It wasn’t very interesting to me how the main character in Horizon: Forbidden West was named Aloy. Because she seems serious and far away, I don’t like her very much, and I believe she is the least interesting person in the group. While Horizon’s world is interesting, the story takes some strange turns near the end that are hard to understand.
I didn’t really care about the story or characters, but that’s not why I play video games in the first place. I had a great time hunting, exploring, making things, and fighting for 64 hours over two weeks, and I would do it all again.
The story of Horizon: Forbidden West begins six months after the end of Horizon: Zero Dawn. Aloy leaves her friends behind and heads west to find the hints she needs to save the world. One of the coolest things about Forbidden West is the world. It’s what drew me in right away.
The way it’s all the same is interesting. You could begin at any point at the bottom of a sandy valley and walk up until you reach the top of a snowy mountain. After that, you might go back down and find yourself in a jungle swamp. For me, this was the best way to spend time in-game.
I was glad to make my own game because the story wasn’t very good. I always wondered what was up there when I looked up at a rock or a high ridge. In between my climbs, I had to do platforming jobs and side quests where I had to save some travelers from a group of machines. Then, when I reached the peak, I’d take many pictures while the skybox looked so beautiful it made me cry.
After that, I would fly down on Aloy’s paraglider (or shieldwing) and take even more pictures because this game is so damn pretty. Something about me makes me love the sky. It makes me sad just to look at clouds, whether they are real or not. The skyboxes in Horizon: Forbidden West are some of the best I need ever seen.
Table of Contents
Get the Power Back
Once more, Aloy has a job that needs to be done quickly and mysteriously. A big part of the riddle is also the characters, since many of them don’t know if they are friends or enemies. I didn’t know how Aloy’s story would end until it was over. It has so many changes and twists. It takes a while to get there. Even though I played slowly and finished a lot of side tasks, it took me about 32 hours to finish the game.
Guerrilla has learned that it’s important to make a world and tell a story that makes sense at the same time this time. Horizon Zero Dawn tried to deal with some big, ambitious ideas, but it wasn’t always successful because it relied too much on audio and text files found in labs and offices that were empty.
However, now that the background is clear, Forbidden West can safely skip over the deep exposition holes that Zero Dawn sometimes had. It can also (mostly) skip over long information dumps in favor of a more beautifully told story. Not many audio logs have been lost, but the ones that have been found are much better now.
More importantly, all the important parts of the story are now told through fun sequences that have just the right amount of character-based drama without going on for too long. But the good parts of the story are much more interesting than the bad ones. The show is better when it’s about the battles between people and the government in the Forbidden West, not when it’s about random holograms.
A boy named Aloy finds a dangerous new world in Horizon Zero Dawn. Forbidden West is about a new world that finds out how scary Aloy really is. Because of what happened in Zero Dawn, she is now a live legend that some people worship and others fear.
The fighting between groups in the present day is making things very tense in the background. There are great times to be had in this setting. There are also some great tasks. One that stands out is about an engineer who is silly but likable and wants to carry on his grandfather’s brave work. In this case, Aloy’s goal and the lives of other people come together to make something truly memorable.
Characters
The characters are fun to work with, and the story is well-written. I cared a lot about what happened to these people so soon after meeting them. That’s a good thing about the writers. Not only does the script read well, but so do the actors who play the parts. No one feels out of place, and even the minor roles are played well. That’s hard to do when you think about how many new people you’ll meet at the game.
Because Forbidden West cares a lot more about the world and the people around Aloy than Zero Dawn did, this could be the case. From the start, it’s clear that Aloy needs to learn how to let other people handle some of the stress she puts on herself. Characters who help you out are great at keeping you company.
Varl is an old Nora friend of Aloy’s who has been with you from the start. He is great at making you feel good and brings out the best in Aloy. You spent a lot of time by yourself in Zero Dawn, so this is a nice change.
Get to Know Your Enemy
In the beginning of a fight, it’s best to be sneaky and wait in tall grass to strike without being seen. This is because being surrounded is likely to get you into the most trouble. When there are a lot of them, even the less dangerous machines, like Skydrifters that dart and Scrappers that pounce, are dangerous.
They’ll keep striking if nothing is done. Never before has “attack is the best form of defense” been more true. And just like in Zero Dawn, these enemies have weak spots on their bodies that let you change how they fight to fit your needs.
Conclusion
Aloy’s most important weapon is still the bow and arrow, which can be made in a lot of different ways. You need to switch up your weapon wheel to get all the different types of chemical damage you need. The next step is to get good enough at hitting moving objects quickly. I enjoy archery action games, but there’s nothing better than firing arrow after arrow into a metal threat’s glowing weak spot.
Plus, DualSense on the PS5 works great with this too. Before the recoil goes through your controller, you can feel the bowstring get tighter on your trigger finger. They are all very well made and bring a different set of party tricks to the West. The Widemaw is a hazardous animal at first. It looks like a hippos and sucks you in with its vacuum mouth before spitting boulders at you.
It feels better as you get stronger to be able to one-shot one with a well-placed bullet between its metal teeth. Things are really cool about how fast and strong the tools are moving. They will charge at you quickly, though, so you won’t have much time to look around. But if you slow down for a second, you can see how each gear works inside their open lips before you have to run away from death.
