Review Copy Provided by PlayStation.
Following their affection for fighting massive wars with wild tech,
Guerrilla Games forged a new franchise on the PlayStation 4 with Horizon Zero Dawn in 2017.
The game cinched this new world as essential to the PlayStation pipeline,
but it was clear the ideas on display could be even better with time and feedback.
Its sequel, Forbidden West, gives Guerrilla the chance to flex their muscles on the PlayStation 5.
They emerge in this new land, capable and confident
to deliver a creative world with a dynamite campaign.
Zero Dawn’s conclusion was full of triumphant victories but also mystifying questions.
To find the answers and prevent a second apocalypse for mankind,
Aloy leaves her homeland and rides toward the sunset.
The journey has her following and bantering again with Sylens,
her villain or mentor depending on the circumstances,
portrayed with a pleasantly humored wit and dangerous confidence
by returning actor Lance Reddick.
A few of Aloy’s old friends show up every now and then, and she makes dozens more,
but these allies never join her for long.
She’s a lone wolf, a point her friends remind her of and challenge on a regular basis,
and her standoffish nature leads to some of the story’s biggest problems.
Ashly Burch picks up right where she left off five years ago
and commits to Aloy’s suicidal rollercoaster mission with unquestionable allegiance.
She meets all of the supporting cast’s best moments with an equal amount
of patience and understanding.
The pace dips on occasion because
Aloy’s emotional journey doesn’t have many places to go.
She’s constantly surrounded by people
that have a much looser grasp on what’s really going on
in this crumbling hellscape.
This makes exploring the west with her exhilarating, for the most part,
but that energy is often stifled when Aloy engages in conversation.
Aloy’s tired all the time,
and for good reason, as she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders.
It’s not uncommon for open-world heroes to deliver mostly one-note performances
that work for all occasions, whether they’re
checking off whimsical side quests or steering back to the main story.
So Aloy getting hamstrung in her earnest attempts to make things better
is an unfortunate byproduct of an otherwise excellent storyline.
She’s so committed, but her diatribes get tiresome by the end of the long road.
Aloy also has something to say about almost everything, and aside from muting speech entirely,
there’s no way to reduce her commentary in the audio settings.
It was an issue in the first Horizon and it’s gotten worse.
Sometimes these declarations can lead to helpful discoveries
or add much needed warmth to a string of potentially lonely missions,
but most of the time they’re unnecessary and annoying.
Forty hours into the campaign, you’re likely well aware that healing berries are good to have,
or that picking up an item in excess of your held inventory
will send it back to your stash at camp,
but Aloy reminds herself like you’re in dire need of a tutorial.
Worse yet, she frequently solves puzzles for you
with cheeky quips right when you’re just about to make that final mental leap for yourself.
It’s hard to begrudge such a dense script and heartfelt performance,
but there should be a way to set things up so you can take in the scenery
without the constant muttering.
Those issues aside, the acting performances in Forbidden West are simply incredible.
Even minor characters continually shine,
from salvage contractors in over their head
to weapons manufacturers with a zest for destruction.
You’re always meeting new people with new faces and problems,
and the way they establish the world’s borders and explain its rules is charming.
Nearly every scene in Forbidden West is given surprising heft and focus,
whether it comes from the quality of the script,
composition of the camera, or devotion of the actors involved.
Even though the world can get mighty ridiculous with its bizarre rituals and outlandish costumes,
the game still manages to keep the story grounded one profound cut-scene at a time.
It’s worth noting that if you skip the first Horizon,
you’ll be racing to catch up, even if you watch the story-so-far prologue in Forbidden West.
Some big story bombs were dropped at the end of the first game,
and if you really want to connect to this world and Aloy’s struggles,
it’s hard to imagine it all making as much sense if you didn’t play Zero Dawn.
While the story can trip over itself, traversal and combat are both near perfect.
It’s very clear Guerrilla found their sweet spot,
and they get to show off their skills again and again.
Aiming, shooting, jumping, dodging, sliding, climbing -
it all feels spectacular.
Even potentially cumbersome activities
such as crafting a specific ammo type in the heat of battle
or managing outfit slots before selling garbage to vendors
are comfortably streamlined.
On-screen prompts are clean and easy to digest without cluttering the view,
and there’s a suite of accessibility options
if you want to tweak things even further.
With a click of the right thumbstick, Aloy sends out a pulse
that shows nearby objects and potential loot,
and the tech is contextualized in the story.
Holding the thumbstick longer activates a focused scan
that labels humans and machines,
displaying multiple pages of analysis on each beast you encounter.
Tracking people to finish quests is a much clearer process than in the first game,
which saves a lot of time.
It feels like more areas are open to climb in Forbidden West,
and the quick pulse highlights edges in yellow or red
so there’s no guessing where you can and can’t go.
Aloy eventually picks up a glider that offers picturesque descents from high altitude,
but drops you fast enough that you can’t abuse it
and just float around every danger.
Fighting crazy animal robots is as thrilling at hour thirty
as it is at hour three.
The weapon wheel gives you the ability to rapidly cycle
through six different projectile types
and several elemental ammo options
while Aloy’s sliding on her knees past a rampaging machine.
Zooming in while a weapon is drawn slows time,
and in these tight windows of slow motion aiming,
the calculated nature of the seemingly chaotic combat comes to light.
Not only is there a huge cast of machines,
some classes have apex or elemental variants
that exhibit their own quirky behaviors and deadly attacks.
When taking down a machine, Aloy can go for critical parts to kill them quickly;
spend time stripping off valuable trade material;
bullseye canisters with a matching element to start a chain reaction;
or knock off a huge weapon and then pick it up and blast away.
There’s a weapon for every season,
whether you want to focus on humans riding machines
or harvest resources instead of doing quick damage.
If anything, the arsenal can feel excessive, considering you’re likely to grow into a loadout
you favor and stick to it when things get rough.
Still, the options available are varied and appreciated, down to skill specializations,
perks from food you eat, and bonus stats for each weapon and armor piece.
If you need even more help,
there are new special temporary combat boosts to unlock,
human allies that sometimes join skirmishes,
and an evolving ability to have machines fight with you
or let you ride them from campfire to campfire.
You’re given a lot of skill points to spend, and it can sometimes
feel like you’re growing too powerful,
but then you discover a new breed of enemy that forces you to rethink your strategies,
or an opportunity to do something the hard way just for fun.
The game is as tough as you want to make it, with multiple difficulty settings,
including a custom option
so you can pick the parts that you want to challenge you the most.
Aloy spends most of her time at range,
but fighting pits located in the major settlements
unlock additional resources and trophies.
On the side, a few characters are down to play Machine Strike,
a tactical board game with pieces to collect and strategies to master.
There’s a lot to absorb when you hack a roaming Tallneck
and get info on a new area, since dozens of icons pop up around the map.
The quest log is organized into fifteen different categories,
which might make some completionists wince,
but it really helps when it's time to prioritize Aloy’s to-do list.
It enables you to focus on quest types you’re currently enjoying,
stick to stuff that’s nearby, and recognize tasks you’re not ready for.
With mounts you can summon and campfires to fast-travel between,
getting around is easy, provided you stay alive.
We completed the main story with unfinished business all over the place,
and we are eager to get back to it.
Forbidden West’s performance on the PlayStation 5, like any open world,
has its ups and downs.
There are sporadic moments of pop-in
where the strangest objects will refuse to load until the last minute,
along with the odd camera or character glitch.
Thankfully, it happens rarely enough that it doesn’t interrupt the game’s flow,
but it can pull you out of the moment here and there.
Otherwise the visuals are absolutely stellar.
Aiming in slow-motion renders the ballistic combat beautifully,
and blowing up these machines and then stealing their guts never gets old.
Chaotic weather patterns occasionally cross Aloy’s path to make fights even trickier
if you choose not to wait it out,
and while the underground portions of the map are packed with some of the biggest story secrets,
a few overworld areas we’ll avoid showing here are just as spoilery
and delightful to discover.
Horizon Forbidden West is a long game set in a huge world,
but it earns that massive scope.
The length is bolstered by performances as unique as the faces that bring them to life
and a topical story that remains compelling throughout.
The big map is stacked with small icons, but it all leads in the same direction
as you cross expansive hostile terrain toward a threat
the game never stops hyping up.
Aloy’s observatory dialogue can get redundant
and there are some other minor distractions,
but the rest of the game is so excellent that none of that matters much in the end.
It’s a potent evolution of the first game’s strengths,
and the enthusiasm put into every element,
from its distinct creatures to its signature combat, always shines through.
Final score: 9 out of 10.
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Review Copy Provided by PlayStation.