It seems that the lost boys have found a home: if indeed i Guerrilla Gamesdevelopers behind the famous saga of Killzone but who previously published the game under the name of Lost Boys Games, they know how to do one thing, it is reinvent itself. After having had an iconic Sony exclusive FPS, 4 years of hiatus allowed these guys to churn out Horizon Zero Dawnone of the cornerstones of PlayStation 4. After 5 years, now it’s the turn of Horizon Forbidden Westcross-gen chapter coming to both Sony consoles and that we will analyze in this review.
We certainly can’t say that Aloy and companions are instead accepted in their home: after the events of the first game, the problems are many. Beaten HADES, the machines are still out of control and the Earth is dying from a serious plague. The solution seems to be hidden in the Forbidden West, an area under the control of the Tenakths and which hides a series of very interesting mysteries. But how can one person’s journey save the entire planet Earth?
The narrative thread
Tense like that of Aloy’s arc, the narrative thread of Horizon it restarts exactly 6 months after the events of the first chapter: Aloy is still grappling with her crusade to save the world, even as it continues to rotate and with that things move on. Friends and companions met in Zero Dawn they are still there, ready to help a reluctant Aloy who feels the weight of the Earth on her shoulders. During game the plot follows the good things done in the first game, proposing one intriguing storyfull of twists and, this time, even more advanced (thanks to not being the first chapter of a game).
In practical terms the main story maintains the qualities – for better or for worse – that it had shown in Horizon Zero Dawn: Maybe the Guerrilla Games tried to revolutionize something, but what came out was a kind of clumsy attempt to update. Take for example the choices in the dialogues: as in the past, they have also been reinserted in Forbidden Westbut the weight they have and the amount put into play is so light that removing them would not have caused any damage.
In reality it is likely that the whole thing is due to the power of the main plot: the story, as evidenced by the success of Zero Dawn, has really won the hearts of gamers, and sometimes it is better to do what you have well, rather than homologate the rest of the title. This is also noticeable with regard to the side missionswhich are part of a sort of macro-quest division (as seen in The Witcher), but which in the end do not involve major changes and remain a simple character development tool – as well as the discovery of subplots. On the contrary, the latter in themselves are pleasant, and the care in creating them has been a lot, making them definitely of quality. The accuracy used to manage the “collateral” content should also be considered, interesting for those who want to find out more but not vital for the continuation of the plot.
The right bow
We tried (for the review) Horizon Forbidden West testing every single piece of gameplay, trying to understand the difference between the various applicable playstyles. During your adventure, in fact, you can choose whether to rely on pure stealth, or maybe engage the enemies face to face. In both cases, you can place yourself in front of (or behind) them with a bow and arrow, or perhaps using various kinds of traps, or even opting for melee, taking advantage of the verticality of the game map (thanks also to the grappling hook, new addition of this chapter).
As for the quantity of weapons and armor, everything has increased: the possibility of opting for new weapons, combined with the care taken to prepare various types of gameplay, will allow you to adapt your style based on the weapons chosen, always inserted in the convenient wheel of choice. What Guerrilla did in the plot, he also replicated in the gameplay by expanding the good that had been done previously.
This therefore means having a wider gameplay, which is also reflected in the game map: there are in fact more secondary, more collectibles, more details to discover and, consequently, more objects to unlock. So if you loved the open world of Horizon Zero Dawn, with Forbidden West you will still have it, and more. As already mentioned, unfortunately the secondary plots do not shine that much (except in rare cases), but in the end they let themselves be played and do not fall into the trap of fetch quests, indeed offering fun interactions, especially with the environment.
To further expand the game – making it lean more towards the RPG than the simple action – are the skills (to be unlocked and to choose) and the statistics in the game, which will give more “tactic” to the clashes. The skill trees are one of the most interesting innovations, and the choice of enhancing the skills that can be activated manually allows you to have further attacks that you can unleash at the right time. All this is obviously seasoned with a greater verticality, which in the course of the game will be discovered more and more by giving the player a series of approaches that are not at all obvious. However, the real management of situations remains in the hands of weapons and armor: it is vital to choose the right equipment for the right fight, each with pros and cons that will certainly be taken into consideration as the adventure progresses by the player.
An excellent quality
Horizon Forbidden West is technically an excellent product. The care of the game world, the details that you will be able to see while traveling in the Forbidden West and (above all) the faces have an immense quality. Some shots may even make your skin crawl from the level of detail (and count that Horizon Forbidden West during the review was tested purely in performance mode). Even the work done with regard to facial expressions is of the highest level, you will notice it immediately with the main protagonists (a little less with the secondary ones, but it is normal).
Another advantage of the game is the way in which the visual quality is shown on the screen: every color and every detail improves what is already well done in Zero Dawn, thanks also to the power that PlayStation 5 is able to deliver. Speaking of the difference in the game between the two platforms, in practical terms PS5 allows for faster loading, an improved experience thanks to Dual Sense and haptic feedback (one of the best ever seen on the Sony console), and a more refined lighting system. . Other than that, the game also runs well on PlayStation 4, but of course the true quality can only be seen on PlayStation 5.
The voice acting of the game is of high quality, and the dialogue manages to express the depth of the title’s script. Every word is said in the right way, and during the excited phases we did not see the presence of technical problems capable of undermining the pathos expressed by the actors (and the voice actors).
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