Horizon Forbidden West Reviews
Horizon Forbidden West will leave you spellbound when you notice the ease with which it juggles the machinations of its technical wizardry and the pure unadulterated heart of the story. Guerrilla Games demonstrates an obsession with detail that borders on downright insanity and punches up. Really hard. Very much like a David versus Goliath. With every part of its franchise soul becoming bigger, better and badder, Horizon Forbidden West takes not just a small step, but a giant leap in the evolution of open-world video games. This is not only a GOTY contender for 2022 – it is going to break down the doors on the Hall of Eternal Fame.
The combat is tighter, and the game is prettier. But it failed to iterate on its open-world at all, which is an essential part of the game. It feels dated, and the invisible force field that surrounds the machine spawns feels extremely janky. The most important addition is the wide variety of machines you can now fight, and that makes the game worth it alone.
Horizon Forbidden West succeeds in maintaining the high premise that teased us in the first chapter, while reformulating and strengthening some of the weak points. The retro engineering of the machines, as well as the AI that made them so fearsome, remains sublime on both the technical and design sides, expanding the catalogue of enemies. The human AI isn't quite up to the task, but the exploration is one of the most rewarding to experience on Sony's console. The open world, with its ingenious puzzles and meticulously painted regions with colourful microclimates, is one of the best in recent years. There are no vacuous areas of meaninglessness; everything is condensed to offer an experience that is never monotonous, that respects the player's time, and never wanes interest. The story experiences a swinging situation. While on the one hand there are palpable flashes of brilliance, which almost eclipse the narrative quality problems highlighted in the first chapter, on the other hand you arrive towards the finale with breathlessness and many questions. Although there are some technical glitches, which never undermined the experience, eighty hours of gameplay flow pleasantly in one of the most evocative and inspired worlds ever created in the PlayStation forges. It's all enhanced by a sophisticated formula that brings out all the combat styles and lively nature of Horizon. Water, land and air are teeming with life, while among the moss and climbing plants we can explore rust giants of the past, seeing our reality from a new perspective. The aesthetics presented by the development team manage to excel and shine in every aspect throughout the experience, providing moments of pure visual enjoyment. Embedded beneath the programming codes, however, is a message that should be read with the heart, before the mind. I hope that the moral shock raised in the work will reach all fans, trusting that the social criticism made by Aloy will be useful to inspire our generation as well. All in all, this is a must-have for those who love the genre and who own a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5, but it could have been more daring to break through the threshold of memorability.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Taking place around 6 months after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, Forbidden West begins with a recap cutscene of the events of the previous game before Aloy heads off where she must rebuild a super-AI called the Gaia in hopes to save her world. This is the part where I say, if you’ve never played Horizon Zero Dawn, I strongly suggest you go back and play through that first. Horizon Forbidden West is easily my current contender for game of the year. It’s got everything you need, an interesting story, satisfying combat, and visuals so good you’ll be forever in “Photo Mode”. Horizon Forbidden West is a must-own for anyone with a PlayStation 4|5.
Horizon Forbidden West goes bigger and better in almost every regard but some rough story elements and clumsy climbing mechanics keep it from being as outstanding as it is visually.
Horizon Forbidden West is a true next-gen experience that is a worthwhile playthrough for anyone that has access to it. While the story has some issues, it was still engaging enough to see through to the end.
Horizon Forbidden West is a perfect example of a sequel done right.
Horizon: Forbidden West is undoubtedly a beautiful game, with expanded lore and a pretty good story (minus a disappointing sequel-baiting third act.) The platforming is still terrible though, some of the design choices are questionable and Aloy’s constant chatter is borderline game-breaking. Having said that, there’s been a good deal of improvement and care put into fighting machines – which is still this game’s biggest draw. There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline-soaked fights with the larger behemoths in this world. Forbidden West is not perfect but this is a solid sequel to one of the better open worlds in recent times.
Horizon Forbidden West is a worthy sequel to Zero Dawn. While the second game in Aloy's journey doesn't bring anything groundbreaking, it does come with a much bigger scale, all while introducing enhancements that make exploration easier and combat deeper. But the reason to play this game is to get lost in the deep world and lore.
A sequel that surpasses its predecessor. A must-see journey to the West full of beauty and self-improvement. Aloy returns by the big door.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Horizon Forbidden West embraces everything about its predecessor and makes strides in producing an even more compelling world to explore, with intense combat and story moments, and shiny new robo-dinosaurs to punch in the face.
Even in the face of a lack of innovation, Horizon Forbidden West properly articulates a fantastic open-world sequel that accommodates the response of its predecessor.
The Guerrilla Games team managed to create an experience that is clearly characterized as a natural evolution of the first game. In Horizon Forbid West we are rewarded with exactly all the fans of the first game wish for: deeper characterization of Aloy ; an expansion of the post-apocalyptic world; concise plot development; guaranteed beautiful graphics; and of course, more machines to hunt! The capacity and security of the part of the studio, are notorious and in order to provide an experience that meets what we wished for!
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Any sequel to a highly-successful game runs the risk of falling short of expectations, but Forbidden West is one of the rare instances where the hype surrounding a game didn’t lead to crushing disappointment. By borrowing from all of the successful elements of Zero Dawn and building on them, Guerilla has ensured that this game matches the quality of the first.
Horizon Forbidden West is the most standard big budget video game you can find and that is the game's most glaring flaw because as much as everything looks and feels expensive, it also feels as by-the-numbers as possible and lacks the kind of personal touches a product needs to become a true masterpiece.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Instead of honing in on what made their world so exciting to explore in 2017, they've made it prettier but sacrificed the narrative, which takes a deep dive into ridiculous and uninteresting in the last third.
Horizon Forbidden West is a success in almost every way even if it sometimes does too much in its open world. Guerrilla Games takes everything great about Horizon Zero Dawn and improves upon it all while offering up an engrossing narrative with memorable characters, exciting battles, and a whole lot of fun.
It takes everything good that was in the first part, builds on it by smoothing out practically all the rough edges of the first part.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A questionably massive escapade through an uncharted territory that takes Aloy beyond her comfort zone, fulfilling her conviction in finding out her past, and what the intent was behind her creation. A sequel which seeks to decidedly push the envelope with everything that made Zero Dawn a success, and turn it into one of PlayStation’s keystone franchises for years to come, only personifying it by relaying an excellent chapter in one of gaming’s greatest mascot’s celebrated journey. The Horizon series has sought itself to be PlayStation’s pick over its gold standard collection of first party titles, and Forbidden West sits firmly amongst as one of gaming’s greatest, ever.
Horizon Forbidden West picks up the story after the events of Horizon New Dawn. Aloy has to save the world and it's not that easy. Especially when she has to deal with a new threat. Fortunately, you as a player are there to guide her and provide her with new skills. The world in Forbidden West is huge and there is a lot to experience, although some activities feel a bit sparse. In addition to a large open world, there is also enough time to enjoy the environment in amazement to also use Photo Mode. Horizon Forbidden West already feels better than its predecessor.
Review in Dutch | Read full review