Horizon: Forbidden West – Review
Our Score 10/10
Horizon: Forbidden West is probably one of the most anticipated sequels right now. The reason for that is simple. Guerrilla Games knocked it out of the park with Zero Dawn. And PlayStation exclusives tend to be incredible experiences that can’t be found anywhere else. So is Aloy’s return as good as it seems or was the original game just a fluke? Well, let’s take a look at Forbidden West to answer that question.
Join Aloy as she braves the Forbidden West – a majestic but dangerous frontier that conceals mysterious new threats.
A New Dawn
Horizon: Forbidden West is a direct sequel to Zero Dawn. There are tons of cool plot lines and story elements so we’ll keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. To start us off, playing the original game is highly recommended. Firstly because its a fantastic game and should be experienced. Secondly, because there’s a lot that we learn about the world and about Aloy in that game which comes into play here. Now if you perchance want to jump right into Forbidden West I can understand why, but I would recommend watching a good comprehensive lore and story video to catch up.
As the name suggests, Aloy decides to see what’s in the Forbidden West. Having heard about it in Zero Dawn and having broken many rules and restrictions that have been holding humans back, Aloy isn’t afraid to seek the unknown.
The land is deteriorating. The scattered remnants of humanity are being ravaged by vicious storms and an uncontrollable scourge, while dangerous new machines prowl their borders. Nobody knows why life on Earth is on the verge of extinction again.
It’s up to Aloy to figure out what’s driving these threats and bring the world back into equilibrium. Along the way, she’ll have to reunite with old allies, form alliances with warring new factions, and piece together the ancient past’s legacy – all while trying to remain one step ahead of a seemingly unbeatable new foe.
One thing that I feel deserves a special mention here are the side quests. Sidequests in Zero Dawn were alright at best. There were a few good ones but in the grand scheme of things, they were quite average and forgettable. On the other hand, the side quests in Forbidden West are marvelous. That feeling of world building and the intricate stories that games like Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 tell in their side missions are very hard to find. But not in Forbidden West. The sheer caliber of these side missions are incredible and you will very easily find yourself spending a lot of doing them because of how enjoyable they are.
Over the Horizon
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a gorgeous game. Especially so if you’ve been playing it on PC and get to enjoy it with all the bells and whistles. So I thought to myself about how Forbidden West would look better. The game was already so picturesque and gorgeous. How do you up the ante, especially for a new generation of consoles. Well, the answer to that question is polish and details. The amount of work that has gone into every single detail is astounding frankly.
The Forbidden West is breathtaking. And some of the biomes that are in the game will absolutely blow you away. Not to mention all the new creatures that you’ll encounter who look even more intricate and detailed. My biggest complaint for the visuals of Zero Dawn would be that the animations aren’t the best, especially in cutscenes. That isn’t the case in Forbidden West. It is a massive improvement here. And that’s not the only improvement. The lighting is even better now. The particle effects and depth of field are phenomenal. When playing on a large OLED TV with HDR, I was stopping so frequently to just take in the environment and world.
And that’s the beauty of Forbidden West. It immediately sucks you into its world and immerses you so thoroughly that you don’t want to stop playing.
Final Verdict
Horizon: Forbidden West is a console seller. It is Game of the Year material. It is an incredible videogame that gave me immense joy to play from start to finish. Yes this game isn’t perfect and has a few issues here but in my opinion, they are completely overshadowed by what this game does not just good but great. In my opinion, this game is a must-play and is one of my favourite videogames in a long time