Horizon Forbidden West First Impressions

Horizon Forbidden West First Impressions

By: Evan1Sonic. Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, is finally here, and it's a remarkable open-world RPG action-adventure game. I adore Horizon Zero Dawn and I even played sixty-one hours of the game and 100% it. I've played for 13 hours, completed five of the main missions, and done a handful of side activities so far.

Horizon Forbidden West is set in a post-apocalyptic America where humans live in scattered primitive tribes. Following the events of the first game, HADES, which was seemingly destroyed, has been captured and contained by Sylens. Horizon Forbidden West begins six months after Horizon Zero Dawn ends. You play as Aloy, who has left Meridian in search of a backup of GAIA in order to reverse the planet's degrading biosphere. The story is engaging, and the world-building and lore are fantastic.

I'm loving Horizon Forbidden West, and while it isn't perfect, it comes close. This is the most beautiful game I've ever played, with incredible graphical fidelity. Each area, from the scorching desert to the snow-capped mountains, looks stunning. Aloy reacts to her surroundings. For example, she sweats in a hot climate, as shown on her face. All of the characters, not just the primary ones, have great animations. You have a great deal of control over how you play the game. You can tackle side missions, upgrade your gear, explore the open world, or complete some main missions throughout any play session. Even when in combat, you have the freedom to choose how you want to approach each encounter. You can use stealth to clear the battlefield without being seen, set traps for unwary machines, hack enemy machines to turn them friendly, or rush onto the battlefield for a more direct assault.

The combat is incredible, and it's only gotten better as I've played more. Aloy uses her bow and arrow, spear, and other powerful weapons to fight human tribes and rebels, as well as a variety of machines. You can use your focus to locate and highlight the weak points of machines before and during battles. Some of these weak points, such as turrets, can be blasted off and detached. You can then use these as weapons to gain an advantage over machines. While you can approach these encounters however you like, I found stealth to be far more enjoyable than standard combat, which requires you to constantly reposition yourself on the battlefield and dodge. Smoke bombs can be used to escape and return to the shadows if you prefer to sneak around and get caught by an enemy. The more I fight, the more I discover new ways to destroy all of the machines and people who stand in my way. Both the Dualsense haptics and adaptive triggers are minor additions that aid immersion. For instance, when you use this controller with the bow and arrow, you can feel the tension in the string when you pull back an arrow. None of these PS5 exclusive features are very noticeable, but they're all lovely little additions. While the climbing in this game feels a little dated at times, it's a huge step up from the original. To grapple to out-of-reach ledges and glide through the skies, you use the new additions, the Pullcaster and the Glider. Both of these are great additions to the excellent exploration. Using overriding machines as mounts helps you travel long distances swiftly, yet fast travel is sometimes the best option. A dialog wheel may appear when speaking with NPCs. You can use this wheel to decide whether to ask further questions for more information or to end the conversation. I asked a lot of questions initially, but after a few hours, I started to lose interest in what the people had to say. You might use a different version of this conversation wheel in some scenarios, forcing you to choose between directly tackling the challenge or question in front of you, using insight to find a creative, less obvious approach, or expressing compassion or sympathy. I'm hoping there are more of these options in the rest of the game because I had a lot of fun making these decisions. I love the combat, especially the freedom you get when deciding how to approach any encounter, and the exploration is just as enjoyable.

The world is huge, and there are several side activities to partake in. Side quests, errands, Cauldrons, Tallnecks, Rebel camps and outposts, and Machine Strike games are among the activities I've seen so far. I've completed at least one of each of these activities, and I'm having fun checking them off my quest list. The most enjoyable optional activities are the side missions. They're almost as fun as the main quests, something that I can only say about a few games. Each one feels like a separate little side story that you can engage in. The errands are similar to side missions, however, they are usually smaller and have a shorter scope. Cauldrons are activities that take place in caverns that feel similar to dungeons. In these, you must solve puzzles and battle machines to reach the center of the cauldron. Once completed, these activities allow you to override more machines. Tallnecks are non-hostile machines that can be climbed and hacked in order to reveal more of the map. I loved figuring out how to reach the top of these machines, which usually involved scaling a nearby structure and gliding to the top of the Tallneck. The rebel camps and outposts are places full of hostile rebels who will attempt to kill Aloy on sight. While taking a sneaky approach to clearing out the zone is more enjoyable, I cleared one out by storming in with all of my weapons. The Machine Strike activity is a tabletop chess-like game you can engage in. This is a really strategic activity with a lot of depth. All of these optional activities, especially the side quests, are amazing.

In typical RPG fashion, there is a wide array of upgrades to unlock, though few of them are very exciting to unlock. By unlocking new skills in the skill tree, you can improve your abilities both inside and outside of combat. You unlock and upgrade these skills with the skill points you earn when you level up your character. There are six different skill trees to choose from when searching for new skills. Warrior, Trapper, Hunter, Survivor, Infiltrator, and Machine Master. Each of these trees has twenty to thirty-one skills you can unlock. The majority of the skills you can unlock are minor buffs that aren't exciting to obtain. A skill in the Trapper segment, for example, allows you to place down traps slightly faster. In these skill trees, you can also unlock Valor Surges, which are especially powerful abilities. Once you've unlocked all three of the skills surrounding each surge, you'll be able to use them. You can equip these special skills to use in combat to give you a large advantage. So far, the Ranged Master has been my favorite Valor Surge to use. This skill increases the damage and speed of arrows from your bow. Each of these powers has a cooldown, and you can only have one equipped at a time. As a whole, I dislike the skill tree. Except for the Valor Surges, the skills feel like minor stat boosts and are rarely fun to unlock. At workbenches, you can utilize resources to improve the stats and overall efficiency of your weapons and armor, in addition to unlocking and improving your skills. You can create a task that appears in your quest menu if you don't have the required resources for the upgrade you would like to do. This objective will lead you to the location or general direction of the resources you'll need to perform the upgrade. This feature is wonderful because it makes finding the materials I need for each upgrade a breeze. Using weaves you find in the world, you can add features and buffs to your armor. For example, I have one that gives me a +6 melee defense boost. The RPG mechanics in this game are, on the whole, above average, with Valor Surges being the most engaging element.

This game is a near-perfect sequel that improves on every element of its precursor. The side quests are almost as enjoyable as the main quests, something I can only say about a few games. The combat and exploration are fantastic, and the skill tree, while uninteresting initially, I expect it to improve as I play. Horizon Forbidden West was released on February 18th for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Find and destroy the source of a mysterious plague that kills everything it touches in this open-world RPG action-adventure game from Guerrilla Games.

Thanks for reading and Game On!!