This Horizon Forbidden West review contains minor spoilers.
Horizon Zero Dawn was a breakout success for Guerrilla Games in 2017. Despite a seriously “out there” concept, it captured the minds of fans and established itself as one of PlayStation’s must-play exclusives. Now, five years later, Guerrilla have blessed us with a sequel – Horizon Forbidden West – and it improves on the original in every way. It isn’t without a few minor faults. But its breathtakingly gorgeous world is captivating. And this sequel is yet another essential experience on PlayStation 5.
Horizon Forbidden West Review – Story
Horizon Forbidden West picks up a mere six months after the end of the first game and the Battle of Meridian. Aloy is in search of a backup of the GAIA AI to help restore Earth’s collapsing biosphere. She soon learns that old ally Sylens was hiding an ulterior motive and stole malicious AI HADES from under her nose. In her pursuit of Sylens and the knowledge he has acquired from HADES, Aloy heads into the dangerous Forbidden West.
Without crossing too far into spoiler territory, Forbidden West‘s plot is much the same as Zero Dawn‘s. It’s full of sentient AIs, warring tribes and ancient tech companies. If you didn’t enjoy that stuff about the first game, it only gets deeper and more complex in Forbidden West. I never thought I’d see a game that goes harder on sentient AIs than Metal Gear Solid 4 – but here we are. For the most part, though, it works. And the Horizon universe remains one of my favourite takes on a post-apocalyptic setting.
In Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy comes up against a returning colony of humans who fled Earth for the Sirius star system over a millennia ago in the wake of the machine apocalypse. At first, the “Far Zeniths” are mysterious and compelling, and I was excited to see where things were heading. Unfortunately, Guerrilla could’ve gone further with them and they never really live up to their potential. The Zeniths are an interesting concept but they devolve into a disappointingly generic villainous stereotype.
Horizon Forbidden West does, however, flourish thanks to its cast of likeable characters and marvellously diverse tribes. Aloy’s companions all have their own backstories and dedicated side quests that adequately flesh them out as more than brainless NPCs.
Horizon Forbidden West Review – Gameplay
Gameplay-wise, this is the same game as Horizon Zero Dawn. Forbidden West adds little to the existing Horizon formula; however, it does refine it. Generational jumps are less significant than they were even a decade ago – and it’s obvious here. Horizon Forbidden West is an improvement on the original. But it doesn’t take any risks and does nothing to break the mould.
For the second game in the series, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I loved Zero Dawn and couldn’t wait to jump back in with a more up-to-date Horizon experience. Although, I’d argue more could’ve been done to differentiate it from its predecessor.
As before, the core of Horizon Forbidden West is in the epic battles against various expertly designed machines. I’m still in awe at how incredible they look and it really is a huge achievement by Guerrilla Games. On top of that, there are not-so-complex puzzles to solve, tracking quests, various collectibles and ancient ruins/Cauldrons to explore. There’s enough here to keep you entertained for hours; however, quests did become repetitious at the 20-30 hours mark. The aforementioned tracking and fetch quests are the prime examples of this.
Still, it’s all top quality stuff. And the intense battles against machines are such an achievement they make up for any other shortcomings. Tactically ripping off parts to expose weak spots or to acquire a weapon is exhilarating and gives every shot purpose. What’s more, fights can be approached in various ways and reward effective planning and forethought. With that being said, I found the melee and trapper approaches to be less compelling than the extensive ranged attack options. Melee in particular is quite shallow.
Skill Tree and Progression
In Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy levels up as you progress through the game and complete quests. As she levels up, she acquires skill points which can be spent on new abilities and skills. There’s a lot to choose from and I found the game’s skill tree to be bloated and laborious. You get so many skill points that spending them becomes a chore. I often found myself with a lot in the bank because I simply couldn’t be bothered to go in and cycle through the extensive options to decide what to spend. This is further exacerbated by the fact some of the skills don’t seem to do an awful lot. And, depending on your play style, some will be downright useless.
Open World
Horizon Forbidden West‘s open world is huge. It’s realised in stunning detail, but the sheer scale of it can be overwhelming. Even after finishing the main quest line and a large number of side quests, I still had whole swathes of the map undiscovered.
The map is absolutely crammed full of markers, too. It’s like the polar opposite of Elden Ring. That game gives you nothing to go on and emphasises exploration and discovery. Virtually everything is marked on your map in Horizon Forbidden West, including question marks in areas you’ve not been to yet. This creates a sense of spoon-feeding which makes the game feel like more of an “on-the-rails” experience than it should. Of course, it’s more story driven than Elden Ring – so I get it. But Forbidden West would benefit from more mystery and discovery in its vast, overgrown and forgotten world.
Horizon Forbidden West Review – Graphics and Performance
Forbidden West offers two graphics modes on PlayStation 5. They are “Favor Performance” – 1800p that targets 60fps – and “Favor Resolution” – native 4K at 30fps.
The difference between the two modes is apparent on a 4K screen and it obviously looks sharper and clearer in Resolution mode. That said, Performance mode was my choice. Forbidden West benefits tremendously from 60 frames per second thanks to its fast paced battles. The checkerboard 1800p still looks great and 60fps is an undeniable improvement over 30fps.
Whatever mode you choose to play Horizon Forbidden West on, its graphics are still a resounding achievement. It’s probably the best looking game I’ve ever played. And there were times where my jaw literally dropped at the detail and beauty on display.
A few minor bugs and glitches were present during my playthrough in the weeks following release. Although, I didn’t encounter anything gamebreaking. However, I did once get stuck underneath the map after respawning which meant I had to load an autosave.
Verdict
Horizon Forbidden West is a phenomenal game. It does everything it aims to do to a very high standard. From its visuals to the implementation of the DualSense controller, it is first class. The story picks up where the first game left off and does more than enough to justify its existence. Not only that, but it does a good job at setting up a third game in the series. Once again, the thrilling machine battles are the real triumph. The variety and detail is astounding. And I’d recommend Forbidden West just for that.
The game would, however, have benefited from taking a few more risks. It does very little to expand upon Zero Dawn outside of refining the formula. Everything from the menu UIs to the combat mechanics are very similar. There’s not really anything significantly new to be found, which is a shame. The rebooted Tomb Raider series went this route – and it worked well for the first two games. But Shadow of the Tomb Raider felt like more of the same, and it was lesser because of it. So, while Horizon Forbidden West is an excellent game, I hope Horizon 3 mixes things up in a more significant way.
Overall Rating: 9/10
Reviewed on: PS5
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