Name: Horizon Forbidden West
Item: Horizon Forbidden West
Rating: 9
Author: Zeusツ

Horizon Forbidden West is an excellent sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. It follows up on our main character (and some other side characters) after the events of the last game and sets up the storyline for the next game in the series.

The story, graphics, and gameplay are amazing. I love the addition of the new mini-games and that I now have a base of operations with my companions. From a character development standpoint, it shows growth for Aloy's character who, for the duration of the first game, was an outcast, and sometimes seemed to prefer it that way. I would've loved to have more quests with our companions or have the option to bring companions you've unlocked on quests, but I guess HFW is still a single-player game at its base.

I do have two (maybe not so) tiny nitpicks. One, I could've done without the underwater stages. You can't fight underwater and they were just a whole lot of stress. Two, why did Aloy forget how to whistle? As someone who prefers stealth-style combat, not having the ability to whistle made it much harder (and mostly longer) to fight enemies.

Horizon Forbidden West is an excellent sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn. It follows up on our main character (and some other side characters) after the events of the last game and sets up the storyline for the next game in the series.The story, graphics, and gameplay are amazing. I love the addition of the new mini-games and that I now have a base of operations with my companions. From a character development standpoint, it shows growth for Aloy's character who, for the duration of the first game, was an outcast, and sometimes seemed to prefer it that way. I would've loved to have more quests with our companions or have the option to bring companions you've unlocked on quests, but I guess HFW is still a single-player game at its base. I do have two (maybe not so) tiny nitpicks. One, I could've done without the underwater stages. You can't fight underwater and they were just a whole lot of stress. Two, why did Aloy forget how to whistle? As someone who prefers stealth-style combat, not having the ability to whistle made it much harder (and mostly longer) to fight enemies.

On to the West

In my opinion, I feel like this game is really shadowed by Elden Ring since their launch dates are relatively close to each other.

I am a gamer that is prefers story-driven games and I also enjoy a nice combat challenge. This game really does both well. I play it on hard mode and everytime I try to farm for upgrade materials for my equipment, I would go into an intense battle with a shellsnapper. In some ways, its like a mini boss battle for me and I would die multiple times so I would try different strategies to overcome it. It's fun and engaging.

The sidequests are fun too like i have been doing a tonne of side quest and I think i am only half way through the game. The side quests are voice acted and very engaging too.

Recommended for anyone who is as story driven as I am

In my opinion, I feel like this game is really shadowed by Elden Ring since their launch dates are relatively close to each other. I am a gamer that is prefers story-driven games and I also enjoy a nice combat challenge. This game really does both well. I play it on hard mode and everytime I try to farm for upgrade materials for my equipment, I would go into an intense battle with a shellsnapper. In some ways, its like a mini boss battle for me and I would die multiple times so I would try different strategies to overcome it. It's fun and engaging.The sidequests are fun too like i have been doing a tonne of side quest and I think i am only half way through the game. The side quests are voice acted and very engaging too.Recommended for anyone who is as story driven as I am

Shadowed by Elden Ring

I guess I'll rush this review. Why? Well, this is a 40-hour open world game and my memory of the earlier parts of the game is not exactly fresh. I had two longer breaks trying to complete it. I bought it pretty much on launch date played through the first third of the game, then got distracted by some other games I wanted to give a try and I didn't have the time to play 2 games at the same time.

Does this mean the game is bad? No, it's pretty great in some areas. Graphics are some of the top-notch on the PS5 console rivaled only by The Last of Us - Part I, I guess. Walking through the deserts, mountains or beaches is as close to feeling like you are hiking those exact places in real life.

Gameplay is also pretty good. I haven't had any issues with it, it plays nicely. The diversity of weapons and skills is pretty cool. They added a glider and the ability to climb to emulate Breath of the Wild, I feel. The functions feel good to play, but if I'm honest the limited world and paths available when climbing ultimately left the two functions a bit underutilized, if you ask me.

I feel one of the reasons I didn't like it as much was the story. It was fine, bunch of sub-stories to tell, lore and aesthetics of the world were great, probably a decent follow up to the previous game... but I didn't fully complete that one, so I was a bit lost there at the beginning and I feel if you didn't experience that one, you might not notice the importance of the story being told for a good chunk of the game. Honestly, the final third when everything starts coming together did get me hooked quite a bit.

It's also a fully voice-acted dialog heavy game. On one side it's impressive, but even though I like having a bit of a completionist approach when lore and story are concerned I was starting to feel the need to skip some side-quest dialog the longer the game went on (yes, you can do that in this game).

Overall it's really good. If you want a beautifully realistic next gen game with an open world and 40+ hours of gameplay, that's what you will get here. As for me, I loved it quite a bit, but I really feel like I have to revisit and complete Zero Dawn to acquire full appreciation of this. But it does get 90% of my appreciation for what I got regardless.

I guess I'll rush this review. Why? Well, this is a 40-hour open world game and my memory of the earlier parts of the game is not exactly fresh. I had two longer breaks trying to complete it. I bought it pretty much on launch date played through the first third of the game, then got distracted by some other games I wanted to give a try and I didn't have the time to play 2 games at the same time.Does this mean the game is bad? No, it's pretty great in some areas. Graphics are some of the top-notch on the PS5 console rivaled only by The Last of Us - Part I, I guess. Walking through the deserts, mountains or beaches is as close to feeling like you are hiking those exact places in real life.Gameplay is also pretty good. I haven't had any issues with it, it plays nicely. The diversity of weapons and skills is pretty cool. They added a glider and the ability to climb to emulate Breath of the Wild, I feel. The functions feel good to play, but if I'm honest the limited world and paths available when climbing ultimately left the two functions a bit underutilized, if you ask me.I feel one of the reasons I didn't like it as much was the story. It was fine, bunch of sub-stories to tell, lore and aesthetics of the world were great, probably a decent follow up to the previous game... but I didn't fully complete that one, so I was a bit lost there at the beginning and I feel if you didn't experience that one, you might not notice the importance of the story being told for a good chunk of the game. Honestly, the final third when everything starts coming together did get me hooked quite a bit.It's also a fully voice-acted dialog heavy game. On one side it's impressive, but even though I like having a bit of a completionist approach when lore and story are concerned I was starting to feel the need to skip some side-quest dialog the longer the game went on (yes, you can do that in this game).Overall it's really good. If you want a beautifully realistic next gen game with an open world and 40+ hours of gameplay, that's what you will get here. As for me, I loved it quite a bit, but I really feel like I have to revisit and complete Zero Dawn to acquire full appreciation of this. But it does get 90% of my appreciation for what I got regardless.

Horizon Forbidden West

Story

9/10

Characters

8/10

Graphics

10/10

Soundatrack

8/10

Combat

9.5/10

Story9/10Characters8/10Graphics10/10Soundatrack 8/10Combat9.5/10

Horizon Forbidden West Review by Zeusツ

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