite its dangers, you like to move through this world – at the side of a great, likeable, growing protagonist.
Horizon Forbidden West was released on February 18 for Playstation 4 and 5. It costs around 70 euros and is approved for ages 12 and up.