Horizon Forbidden West review: a PS5 showcase obsessed with ‘more’

The moment I was there is still fresh in my mind. Horizon Zero DawnMy first steps took me into the wild, beyond Nora territory. As I walked across red rock plateaus admiring its topographical accuracy to nature, I became slack-jawed. It was full of robotic enemies, which I battled with only bows and arrows. Every quest was completed, I collected all the metal flowers, got Shield Weaver armor and played through every Hunting Ground. Frozen Wilds expansion. To see the rest of America, three years later I took a roadtrip through Utah and Colorado.

Horizon Forbidden WestIt has kept its promise to Continue readingOn almost every level. It’s a buffet you might graze on forever, filled with quests, characters, encampments, environments, and collectibles — and battles against new deadly machines. The game’s many expanded traversal tools and combat options deeply enrich the time you spend in this gorgeous, nearly photo-real wilderness. However, Forbidden West also stumbles over this “more is better” ethos. This is both narratively and mechanically dangerous. The sequel ambitions of the series make it a weaker book. It tries too hard to be great and loses sight sometimes of its world-building strengths and strong storytelling heart. That said, Aloy is still a character I love, and her world is one I enjoyed spending time in — and one I plan to explore indefinitely.

Aloy gliding above a misty stretch of forest with her Shieldwing in Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West, especially on the PlayStation 5, is breathtaking; it’s one of the most impressively realized wilderness games I’ve ever played. You can walk straight from the interior to the outside world on your PlayStation 5, without needing loading screens. The PS5 gives you incredible freedom to travel westward and explore stunning vistas filled with majestic sequoias, vast lakes, crumbling ruins, desert sands and other natural wonders. Joshua trees and scrub-speckled flatlands give an immediate sense of place — and Forbidden WestEven better, players can explore the decaying remains of real American cities.

These landmarks mark the beginning of Forbidden West’s story about climate crises and the excesses of the ruling class. Though the last game ended with a battle against the rampant AI Hades, humanity’s victory did not repair the lethal machines that were originally part of a terraforming project meant to save the Earth. The off-kilter system has created unstable weather patterns, blighted farmlands, and polluted waterways — and Guerrilla Games’ overgrown rendition of the West Coast is a plausible projection of our real-world climate degradation.

Aloy is swimming toward the player, with burrowers and kelp behind her, in Horizon Forbidden West

Aloy’s expanded traversal tools, while flawed, greatly aid the player in exploring this world. Developers took clear cues. Legend of Zelda The Wild Breath, adding a glider to Aloy’s toolkit and more handholds for her to climb on. In Forbidden WestAloy is able to scale mountains. The peaks offer spectacular views, an advantage against enemies and the chance to glide across ravines or rolling pastures. Swimming is also a singular joy, once you’ve unlocked a tool that allows for infinite underwater breathing. I’ve spent hours watching swimming machines, and exploring the richness of marine life clinging to crumbling buildings. This is what it looks like. Forbidden West’s better fast travel system — it’s free to travel between discovered campfires, while traveling from Anywhere to a campfire costs one fast travel pack — this all weaves into a rich exploration experience, whether you’re fast-traveling or running from place to place, enjoying the abundance of the world around you.

But despite the creativity of Aloy’s new traversal tools, their uneven execution dampens some of the fun. Handholds are often not marked — by default, you pulse your Focus to reveal them — and not all surfaces are climbable, which can be frustrating. It’s especially difficult when navigating enclosed spaces, and when the margin for error is slim; a fall means repeating an entire platforming sequence. Swimming challenges in the beginning are difficult and often confusing, as they require you to see visual cues. The grappling hook is full of potential, but it’s mostly used to dislodge vent covers, and often requires players to time jumps perfectly. In a game so obsessed with the joy of exploration, it’s all the more heartbreaking to adhere to environmental puzzles’ single-track solutions.

You will be free from caves and labs. Forbidden West thrives — especially when Aloy flexes her skills as a hunter. The new machines can be deadly and frightening, so it’s a pleasure to battle or override them. There are huge rattlesnakes and giant boars, along with terrifying mammoths. Triceratops-esque robots. Like in Zero DawnThey must be taken down by scanning for potential weak spots and eliminating critical components. This is in keeping with the expanded navigation tools. Forbidden WestNew weapons and traps are also introduced. I was able to collect a variety of sharpshot bows which gave me greater freedom in developing a strategy for sniping that involved tearing out canisters and then taking out beasts using acid, flame or frost. This game also eliminates the tedious human-enemy combats. Zero Dawn. An rebel faction learned how to bypass machines. To fight humans on top of Chargers’ backs, stealth tactics must be rethought.

However, the game doesn’t do a great job of teaching takedown tactics. Zero Dawn walked players through using a Thunderjaw’s disc launcher against it, while Forbidden WestIt allows players to try traps or fire elemental shots, but not provide a better strategy for dealing with larger and more dangerous enemies. These machines can feel confusing, such as the mammoths.

Forbidden West’s struggle to teach the finer points of combat might just be because there are There are so manyYou have many options for fighting. Players who aren’t so keen on stealth have more options now — for example, expanded melee combos make the spear much more viable. There are six perk trees, with a wealth of unlockable skills (thankfully, some of Aloy’s best skills from Zero DawnSilent Strike is an example of a default. Forbidden West). However, it could all feel like a torrential downpour. The skill trees include detailed information and a Valor Surge special attack. This is in line with the broader abundance of additional options, from bows to armor to cooked meals to the game’s new crafting tables.

That’s all. Forbidden West gives players a lot to play with — and it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, even as the story keeps raising the stakes about Earth’s predicament. Still, it wasn’t what I focused on. Forbidden WestAloy only had a limited amount of time to spare the world from hunger. But I screwed around hunting wild machines, and wasted an hour shooting some 20 lizards to get their “wild meat” for an upgrade to my quiver. I made time to replace an overworked cook’s favorite griddle, and to deliver a flower to a “forbidden” lover. I took part in melee pit challenges and went on errands. It was through my deep involvement with the issues of others that I found companionships who changed my perspective on this wonderful world. I was drawn to my comrades through this attachment, which led me to many other settlements that were full of particular concerns, such as labor disputes or simple interpersonal spats.

Forbidden WestWhen Aloy engages with tribal communities and settlements, she is able to hit her stride and invest in her fellow characters. These aren’t story quests I had to play along Aloy’s journey — but they’re the ones I chose to anyway. The companions aren’t very useful in a fight, but that didn’t make me love them any less. They’re vital in a game where you’re a hero who has to You can save The world. These relationships show a world that is worth saving.

However, Forbidden West continues the series’ depiction of a post-racial society, while also borrowing aesthetics from various cultures — Zero Dawn received fair criticism for appropriating Indigenous cultures in its tribal designs, as well as using the term “Braves.” (In Zero DawnYou find out that Apollo, an AI function, had been destroyed. It contained human history records. It is believed that this allows humanity to begin again, without any racism. While the racial diversity of the Horizon games feels like progress in the context of AAA games more broadly, it’s at odds with how race, ethnicity, and culture are borrowed here without being discussed, or even acknowledged. I may have missed audio logs or journal entries that explain these issues, but that reinforces the idea that they aren’t core to the story.

The In the end, this is Aloy’s story: She continues to be a headstrong protagonist, and I say that admiringly. In Forbidden West, she takes no shit — but she also learns valuable lessons about accepting help, and about acknowledging the grief that comes from growing up as an outcast. She is a champion for those she loves. Forbidden WestYou will be struck by the stark contrast in her convictions with those of Dr. Elisabet SOBACK, creator of Zero Dawn and character from which Aloy was created. Aloy, on the other hand, fights to protect the lives of all those still alive. Sobeck saw the devastation of humanity as an assumption and tried to make it a reality. Even as the story throws in twists and additional characters that alter the scope of the threat she’s up against, her steadfast resolve remains. Getting to play as her — in such a beautiful and densely packed world — is a journey I won’t walk away from anytime soon.

Horizon Forbidden WestThe game will be available on PlayStation 5 or PlayStation 4 February 18. Sony Interactive Entertainment provided a code for the download of this game to review on PS5. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions from products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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