Horizon Forbidden West is one of the biggest game releases of 2022. Author Irina Moritz from MeinMMO has also been looking forward to the game for a long time and was able to enjoy it early thanks to a review code. It’s great, but she finds one thing really annoying about the open-world title.
This is Horizon Forbidden West: The sequel to the acclaimed open-world game Horizon Zero Dawn continues the story of the outcast Nora hunter, Aloy. In a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by primitive human tribes and wondrous machines in animal form, she seeks answers to her many questions.
After a crisis threatened the entire world in the first game and was eliminated by Aloy’s efforts, new problems arise in Forbidden West. The planet’s ecosystem is collapsing, a plague is killing animals and plants, hunger looms, and only the Nora hunter can stop it. At least, that’s what she believes.
Just like its predecessor, Horizon Forbidden West is a third-person action game set in an open world. As Aloy, you traverse the land, uncovering its secrets or helping the inhabitants with their problems.
In doing so, you primarily utilize your Focus, an extremely advanced mini-computer that provides you with environmental analyses. You also have a spear, various types of bows and slings, and a vast array of projectiles, such as arrows, bolts, and grenades to survive in the harsh wilderness.
Aloy must defend herself not only against the crazed machines but also against greedy and vengeful humans who stand in her way.
Horizon Zero Dawn with numerous upgrades
Right from the first hours of playing, it quickly became clear to me that Forbidden West is basically a better version of Horizon Zero Dawn. Almost all aspects of the game return and have received an upgrade. They feel more rounded in one way or another, with the graphics being the first thing that stands out.
Horizon Forbidden West is simply stunning. While playing, I often found myself stopping at times just to admire the surroundings. The world feels alive, gleaming with many details and lush vegetation.
It is definitely noticeable that it is a cross-gen title, especially with water animations. But thanks to the PS5 hardware, the developers were still able to extract a lot from the game.
By far, the most impressive are the characters. In addition to facial animations, which are significantly better than in the predecessor, I was especially struck by the body language.
In Forbidden West, it not only serves to ensure that NPCs do not just stand stiffly in cut scenes, but it also emphasizes their personality. An excited character gestures wildly, while a reserved one might repeatedly look down or fidget with her skirt.
This improvement also directly affects the game’s story, which revolves around the secrets of the old world of Horizon again. It feels more immersive and the involved NPCs are much livelier thanks to their quirks. This applies not only to main characters but also to small side NPCs that you encounter in just one quest.
Many games nowadays often promise a “living world.” With Horizon Forbidden West, I felt for the first time that it truly applied.
The hunt for machines is the highlight
Even on the gameplay level, Forbidden West features numerous upgrades compared to its predecessor. The combat system has been expanded with six new skill trees focusing on melee and ranged combat, traps, stealth, healing, and machines. This allows you to customize your play style, especially at the beginning, as you prefer.
The heart and soul of Horizon’s gameplay are the machines, and their upgrades were by far my favorites. There are over 40 different types of these enemies, including both old favorites (and hated machines) as well as fresh designs. The hunt for crafting parts for my ammunition and traps was already a lot of fun in the predecessor.
Forbidden West offers more variety in terms of the body parts that can be shot off, and especially in loot. Many items are extremely rare. Horns, fangs, tails, wings, and many other items can only be obtained if they are shot off in the heat of battle while the machine is still alive. Because they break immediately after death.
The machines now leave behind many more unique parts 
There are a total of 6 skill trees 
Machines are still glowing piñatas full of gifts and death 
You need to keep an eye out for such hidden caves
It may not reach the level of Monster Hunter games, but it felt like a clear improvement to me. These parts can also be used for more than just ammunition. Weapons and armor are now more diverse and come with multiple upgrade stages.
They are also more situational, and I often had to change my equipment in combat to adapt to the opponents. The differences are very noticeable.
While all the praise and improvements should be acknowledged, it must be said that Horizon Forbidden West does not reinvent the wheel. It is an open-world game as it is written in the book, and those looking for radical innovations in the genre will be disappointed.
- You still have your typical huge maps, crammed with collectible items.
- There are towers that reveal the map when you climb them.
- Many enemy camps that you need to clear solo.
There is enough content to keep players engaged for over 150 hours, especially if they want to complete all the quests and collect all the items.
Therefore, players who enjoy open-world games will definitely feel at home with Horizon Forbidden West and will spend a lot of time in the game.
A detailed review of the game and all its features can be found with our colleagues at GamePro:
“I have to take the ladder here and then rappel down over there”
While I had a lot of fun with Horizon Forbidden West, there was one thing that really got on my nerves: Aloy just can’t keep her mouth shut in this game.
Her self-talk was already frequent in the first part. She mentioned:
- About the weather
- About the loot she has gathered
- About the state of her inventory or her clothes
- About the alertness of machines and human foes, etc.
But her comments were not as intrusive and especially not as spoilerish as they are now in Forbidden West.
Aloy tends to give away too often and too gladly solutions to various puzzles or offers tips that were not asked for. As someone who likes to take their time to explore the new environment properly, I found this constant chatter really annoying.
Forbidden West places even more emphasis on climbing puzzles than the predecessor. You enter a ruin or a machine factory and must find a way to the goal that is blocked by huge moving arms or time-sensitive jumps.
But as soon as I set foot in the new room, Aloy immediately told me where to go next. And it was really annoying. In most cases, I didn’t even have enough time to pan my camera once, before she immediately said:
“I guess I need to find a way towards X. It should work if I stand on the box over there and climb the wall.” or “I should use the glider to get to the other side!”
Yeah, damn it! I would have never thought of that, Aloy! And while these verbal assists don’t occur with every single puzzle, they are frequent enough that they really stood out to me.
During one quest, I was even told the entire procedure with which I could tie down a Longleg before I even got close to the devices.
It feels like the developers have a panicked fear that the player might get stuck for even a second somewhere.
Don’t get me wrong: I don’t see accessibility as something bad. It’s great that older people with slow reflexes or new gamers can also enjoy the game. But I want the choice to have these assists or not.
Horizon Forbidden West has great accessibility features. You can hide various supports such as pathfinding or icon displays in the world to explore more on your own. What you can’t turn off are Aloy’s self-talks, and that’s frustrating.
The only alternative would be to mute the voices completely, which would also be a shame given the great voice acting.
A shutdown feature wouldn’t even be necessary. It would suffice for me if these hints came with a time delay.
I just want 10 minutes to properly explore the new room or camp. The Focus already provides tons of hints for pathfinding and quest-related items. If after 10-15 minutes I’m still confusedly running in circles, then Aloy can start enlightening me with her wisdom.
But fortunately, I’ll still have plenty of opportunities to bash my head against a game. At the end of February, Elden Ring will be released, which will be just as merciless as other FromSoftware games.
My colleague Tarek Zehrer has already had the chance to play it:
