Horizon Forbidden West

Game's cover

About the Game

Horizon Forbidden West was developed by Guerilla Games, the Studio which worked on the first game,Horizon Zero Dawn and their original hit series Killzone which had atleast 5 different entries. The game was published from Sony as a Playstation exclusive. There are both Ps4 and Ps5 version of the game with the Ps4 version having a free upgrade for Ps5. The game was released in February 2022 and was so far ( Written in April (2022)) the game since to be praised alot, even though it was a bit shadowed by another Huge title Elden Ring. The was released in 3 forms (Same for both the Ps4 and Ps5) :
Standard
Included the game alone
Special Edition
Included the game, Steelbook case and an Artbook.
Collector's Edition
Included the game, a Steelbook case, an artbook, a Statue of both Alloy and a Tremortush (giant Mamouth Machine).

Story of the Game (Spoilers for Zero Dawn and minor Spoilers for the sequel Forbidden West((mainly the first part of the game )) )

The game takes place six (6) months after the final battle with Hades in Meridia. Alloy is out on her own, searching for a GAIA backup. GAIA is the AI left by the Original Earth Inhabitants as a result of the Zero Dawn program which is capable of giving life to the planet. GAIA is the reason as to why there is life on Earth, machines, water, animals xoygen ETC. To some, GAIA might be seen as a 'God' for this universe's Earth. At the end of the first game Horizon Zero Dawn, Gaia had to self destruct in order to prevent Hades from destroying life on Earth, knowing that Alloy would be able to restore her at some point. Ever since the battle in Meridian Alloy has been racing againts the clock in order to find a Gaia Backup to restore her because the planet is still degrading from Hades attack. According to Alloy she searched in every known facility left by the old ones and the that the one she is currently heading to is her final hope. The base belonged to Far Zenith, a space facility of the old ones. Varl, a friend of Alloy's was capable of tracking her down and joined her. To help him keep up Alloy gives Varl a FOCUS (a device left by the old ones whose tecknology is astonishing), to allow him see things the way she does. Turn out the facility was sabotaged long time ago by Ted Farro the same person who betrayed his colegues in Zero dawn and that the backup was not existed. Heartbroken Alloy accepts defeat as her last hope for a Gaia back up failed before her eyes. Varl suggest Alloy to find Sylens, a genius who helped her alot during the Zero dawn game. Sylens is a person capable of creating alot of stuff and knowing alot as for him knowledge was the key to everything. Alloy shuts the idea as Sylens hasnt make contact with her since their last encountered before the battle of Meridian. She can only talk to him if he calls her. WIth that being said they head back to Meridia where Alloy can see the aftermath of their battle. She was also informed how a red light came off the Sphere which used to contain Hades and ask for Alloy to explore with her third vision (They re unaware of her Focus).

When Alloy arrived at the spire, she used her focus in order to see what has happened. She discovered that the powerfull spear given to her to slay Hades by Sylens never intented to kill Hades but instead to weaken him and safely extract and sent him to Sylens (which was the cliff hanger of Zero Dawn). Sylens imidietly calls Alloy to talk to her. Alloy filled with hatred towards Sylens starts to aggressively talk to him as she felt betrayed by his actions. Sylens explains to her that once she calms down, she should visit him in the forbidden west in order to 'show' her what he found out during these six months. He also mentioned the two key words, GAIA Backup and how he believed he had found one. Alloy sets her new goal to visit the forbidden west which according to everyone is more difficult than what Alloy thinks, however there might be an option that will allow Alloy to move safely in the West.

Why is the west referring to as Forbidden West

According to the Carja(Human race), the west is filled with wild people who unlike the ones Alloy met, do not simply sit down and settle things with dialogue. Instead they prefer to raise their blades and spears in order to settle things. Furthermore, the west side does not trust the rest of the world because of the former Sun King (Carja king). The former Sun king was known moslty for the Red raids. The red raids were a series of attacks the Carja made againts other tribes. Their paths left nothing but paths filled with blood and fire. The Raids might have been paused since the new and current sun king, but the west never forgotten the aftermath of the red raids.

Alloy in the Forbidden West

Alloy and Varl, Who refusses to leave Alloy alone proceed to the west, however 10 steps prior to their entry they re met with representatives from three west tribes who were there to form some sort of piece with the Carja. Their converstations were cut short as Ragala,decided to stop the ritual. Ragala is an outcast from the west who seemed to own technology high enough to overwrite machines. After their machines killed the majority, Ragala's right hand man challenges Alloy to a 1 vs 1. Alloy succesfully defeated the savage, and thus Ragala spares them as she repsects the fact that Alloy defeated her enemy in a 1 vs 1. During the figh Varl got himself injured and Alloy proceeds alone in the west. Alloy succesfully locates the location of Sylens' laboratory where he experimented on Hades. Mentally breaking th Ai in order to gather various information. Tracking Sylens progress she finds the laboratoryand a very weak Hades. Sylens explains to her this is where he went the furthest as he could not access the last gate since he does not have Elisabet's (Hero Dawns leader/Gaia's creator) genes. He also believes that inside the door Alloy will find the Gaia Backup she desired. Alloy proceeds deep in the laboratory and in fact she finds that there were two Gaia backups still unharmed by the test of time, nevertheless they re both useless as they were ealry backups containning Gaia's basic algorythm without the subordinate functions. Her talk with Sylens was cut short as people with different technology came in with their own Elisabet copy known as Beta. Alloy was shocked that she was not the only Elisabet clone but she could not react as the strange people attacked her. Alloy's weapons could not harm them and thus she makes her escape by destroying th lab. Varl awakens her and explains how he found her passed out in a shore and how she was asleep for 2 days.

What follows

The adventure that follows has Alloy venturng around West to collect AI cores left by the original Gaia (when she self exploded) to import into the new backup. At the same time old and new friends join her adventure and they all get a FOCUS which allows them to understand alot about the world. Pretty much the rest of the party are all amazed as they get all the plot they player got within the Zero dawn Game. The strange people mentioned before, are the Zenith people who were people who lived during the old ones time and escape in space where they made themselves inmortal with technology. Their goal is to also get Gaia (for their own goal which i wont spoil.) Furthermore, Ragala is still moving around within forbidden west and so does Sylens. The first game was a battle for Meridia, this time , its about the whole world.

Alloy vs boss

Thoughs on the Story

Honestly the story of the game is very good, however, the plot of the game may not be as engaging and interesting as in Zero Dawn. In fact the majority of the community agree that the story of the game is it's weakest point in comparison to the elevation of the gameplay. To elaborate the game's story is not bad, however in comparisson to one it fails to bring the hype. This is different in comparisson to the first one, but is completely understandable as Zero dawn not only had a great battle, but also had a plot which allowed the players to witness the story of the old ones whilst at the same time getting to know Alloy, the world and the universe. The first game combined that interesting story, with plenty of jaw-dropping moments and an amazing cliff hunger. Forbidden west on the other hand, has a more simplistick plot with a few plot twist and a mediocre ending which works but for some reason doesn't build as much hype. In fact the pacing felt a bit off. The Zenith who re meant to be the game's main enemy do not build the hype as the majority of the 36 hrs, they 're not present. Ragala felt more of a threat when the game showed her than what the Zenith did. The entire plot to re establish GAIA was very good but the Zenith part felt mediocre at best. They appear ealry on in the game they dissappear from the main plot for a long time and they appear again in the last two chapters. Their threat exists only within the dialogues and not with their actions. The Story's strength in my opinion comes with the form of character development. All the side characters, old and new, have an amazing character development throughout the game. All their interactions shows how the older characters grew during these six months. At the same time, they re all given a focus that allows them to change their believes on what they thought was true while at the same time discovering about the old ones. Interactions can also be seen with them when interacting not with the player, but among them when the player moves in the same room as them. The new characters are also interesting as they all have their motives, they discover stuff that they didnt know about their tribes and believes and constantly evolving. Last but not least, unlike the first game's ending, the sequels feels unsatisfying with a cliff hanger that doesnt work as much. The first game not only satisfied the player with the battle but also shown Sylens preparing for something, which was teased through the main plot. Forbidden west's ends the battle which came out of nowhere and just tells the player theres more, which unlike Zero Dawns simply didnt work.

General Gameplay and abilities.

The Open World

picture of Alloy riding flying bird

Horizon forbidden west, follows a similar formula of its predecessor, but at the same time improving at almost all of elements and adding new mechanicks. Horizon is an open world action role playing game that focusses on Alloy. Being an open world means that the player will spent alot of time free lancing. The world of Horizon Forbidden West has alot of things for the player to discover, plenty of things to use and planty of creatures to hunt and avoid. First things first, the land is filled with plenty of materials that Alloy can pick up in order to craft weapons. Small sticks are necessary in order to craft Arrows. Flowers that are scattered around the world can be used in order to craft certain type of weapon (ice Arrows), certain type of potions, they can be sold in Markets in exchange of currency and last but certainly not least, the blue verries can be used for healling. Campfires are placed around the world and can be used as a checkpoint and to also save the game. Certain campfired are waiting points where they include Alloy's box to pick items, a woring bench to upgrade the gear and to sit down and allow for time to pass. New to the open world exploration, is the underwater gameplay. Alloy can now swim inside the oceans and discover different treassures hidden underwater, including new machines.

The open world is also inhabited by three different creatures:
Friendly Animals
These are normal animals that Alloy can hunt. Boars, Geese,fish,foxes roosters etc. The animals are easy to spot and easy to kill. When an animal is down, they dropped a few items such as their skin, bones and meat. All of the items can be used to craft armor, expand the size of Alloy's bags( for items, arrows etc). The items can also be used for crafting items and can also be sold to the NPCs. It is important to state that the wild life found in Forbidden west is way bigger than Zero dawn's.
Other people
While walking around Alloy might come across other people. If that happens, then it will be one of the two cases. Case one, these are in habitants of the tribes that support Alloy in which case they ll greet her and also joined her if there's any battle occuring. These are usually the guards walking around making sure their camp is safe. Case two, these are people from Enemy tribes or Ragala's men, in which case they ll attack Alloy in hopes of killing her. Random tribe members(from enemy sides) will attack each other and in the pressence of an enemy creature then the rules applying is free for all.
Machine Creatures
These are the creatures that scared off humanity. The machines represent plenty of animals such as Alligators, tauros, eagles and others. These machines are aggresive once they spot Alloy and they will try to eliminate her. Other machines scan the area and warn the others if the player is within their territory. A great addition to the game, is that now since Hades is gone, not all the machines are out for the kill unless they feel threatend. Certain machines may scout Alloy but run away instead of attacking her.
Theres alot more that the game's open world has however, the rest will be cover below under the Post game content.

Gameplay Alloy's Weapons

Alloy is a strong warrior who ventures arround fighting these machines. Alloy has powerfull spear that uses in close Combat. The spear is capable of knocking down machines, humans and machine parts. Alloy can use fast light attacks, but can also use slow heavy attacks. The spear given it was upgraded can also be used to overwrite machines. Unlike before, certain machines such as chargers can be overwritten from the start of the game as it was a key element in ZD's plot. Overwritting machines allows Alloy to ride them (if Ridable) and also allows the machine to fight alongside Alloy. Close combat has heavily improved which was a perosnal argument in Zero Dawn. The game added alot of combos that Alloy can use in order to be more powerfull. Furthermore, the more Alloy uses her spear it charges up. When charged up (represented in bright blue) a heavy blow will leave a charged mark, that Alloy will have to shoot in order for it to detonate. Moreover, the spear is now a great tool to use in both combat with machines and humans. Nevertheless, depsite of all the spear improvements, Alloy's best option when fighting, is still her Bow and arrows. The bow is mainly used to shoot enemies from the distance or even shoot the weak parts off the machines. Unlike the older review i wont be going through each of the bows, but instead their powers.
picture of Alloy's weapon wheel


First things first Alloy has close range bows. These bows as their name suggests are very good when in close combat as their damage is reduced in long range and will most likely miss their target. The close range bows are capable of reloading faster in order to shoot another one fast. Each Bow have their own unique arrows. When collecting an arrow it's important to notice which kind of elemental arrows they can shoot. Weapons are seperated in categories based on their color. To elaborate the rarest the weapon the higher their damage and the greater their arrow arsenal become. Typically a green and white weapon will have one or two types of ammo and blue/purple three. When approaching a machine,the player will most likely scan the enemy to reveal their elemental weakness and their weak parts. Striking a machine with their weakest elemnt will cause them greater damage and will eventually stunt the enemy. A stunt machine is more vonurable to mellee attacks. It is important that the player have arrows of all elements.

Another type of long range attacks are bombs thrown by slingshots. These are bombs that are either explossive or elementally charged. These bombs are very powerfull and are more effective than arrows when the goal is to fully charge a machine with the appropriate element. These bombs when shot will detonate and most likely stunt the enemy/ enemies to allow Alloy to approach them and use her spear. Unlike arrows, bombs require more crafting materials in order to craft.

Furthermore a powerfull weapon Alloy can use in her battles are crossbows. These bows are heavy weapons that can shoot multiple arrows and deal a significant ammount of damage. The crossbows charges and reloads slowly but allows Alloy to shoot plenty of Arrows based on the ammount of time the shoot button was pressed. These weapons during combat do not allow Alloy to roll away but instead she jumps away as the weapon is heavy. These weapons also have their own elemental ammo which can be devestating for machines.

The projectile weapon Alloy can obtain are Spear and bouncing bombs. Alloy is capable of Charging Explossive spears that she can then throw for them to explode. The spears deal alot of damage upon both impact and the explosion. Furthermore, there small bombs that Aloy can throw which can bounce and explode after a while. Both of these weapons are very powerfull with great range.

A Good hunter such as Alloy does not simply rely on her bows and spears, but also on her traps. Alloy is capable of scanning any enemy's path and set traps in order to deal great damage on them and potentially stunt them. Traps come in two forms. Traps that Alloy can set by kneeling down and setting them or by placing them with a unique type of bow. The ones set by Alloy are bombs that will detonate once the enemy steps on to them. There are bombs of all elements and various explosion levels. The greater the trap the bigger the impact. Bombs can be craft in a working bench and during the game by holding down the bomb and pressing the craft button. The remote ones, request the player to shoot down two anchor points that are connected with a wire. Once the enemy steps in between the anchor points then the bombs will explode. By doing certain quests these anchor points will be capable of creating a shield for Alloy. In terms of Passive weaponry Alloy carries smoke bombs that she can throw to create a huge smoke screen for her to either get away from the enemies or silent strike enemies or simply hit them. Silent strike and critical Strike are two attacks that Alloy can use when is undetected or when she knocks down an opponent. These are cinematic attacks that can help the player defeat Enemies faster.

New to forbidden West is the Valor Form and skill abilities. When the players level up or succesfully completing a side mission,main mission or a freelance task, they gain skill points that they can spent on the Skill Board. There are five different skill boards each of their own category and everyone with their own unique skill tree. This allows the players to spent their points in order to find their own unique playstyle. These categories are: Skill trees are necessary as they allow the player to constantly improve. All skill points can be spent in any of the trees as long as the skill wishing to gain is linked with an already owned one. Combinning skills from various trees are also worth experimenting as again it only works in the favor of the player. For example, increase stealth damage when Alloy is not detected and then increase spear damage for when she is detected. Each Skill tree has a Valor form that Alloy can access. Only one Valor can be access at a time. Valor forms give temporarilly boost on Alloy, whether is to increase her bow power, her spear or even turn invisible. When Alloy deals/ receives damage she gain valor points, that are represented as a bar in the bottom right corner. Skill trees have certain upgrades as t how often or how much faster Valor can refill.

Gameplay Exploration

pic of gameplay pic of map

Exploration has seen a big improvement as the wold it self became more open to the player to explore. Early in the game Alloy is given materials and crafts a Pull caster which is essentially a hook machine that Alloy can shoot in order to reach a higher ground. The pull caster can be used in mountain climbing, building climbing and even mounts. Furthermore ther are certain locations inside ruins, caves and others where the player can use the pullcaster to pull rocks/ items to break down the wall and reveal secret passages. Mountain climping has become more accessble as now the majority of the walls are climbable. In Zero dawn the player had to find yellow stripes in order to climb it but in Forbidden West a simple tap of the focus will reveal locations that Alloy can grab on, which is very handy and far superior than its predecessor. Once Alloy makes it beyond the Carja gate, she will obtain a glider that allows her to jump off high locations and glide her way down without receiving damage. Gliding is easy to handle, can glide the player far away and it feels so damm relaxing. Furthermore rocks with red crystal shards and vine flowers are two items that hide something within their room however in order to break them Alloy and the player will have to proceed with the story. One of the two is given relatively ealry where as the other one further in ths story. As mentioned a couple of times, underwater is a new addition to horizon Forbidden west. Early in the game, the player cannot explore the deep sea as much due to the fact that Alloy will run out of breath and die. Eventually the story will reward the player with the mask seen in the trailers and thats when the sea becomes open for the player to explore, old ruins, underwater caves, fallen planes/ships and others. This also allowed for locations to be accessible only by swimming underwater and getting from 'the back door'. Underwater movements feels smooth, however there are great dangers lurking in the water. Last but certainly not least is that the sky also becomes available to the player as now Alloy can overwrite machines capable of flying. Flying Machines can be found everywhere in the forbidden west but the developers also placed a nest near the heroes based so that if anything happens to one machine a new one can be obtain easily. Flying machines can take the player to locations fast and by avoiding the danger found in the lands. A thing worth mentionning is that the machine can pick Alloy from almost all the locations where they is no rooftop(inside buildings caves etc.). Upon calling the mount it will fly towards Alloy and pick her up. Furthermore when Alloy jumps off the machine, it will fly in circles above the player's location and Alloy can use her pullcaster in order to pull herself towards the mount. Honestly, Exploration in the game is so good.

Overall Gameplay

Overall the gameplay of Horizon Forbidden West is really fun and far more engaging than Zero Dawns. It allows the player to experiment with various gamestyles in order to formulate their own. Whether they want to approach the game stealthy or simply rely on their spear. The buttons respond to the player almost immidietly however the damage dealt depends on the enemy, whether or not they re humans or mahcines. Battling a human enemy is fun as there are plenty of new combos and mix abilities to use. On the other hand, fighting againts a machines is extremely good(which was something i personally did not enjoy in Zero dawn). The machines are harder to knock down but the spear combos and elemental arrows allows Alloy to be able to fight them and not simply dodge the entire titme. There are attacks that will one shot the player or bring them close to death but they do not feel "unfair what so ever". Shooting the enemies weakpoints is essential as they deal more damage and there's a change that a weapon may drop. The machines are relentless and they will jump on Alloy with the goal of eliminating her. Outside of Combat the game's world allows the Player to explore the world by climbing on top of mountains buildings and other. The movement feels fresh and smooth and the players skills are all good. New to the game and trust me adds alot is the vault. In Forbidden West Alloy can always gather supplies, whether its berries, sticks or materials form machnes once her inventory is full, the rest will automatically transfer to her vault which she can access in every village or campfires that act as rest points. Upgrading weapons and gear is essential as they can power up Alloy and have an impact during combat. Furthermore underwater exploration is very fun, however there is no underwater combat so the player should try to be as stealthy as they can or rush to the shore if they re spotted.

The Open World (collectables and Post game content)

Horizon's map
Horizon's type of cillectable
The world of Forbidden West is Massive and as mentioned before it is filled with 'Life', both wild one and machine one. At the same the map is filled with various of items that Alloy can use in order to craft weapons, potions and overall resources for her gear. To start things first, one important machine that Alloy has to find are the Tallnecks. Tallnecks are some of Horizon's iconic machines that look similar to a giraffe. The Tallnecks are scattered across the land and Alloy will have to find them, locate a place that the creature passes by and its close to it in order to jump onto them. They ll then have to climp all the way up to it's head and use their spear in order to overwrite it for it to reveal the map to the player. A revealed map will reveal the wild machines locations, merchants campfires and others.

Another location that Alloy will have to reach are the Bandit Camps. These camps are inhabitent by bad guys that Alloy will have to remove from the equation. These bases usually have alot of items that Alloy can use to either craft or enhance her weaponry. Defeating the inhabitants of the camp, will allow friendly people to return and inhabit the area.

Furthermore, Cauldrons make their return from Zero Dawn. Alloy can search around the world and find different caves. These caves have a core deep inside that Alloy can find in order to overwrite different machines, These caves are filled with plenty of aggresive machines.
Moreover, in the world there are flying drones that scan the area. Similar to tallnecks, Alloy will have to scan their path and locate the tallest area where she will be able to jump off and grap the drone. Once Alloy graps the drone, they ll both come closer to the ground based on the weight and Alloy can grap its USB. The USB can be placed in the base inside GAIA's room in order to change the rooms appearance with the one scanned by the drone.

One of the tribes visited by Alloy is inspired by holograms representing the brave 10 from the old ones. A certain NPC gathers black boxes containning recordings of their brave acts. If Alloy presents her with a recording she ll trade rare stuff for it.

Alot of collectables make their return from zero dawn such as the Vista points, Old ruins, audio text and files and plenty of others. Last but not least, the game has a decent ammount of post content.
The game has alot of Side quest from tribe members and members from Alloy's team. Each side quests have their own unique set of quests that Alloy will have to clear. Side quests can be accessed from the quest menus but also when Alloy is near a location that has a side activity near, Alloy will mentioned it so that the player is awared. Side quests reward the player with EXP, skill points and potentially great armor/weapons. Trainning grounds can also be found where Alloy can test her spear/bow and stealth kills. Moreover there are certain individuals who solve their problems with races. These people have their ow charges and place different arrows in order to sabotage the other. Think of it as minigame similar to kart racing. Last but not least a new type of side activity is a minigame similar to chess. Alloy can obtain small figurines in order to play againts various opponents.

Overall

The Game is fantastick and far more superior from its predecessor. The game definetely had alot of work done to get to the result they have. The cutscenes look amazing and the ingame graphicks are really good. The audio is fantastick and hits very different when an 'amazonish theme' plays in the background. The story is honestly very good with amazing characters, character development and realism to their feelings. I spent plenty of time listenning to how certain heroes interact through out the story and especially during the events of Hephastus. Everytime Alloy Interacts with the heores locate in the base we get to know alot about their characters. Small details like making Zo be a Vegetarian adds so much like Errend and Varl be 100% againts it. The heroes gainning Focus allowed for clever interactions with everyone. There is not as much of mystery surrounding the story but as mentioned for the game it works. The gameplay escorting the game is really fun that makes use of all of Alloy's weapons. The world of the game is very interesting and has alot of things to do for anyone who wishes to explore more the universe and the characters. The game's questionable ending set the stage for an upcomming expansion to the universe, however whether or not its going to be a DLC or a third installment it's to be announced.

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