Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy’s new adventure, arrives to show us what the west coast looks like in the post-post-apocalypse. We tested it on PS5 and we tell you all the details in this note!
This February 18, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 players will finally be able to see how Aloy’s story continues in Horizon Forbidden West. This new title is the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, a title that surprised the past generation with its post-post-apocalyptic world inhabited by humans and robot dinosaurs. In this new chapter of the saga we will be able to tour the west coast of the United States after the end and the return of life, and balance the stories of the end of the world with the conflicts of a no man’s land.
Horizon Forbidden West is an open world 3D action adventure, just like its predecessor. The biggest difference it has with respect to Assassin’s Creed or Red Dead Redemption is that the setting is science fiction, in a future where humanity recently reappeared after being extinct for a long time, and we recommend you play the first game if you want to know what happened. The reason is that this direct sequel redoubles what the story was, and not only do characters who had important roles in the previous game reappear, but even the lore continues and as we play we will discover more details about the scientist Elisabet Sobeck (vital in the plot) and the world he inhabited.
In Horizon Forbidden West we learn that the end of Hades in the first game was not so final after all, and that there is a plague that is increasingly rotting the Earth, eliminating any chance for nascent life to thrive. Aloy puts on her hero pants and decides to do what any of us do when he has a tech problem: turn things off and back on. The point is that it will not be that simple, and the key to solving it is on the west coast of the United States, in the ruins of a company owned by a young man who is obviously inspired by Elon Musk or Tim Cook, and who would not be out of place among the most unsavory characters from the Oscar-nominated Netflix film “Don’t Look Up.”
From the beginning, we see that Aloy takes things as her responsibility, since she (spoiler of game 1) is the heiress of Elisabet Sobeck, but her story also converges with that of a whole cast that for different reasons also needs to go to the West. Without getting into spoiler territory, although the story will surprise you with the things she does, Aloy’s character arc (no, we don’t say that because she walks with a bow and arrow, but because of the literary bow) is a bit predictable but also necessary. It just so happens that the other characters didn’t get to do anything in the time between the first game and this one, and discovering these stories is part of what’s going to take you to explore as much as you can.
the gameplay
If you’ve ever played an open world game in your life, you know more or less what to expect, and if you’ve been playing open world games since Zelda Breath of the Wild, you know twice as much. Horizon Forbidden West looks a lot like its predecessor (obviously) but it’s the best time in every way. The map itself is much more open and creates more spaces to explore by not relying on looking for little yellow things on the wall to climb. Now, using his focus to find terrain, Aloy can climb almost anywhere a little more in line with what you see in Zelda or Genshin Impact, but without a stamina bar. The game makes sure you don’t leave the map by simply showing you that there is no climbing to get out of the huge valley where it takes place – it’s organic and immersive.
The focus of combat is, once again, the bow and arrow. In this aspect, it is very noticeable that they wanted to take advantage of the Dualsense joystick on the PS5, so obviously you are going to feel the tension of the arc and those kinds of details. Thus we will have to face humans or machines in different quests and activities, and do things throughout the map. In fights against machines you will be able to use your focus to detect weak points and aim there to cause more damage, make pieces fall off him and he cannot use them to attack, and more – very Monster Hunter with his localized damage . In addition to your bow, you will also be able to use grenades, traps, cables, and more to take advantage of the terrain and give yourself an advantage. Considering that you are a human fighting against groups or robots, it is great for the characterization that Aloy wins because of his cunning and intelligence and not because he is a character who gets angry and hits harder.
On the novelty side, melee combat has been tweaked and now you’re going to have, for example, enemies with shields that you can’t pierce with your arrows. Aloy, now a better physical fighter than in the first game, can use her punches in different combos to break them up and open up a gap that exposes a weak point and leaves them for free. In the same way, for exploration you will be able to “tame” robot species after visiting cauldrons with their code or you will be able to move through the air using your shield to “glide” when you jump from height. With these old and new abilities you can explore a large but not overwhelming map and do tons of sidequests that will teach you both about the world as it was, and the world as it is today in Aloy’s time.
The west…coast?
If you look at a map of the United States today, you’ll quickly realize that the idea of making a game where you travel west is possibly boring because all the space between Texas and California is desert. Luckily, the creators (or rather Gaia Artificial Intelligence, in the canon) took licenses and took advantage of the heights to put vegetation, snow, weather phenomena, underwater sequences and more that give the map the necessary variety. On top of that, crossed with corroded futuristic technology, it generates lots of spaces where the rules change and keep you always expectant of what you see beyond the… “Horizon”. Hey, come back, don’t go, we don’t do any more puns.
Environmental narratives with the ruins of iconic things (for example, the San Francisco Bay Bridge or the Transamerica Tower) completely destroyed and corroded by the passage of time are powerful visuals that make you want to explore all the time. However, the protagonists, their political agendas, their plans and conflicts are the true pillar of the story. True to its predecessor, Horizon Forbidden West surprises because it’s very well written and the world makes sense – both learning more about the circumstances of “the ancients” and the drama between kingdoms and tribes have a charm that ties in nicely as you play. More than Uncharted, this is what PlayStation should have turned into a movie or series, but since it is a relatively new saga, it seems that they played it more cautiously.
The technical section
At the time of playing, we tested Horizon Forbidden West on PS5. The graphics are absolutely impressive, and the quality of textures in the design of the clothes, the animation of Aloy’s hair, or the environments that they show you is incredible. The load times are very short and the cinematics are an incredible thing. The problem we had was that while we were playing, about 3 or 4 times the console turned off without warning, as if it had gotten too hot. This is something that many players have reported happening in titles like Far Cry 6, Battlefield, Warzone, and other triple-A PlayStation 5 games. Reading on the net, the comments said that the console cools better in a horizontal position and after making that change we were able to confirm that it was not reset anymore – but yes, this is anecdotal evidence and we will have to wait to know why exactly the console was reset. Hopefully it’s something the day 1 patch fixes, since we played a previous beta.
In conclusion
Horizon Forbidden West does everything it should by being a sequel that continues all the good things from the first game and adds a couple new ones. Yes, in a superficial analysis it is an open world that is at a playable level between Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Genshin Impact, or Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Red Dead Redemption with its moments of stillness, exploration and contemplation and others incredibly intense where everything happens and requires you to react in a second. The point is that Horizon has the differential of the story, its setting with robots and a destroyed world, and its combat with more cunning than skill that changes the tone completely and makes it incredibly unique. Luckily, it is not like any other game on the market, and that in a triple A is more than a success.
RELEASE DATE | February 18, 2022 |
DEVELOPER | Guerrilla Games |
DISTRIBUTOR | PlayStation |
PLATAFORMS | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |