We recently got early access to watch the brand new Horizon: Forbidden West story trailer, and afterwards were able to chat with Ben McCaw and Annie Kitain, narrative director and senior writer behind the game, to talk about what we’d just seen. Full details are in the video below of course, but there are some big new details worth sharing – spoiler warning if you’re planning on going into the game totally fresh.
THERE MAY BE SPOILERS AHEAD!
The first big revelation is that GAIA is back – in some shape or form. Whether this is a backup version of her stored in another facility or someone – potentially Aloy or Sylens – has repaired and restored her, we can’t say at this point. Kitain remained tight-lipped about GAIA’s role, simply confirming that GAIA is indeed returning and that she’s going to be helping Aloy find a way to stop the blight and save the world. We pressed the team a little bit and McCaw confirmed that she’s a guide of sorts for Aloy, bridging the gap between Elisabet Sobeck and Aloy and connecting the pair through her presence. Interesting.
Other big news from the interview includes the fact that Carrie Ann Moss is joining the Horizon Forbidden West cast – playing a woman named Tilda. She looks suspiciously like an Old One, and potentially someone involved in the Odyssey Space Colony Project who has somehow survived being “lost.” There’s a scene in the trailer depicting her meeting Aloy at the top of some ruin, with a dining table behind her, meaning that she was perhaps expecting Aloy – it’s like she’s made her a meal as a kind of warm reception, hinting that she might have access to tech that can produce such illusions or settings. Keep your eye on her.
Kitain reveals that Tilda is a mysterious and complicated woman with a special connection to the ancient past. She’s someone who’s wrapped up in riddles and secrets, and both Kitain and McCaw are really excited for players to meet her and learn what she’s all about. Tilda isn’t the only enigmatic personality we know of though – Sylens certainly fits the bill too. McCaw is coy about whether the pair get along, saying that when two people that are too enigmatic get together he doesn’t know if they particularly gel…
Aloy isn’t taking on this huge burden to save the world alone. By her side are Erend and Varl from Zero Dawn, as well as three new companions. There’s Catalo, a Tenakth warrior and the voice in the trailer who speaks about in the West where war is the rule. He belongs to the sky clan of the Tenakth tribe, the faction that controls the snowy mountain region. His own personal story is closely tied to Aloy’s own journey in the Forbidden West. Then there’s Zo – part of the agricultural Ataru tribe, she is what’s known as a serious singer, someone who sings and soothes people as they face death. How she came to occupy this role in the tribe is apparently a tragic story.
Finally, there’s Alva, the one who was looking at some some data in the trailer that spelled out oak – researching extinct trees perhaps? She’s a member of a mysterious new tribe that Aloy will encounter in the Forbidden West. McCaw and Kitain wouldn’t tell us that tribe’s name, so it’s highly likely that’s planned for a big reveal at some point. Alva is someone who’s brilliant and curious, using her smarts to help her tribe interpret the ancient past, but is a little unsure of herself.
Anyway, there are plenty more new details in the video if you’re curious, including revamped side quests, dialogue options, news on the Odyssey Colony, narrative choices and more.
