Can we talk about saving earth?
In Horizon Forbidden West we will have to save our planet from the apocalypse for the second time … Or rather still for the first time, because the first part has clearly left the door open when it comes to continuing the plot towards the fight against HADES and its aspirations related to the annihilation of all life . This time, the threat is presented to us at the very beginning of the game and is associated with Rust – red plants that grow and kill both fauna and flora. So Aloy goes to the title Forbidden West to find a way to get rid of this stuff.
I came across a few voices, also in the immediate vicinity of the players, that emphatically said that Horizon suffers from the “save the world” complex. Aloy, the savior, the liberator, the anointed … And let me tell you that, in a way, I agree with these “allegations.” I agree, but at the same time I see nothing wrong with all of this. I admit that I happened to indulgently roll my eyes when the main character during a conversation threw into her statements such as “Only I can save the world!”. Is this a slightly naive approach to the problem of possible extermination? Yes. Is this a problem for enjoying gameplay in a world where metal game coexists with humans? Not. Already in the first part, I approached Horizona bit like a fairy tale, a fantastic story in which the presence of the protagonist chosen to save the Earth is perfectly justified and logical within the world created by the creators.
Note, I do not recommend running Horizon Forbidden West without first playing the first part. The first hour / two is a time filled with Horizon Zero Dawn spoilers . Trust me – you don’t want to take yourselves discovering this wonderful story on your own.
It’s better
The first part enchanted me almost immediately after starting it. The “wow” effect in terms of graphics and atmosphere of Horizon Zero Dawn definitely remains to this day, although five years have passed since its premiere! After Horizon Forbidden West , I naturally expected it to be better than its predecessor, although the latter set the bar quite high. And guess what? I was absolutely not disappointed, visually this game looks really great, wonderful indeed, and you have to take into account that I played it on an old PS4! Of course, the old generation console will not bring such a game to the heights, but I still think that if someone wants to play Forbidden West on the basic PS4, there will be no major problems with it.
My main objection to the first part of the adventures of the red-haired warrior was a certain clearly perceptible “wood” when it comes to the world around us. Yes, it was and still is beautiful, but still, I think it was often boring. The main plot was what kept me firmly with that title, because it was really well-run, while each side quest, or even a strong plot set in the Meridian, made me stand out from the rhythm of this pleasant adventure. In addition, the interaction with NPCs and moving around the settlements were not interesting, and each time I was most happy to explore the wilderness, ruins or cauldrons. In the Meridian itself, a great city, the largest concentration of NPCs, I only stayed when it was really necessary, because the city resembled an interactive mock-up – yes,
Horizon Forbidden West is completely different … Already in the first human settlement, Złomianki, you can feel the omnipresent hustle and bustle of everyday life. Someone says something, yells, children run and tangled under their feet, in the tavern people sit with pints of beer and the cook prepares boar stew, miners sit in the shade, resting after hard work in the mine, and the local self-proclaimed leader sits in a spacious tent and makes it difficult for us to continue our journey with his inventions. Conversations with NPCs, so nondescript in Horizon Zero Dawn , in Horizon Forbidden Westthey are engaging, fun and, above all, they look much more authentic; facial expressions of characters, frames, moving during dialogues – all this builds a sense of credibility, which I missed so much in my predecessor.
The exploration of the world has been significantly improved – the locations are much more interesting than in Horizon Zero Dawn, ruins, the discovery of which is associated with solving pleasant logical puzzles, the terrain is much more elaborate and varied, and the whole thing is crowned with the fact that we can choose whether we prefer the game to tell us when it comes to discovering the map, or we want to act more on our own hand. The dynamic HUD is very convenient, with fewer elements in front of our eyes during the game, it definitely helps when it comes to immersion. The focus function has also been diversified, which allows us to quickly scan the surroundings and the more precise one we are used to in the first part. What’s more, the quick scan option has one more convenience – it highlights the places where we can climb, so you don’t have to constantly look for yellow handles and rock shelves,
The game has really been improved and expanded in all possible ways compared to its predecessor. We have powerful and well-thought-out skill trees in which we will be able to develop our stealth, melee combat, aiming, machine domination and effective use of ranged weapons. The weapon upgrade system has been changed and we will now modify it in Workshops. If someone likes to dress up, he will surely be satisfied with the fact that there is a lot of frills – you can improve them, add modifications and change their colors. Do you want to decorate Aloy’s face with menacing makeup? Please, you can do that too. You are tempted by the vision of feeding the main character with something tasty, you know, so that she has something warm in her belly while saving the world? I invite you to the cook, you will surely get something good. We don’t have to worry about collecting resources – any extra goodies will go to the stash. We will have a lot of new equipment at our disposal, such as a very pleasant to use and multi-functional line launcher (you can feel a bit like Spider-Man when jumping over rocks) or a hang-glider that will allow us to glide majestically over flocks of machines.
The West is waiting to be tame
During the previous struggles of Aloy, we met the people of Nora, Oseram, Carja and Banuk, while in the Forbidden West we will come across two new tribes – Tenakth and Utaru. It is with them and the Oseramas that we will have the most to do during the expedition. Each of these factions is clearly different from each other, and the threads related to them, their history, behavior, relationships with others and various problems are really elaborate and we can clearly see here that we are dealing with separate groups that do not differ only in the way they dress .
I don’t want to reveal the plot to you, because it’s best to discover it on your own. It is worth mentioning, however, that the action takes place shortly after our fight with HADES. We will continue to do what Aloy does best – save the world. But in what style and under what circumstances! The first linear mission that we will go through with a good friend from the first part gives a foretaste of how interesting it will be later.
Here, not only the main plot shines with light so bright that I had to squint my eyes (and not because I most often play at night with the lights off and the screen is a bit offensive). Side missions also bravely shimmer with a pleasant glow – they are definitely much better than those we dealt with in Horizon Zero Dawn . Interesting plot, speckled with flavors and brilliant dialogues, allowing us to enter the world of the game even deeper. They are made with pleasure, not only to gain additional experience before completing main missions. This is greatly appreciated.
More interesting, more intense, more dangerous
It is worth discussing one of the most important aspects of the game in Horizon , and of course it is hunting for machines. I remember how much I got choked with fighting them while playing the first part. Not only because even on the normal difficulty level, the clashes with metal opponents were quite demanding, but also because of how diverse they were. Individual types of machines had their strategies, weak points and often resistance. Therefore, approaching Gromoszczęk as a Stalker, hitting the head of a Rock Crusher, or shooting a fire Stuffer with a barrage of flaming arrows did not work very well.
Here, of course, we have a similar logic when it comes to strategies for efficient machine compaction, but (as with everything else in the new Horizon) you can see a definite evolution. We get a lot of new types of machines, they additionally have different variants within one type. Their behavior, the way they move, and their attack animations are literally amazing. If it weren’t for the fact that during each fight I have to focus on keeping Aloy alive, I would have been mesmerized to stare at these metal beasts and their fine motor skills. Thanks to quick focus scans, we can mark individual parts of the machines that we want to knock off them, so targeting specific parts is more convenient. A nice convenience is also the greater number of slots in the weapon selection wheel, which means that we do not have to break out of the fervor of combat and constantly enter the equipment to choose what we need. Alone, as I mentioned earlier, we can improve and there is more of it,
Don’t be fooled, just because the combat model itself is improved doesn’t mean it has become easier. Oh, no no! The machines are aggressive, fast and launch their attacks very effectively. Aloy in the second part seems to have a slight balance problem, because even light attacks from small machines can knock her off her feet, but this is not something that is a big inconvenience (unless you just fall into a whirlwind of pushes served by the whole herd and turn into into a human ball).
In short – the fight with machines will not disappoint you for sure.
On the other hand, it is a bit worse to fight people who are rather opponents-clogged holes than full-fledged enemies to be feared. It is much more challenging to knock down a single Gromoszczęk or Mumakła than destroying an entire fortified camp filled with bloodthirsty bandits.
To sum it up…
The newest Horizon is played by a huge, even huge, metal “G”. This is what each sequel should look like, because you can see that a lot of work has been put into this production. Of course, you can pick on minor bugs, occasional bugs or boring missions that will happen from time to time, but is it worth worrying about? Definitely not, because the Forbidden West, both in terms of gameplay and story, is something delightful
