Horizon Forbidden West Reviews
Just like Ubisoft's mega-hit franchise, Horizon Forbidden West has a lot of the right ingredients but it's let down by the pitfalls of AAA game design.
If you loved Zero Dawn and simply wanted more, warts and all, this is easy to recommend. But if you were looking for something groundbreaking with a lot more polish, then Horizon Forbidden West is really a mixed bag.
Guerrilla Games have turned everything up to 11 for Aloy's return – but is bigger necessarily better?
[Horizon Forbidden West] is a game of contrasts. A game about robot dinosaurs where you spend far too much time fighting robot meerkats and boars instead for some reason. One with brilliant voice acting that you begin to hate because some characters won't shut up. Where the side quests are great, but they're so simple as to feel pointless.
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.
As an action-adventure, an RPG, a narrative, and open-world sandbox, and a way to simply spend time exploring a breathtaking world – it falls short. Engaging at times, thrilling too, but also disjointed, clunky, and unfocused in ways we didn’t expect.
In the midst of a number of popular open world games that seek to reinvent the wheel, Horizon has instead chosen to polish and refine the typical open world format. And that’s not a bad thing at all; while innovation is important, I’d argue iterative improvement is just as important.
Horizon Forbidden West presented a huge vast world and a good story, it is one of the best Sony games in terms of visuals. Although there were some repetition, especially in the side tasks and activities, in addition to some technical problems, it was one of the games that we encourage to try because of its wonderful aspects.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Horizon Forbidden West, by most counts, is another strong release for Guerrilla Games and PlayStation. This is very much a sequel that just looks to go bigger and better than its predecessor, and in that regard, it very much achieves what it sets out to accomplish. Although I wanted more from the story and the game's general structure is very much the same when compared to Zero Dawn, fans who loved the last title should still love the adventure that this follow-up takes you on.
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 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 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
Horizon Forbidden West contains a ton of interesting and new concepts that help evolve the franchise, but it could have gone further when it comes to performance.
An incredibly solid sequel that makes everything that was good about the original bigger and better, from world building to combat or traversal mechanics.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Horizon Forbidden West is another solid title in the PlayStation stable.
Review in Polish | Read full review
While it doesn't reinvent the open world or stray too far from its predecessor, Horizon Forbidden West is a worthwhile endeavor for those in the mood for more open world adventures, with surprising nuance and complexity for those who make the trip.
Horizon: Forbidden West offers are beautiful - and dangerous - world with so much to do. I had a lot of fun exploring it. Glitches and bugs however regularly stopped me from completely enjoying the game.
Review in German | Read full review
„Horizon: Forbidden West” is such a beauty. Not only because its terrific art design and technical prowess. The way it merges multilayered and deeply humanistic message with its aesthetical paradoxes and narrative flair - that’s what makes the difference. If only Guerilla Games didn’t measure itself by Ubisoft, making the game so damn unfocused.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Horizon Forbidden West could be much more, but what's here is beautiful, cleverly designed, and just plain fun to play.
Horizon Forbidden West is a sequel that mostly relies on its great roots to hold itself up. It's bigger, has an enjoyable main story and thrilling combat, and adds a few new branches - brittle as they may be. It looks and sounds great, and some minor technical issues aside, is an adventure that's worth experiencing.