''Horizon Forbidden West'' is a 2022

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

developed by

Guerrilla Games Guerrilla B.V. (trade name: Guerrilla Games) is a Dutch First-party developer, first-party video game developer based in Amsterdam and part of PlayStation Studios. The company was founded as Lost Boys Games in January 2000 through the merger of ...

and published by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

. The sequel to 2017's ''

Horizon Zero Dawn ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The plot follows Aloy, a young hunter in a world overrun by machines, who sets out to uncover her past. The ...

'', the game is set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

version of the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

recovering from the aftermath of an

extinction event An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth. Such an event is identified by a sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms. I ...

caused by a rogue robot swarm. The player can explore the open world and complete

quests A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...

using ranged and

melee A melee ( or , French: mêlée ) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. In military aviation, a melee has been defined as " air battle in which ...

weapons against hostile machine creatures. ''Horizon Forbidden West'' was released on February 18, 2022, for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, it was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North Ame ...

. It was praised for its visuals, combat, vocal performances and technical advancements, while the writing and open world design drew mixed responses. An expansion, ''Burning Shores'', will be released on April 19, 2023.

Gameplay

''Horizon Forbidden West'' is an

played from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

. The player controls

Aloy Aloy is a fictional character and protagonist of the 2017 video game ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' and its sequel ''Horizon Forbidden West''. In the games' post-apocalyptic tribal setting, she is born in 3021, raised as an outcast, and trains as a war ...

, a hunter in a world populated by dangerous, animalistic machines. In an open world, she explores the mysterious frontier known as the Forbidden West, a

version of the

, specifically the states of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. The map is larger than in the previous game. Exploration is improved with new underwater discoveries, and improvements to combat using the Valor Surge system, freeform climbing, and tools such as the Shieldwing, Focus Scanner, Diving Mask, and Pullcaster. The mission structure for quests better supports variety in objectives with compelling reward systems.

Synopsis

Setting

''Horizon Forbidden West'' continues the story of Aloy (

Ashly Burch Ashly Burch (born June 19, 1990) is an American voice actress, singer, and television writer. She is known for her roles as Aloy in ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' and ''Horizon Forbidden West'', Mel in ''The Last of Us Part II'', Tiny Tina in the ''Borde ...

), a young hunter of the Nora tribe and a clone of the Old World scientist Elisabet Sobeck, as she leads a band of companions on a quest to the arcane frontier known as the Forbidden West to find the source of a mysterious plague that kills all it infects. On her journey across these uncharted lands, Aloy encounters new regions ravaged by massive storms and deadly machines, and conflicts with a tribe of nomadic raiders who have tamed the machines as war mounts. She discovers a vast array of environments and ecosystems, including lush valleys, dry deserts, snowy mountains, tropical beaches, ruined cities, and underwater settings.

Plot

In the six months following the defeat of HADES (

Anthony Ingruber Anthony Ingruber (born 5 February 1990) is a Dutch-Australian actor and impressionist. Ingruber is best known for his role as John Doe/Joker in '' Batman: The Telltale Series'' and '' Batman: The Enemy Within'' as well as a young William Jones ...

) in ''

'', Aloy has been searching fruitlessly for a working backup of GAIA (Lesley Ewen) to restore the planet's rapidly degrading

biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...

. Sylens (

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...

), having stolen HADES, contacts Aloy and asks her to continue her search in the Forbidden West region. Aloy and her friend Varl (John Macmillan) cross into the west to find the ruling Tenakth tribe in the midst of a

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

between Chief Hekarro (

Geno Segers Lonnie G. "Geno" Segers Jr. is an American actor known for his roles as Chayton Littlestone in the Cinemax original series ''Banshee'', Dwayne in NBC's Perfect Harmony, Mason Makoola in the Disney XD television series ''Pair of Kings'', Kincaid ...

) and the rebel leader Regalla (

Angela Bassett Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...

). Aloy tracks Sylens to a facility where she finds HADES badly damaged, and permanently deletes it. She recovers a GAIA backup without its subsystems, but is interrupted by a group of futuristic humans. The group, consisting of their leader Gerard (Dan Donohue), his lieutenant Tilda (

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

), enforcer Erik (

Marc Kudisch Marc Kudisch (born September 22, 1966) is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway. Early life and education Kudisch was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, the son of Florence and Raymond Kudisch. His fami ...

) and accompanied by a clone of Sobeck named Beta (also voiced by Burch), possess advanced technology that renders them invulnerable. They take a second GAIA backup while Aloy barely escapes. Zo (

Erica Luttrell Erica Luttrell is a Canadian actress. Personal life Luttrell was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Tanzanian mother and an American father. Luttrell is the youngest of four sisters. She can speak some French and Swahili. In August 2019, Luttrell ...

), a member of the nearby Utaru tribe, guides Aloy to a control center where she rejoins GAIA with her subsystem MINERVA (Morla Gorrondona). GAIA locates the other subsystems AETHER (Wil Coban), DEMETER ( Sophie Simnett), and POSEIDON (also Donohue), and advises Aloy to retrieve them before attempting to capture the more advanced HEPHAESTUS (Stefan Ashton Frank). GAIA reveals the extinction signal that triggered HADES originated from the

Sirius Sirius is the list of brightest stars, brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinisation ...

system; Aloy suspects that it was sent by the futuristic humans. She later tracks down Beta, who informs Aloy that her group are in fact Far Zenith, colonists who fled Earth during its global extinction, having managed to extend their natural lifespans. After their colony on Sirius collapsed, the Zeniths returned to Earth to use GAIA through Beta's

genetic make-up In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

for their own recolonization. They have acquired subsystems ELEUTHIA, ARTEMIS, and APOLLO, but Beta has stolen their GAIA backup. Aloy recovers AETHER after helping Hekarro advance in the war and retrieves POSEIDON from the ruins of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Journeying to California, she encounters the Quen, a foreign tribe who are attempting to solve

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

crises in their homeland. Aloy helps tribe member Alva (Alison Jaye) with acquiring data, while recovering DEMETER. After obtaining a high level clearance from the tomb of a mutated Ted Faro (

Lloyd Owen Richard Marcus Lloyd Owen (born 14 April 1966) is an English actor. Trained at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, he is known for portraying Indiana Jones's father Professor Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. in ...

) in the ruins of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Aloy uses GAIA to trap HEPHAESTUS, and is attacked by the Zeniths. Erik kills Varl and recaptures Beta while Gerard steals GAIA, but Tilda double crosses them and helps Aloy escape. Tilda explains that she was romantically involved with Elisabet and regretted leaving her; having been inspired by Aloy, she wishes to stop Far Zenith. She further reveals that Sylens has been supporting the Tenakth rebels to use them against the Zeniths. Aloy refuses to sacrifice the Tenakth and instead defeats Regalla herself after thwarting the latter's final attack on Hekarro. Aloy and her companions assault Far Zenith's base, while Beta releases HEPHAESTUS into the Zeniths'

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and ties down Far Zenith's army. Sylens disables the Zeniths' personal defences, allowing Aloy and Zo to kill Erik, while Tilda kills Gerard. Aloy and Beta learn that the Far Zenith colony was in fact destroyed by Nemesis, a failed

mind uploading Mind uploading is a speculative process of whole brain emulation in which a brain scan is used to completely emulate the mental state of the individual in a digital computer. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information pr ...

experiment they created; the Zeniths fled from Nemesis and hoped to steal GAIA to colonize a new planet. Nemesis also sent the extinction signal to Earth, and is en route to destroy the planet. Tilda tries to force Aloy to abandon Earth with her, but Aloy refuses and is forced to kill Tilda. Sylens reveals that HADES told him about Nemesis, and also plans to escape Earth, but has a change of heart and decides to aid Aloy against Nemesis. Aloy's companions disperse to spread the warning of Nemesis, while Aloy and Beta reactivate GAIA.

Development

began developing ''Horizon Forbidden West'' in 2018, a year after its predecessor ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' was released. It was published by

for the

and

. The director is Mathijs de Jonge and the narrative director is Benjamin McCaw.

Joris de Man Joris Maarten de Man, known as Joris de Man, (born 30 June 1972) is a Dutch composer and sound designer, well known for his work on the video games '' Killzone'' and '' Horizon Zero Dawn''. His first work involving video games was chip music wri ...

, The Flight (composed of Joe Henson and Alexis Smith), and Niels van de Leest return to compose an original score for the game alongside Oleksa Lozowchuk.

, and John Hopkins reprise their roles as

, Sylens, and Erend, respectively.

plays a new character named Regalla, and

plays Tilda. Using motion capturing, Aloy's motions were acted by

Peggy Vrijens Peggy Vrijens (born 28 October 1976) is a Dutch actress. Career Vrijens played a role in the television series ''Rozengeur & Wodka Lime'' (2001 – 2002), ''Costa!'' (2005) and ''Voetbalvrouwen'' (2007 – 2010). She also played the role of M ...

. The PlayStation 5's increased processing power, custom

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is ...

storage, Tempest Engine, and

DualSense The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...

controller provides the game with advanced haptic feedback, 3D spatial audio, enhanced lighting, special water rendering, improved visual effects, and reduced loading times. This version has an optional "performance mode" at 60 frames per second with a lower base resolution, and an updated version of the Decima engine supporting

high dynamic range High dynamic range (HDR) is a dynamic range higher than usual, synonyms are wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, expanded dynamic range. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic range of various signals such as images, videos, au ...

Release

''Horizon Forbidden West'' was announced during Sony's PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020 with a planned release in 2021. On May 27, 2021, Guerrilla Games showcased a 14-minute PlayStation 5 gameplay demo for the game in Sony's State of Play presentation. In June 2021, head of

PlayStation Studios PlayStation Studios (formerly SCE Worldwide Studios and SIE Worldwide Studios) is a Division (business), division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was est ...

Hermen Hulst said they were on track for a late 2021 release but development was being partly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were having trouble getting access to performance capture and talent. On August 25, 2021, it was announced that its release had been delayed to February 18, 2022. The game had " gone gold" on January 27, 2022, according to Guerrilla Games, meaning that physical copies were ready to be produced, with any further development delivered through online software updates. The PlayStation 4 version can be freely upgraded to the PlayStation 5 version. The PlayStation 4 version comes on two Blu-ray discs using 97GB, and the PlayStation 5 version comes on one Ultra HD Blu-ray using 98GB. A comic book series, set after the events of the first game, was published by

Titan Comics Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

on August 5, 2020. On June 3, 2021, Guerilla released an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) titled ''The Isle of Spires'' composed of four tracks. On February 16, 2022, Argentine singer

Nathy Peluso Natalia Peluso (born 12 January 1995), known professionally as Nathy Peluso (), is an Argentinian singer, songwriter, dancer and pedagogue. Born in Argentina, and raised in Spain, Peluso became interested in the performing arts at an early age, ...

released "Emergencia", an electronic single inspired by the video game. In the music video, Peluso takes on the role of Aloy. A DLC pack titled ''Burning Shores'' was announced at

The Game Awards 2022 The Game Awards 2022 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2022. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on De ...

. In this DLC pack, Aloy must explore

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and deal with a "sinister threat". It will be released exclusively for the PS5 on April 19, 2023.

Reception

''Horizon Forbidden West'' received "generally favorable" reviews according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Many critics praised the game's larger setting compared to the first entry. In a review published by ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'', Swapna Krishna praised ''Horizon Forbidden West'' as a successful open world game and as a manageable alternative to the less forgiving gameplay of '' The Witcher 3'', while in a review for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, Krishna compared the game favorably to the first in the series, writing that it "continues the achievements of its predecessor" while "seeking to improve upon them in every way". Jason Schreier, in a review for

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

, echoed this sentiment, writing "The mantra for ''Horizon Forbidden West''s development appears to be: make everything bigger, better and more beautiful." Conversely, in a mixed review for ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', Dan Silver characterized the game's open world and scale as "overwhelming". Some critics noted technical issues at launch, ranging from minor graphical issues, to crashes and losses of save files.

Sales

In the UK, ''Forbidden West'' was the best digitally selling game during the week of release. At least 49% of all sales in the UK were made digitally. In Germany, over 200,000 copies of the game were sold during its launch month. The PlayStation 4 version of ''Horizon Forbidden West'' was the third bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 48,476 physical copies being sold. The PlayStation 5 version sold 43,012 physical copies in Japan throughout the same week, making it the fourth bestselling retail game of the week in the country.

Awards

In July 2022 ''Forbidden West'' won the best game award and the best Visual Art award at the 2022 Star Awards. The game was up for 7 nominations at

, including Game of the Year, but lost to ''

Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin, it was released for PlayStation 4, ...

''.

References

External links

* * * * {{Portal bar, Video games, Netherlands 2022 video games Action role-playing video games Decima (game engine) games Genocide in fiction Golden Joystick Award winners Guerrilla Games games Fiction about immortality Horizon Zero Dawn Open-world video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Post-apocalyptic video games Science fiction video games Single-player video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video game sequels Video games about robots Video games adapted into comics Video games developed in the Netherlands Video games featuring female protagonists Video games postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Video games set in the 31st century Video games set in California Video games set in Nevada Video games set in the Las Vegas Valley Video games set in San Francisco Video games set in Utah