We're now well into the first week week of release for Guerilla's fantastic and latest iteration of their Horizon open world in "Horizon Forbidden West" .
Aloy must save the world once again by rebooting a framework version of Gaia, then seeking out and reinitializing her sub functions that are scattered across... yup you guessed it, the Forbidden West.
Forbidden West does improve somewhat over the first game in terms of narrative and character development, but story isn't the reason most of us play Horizon. It's slick gameplay, exploration and incredible combat against robot animal/dinosaur machines.
This sequel certainly doesn't disappoint in that respect as many improvements have been made to combat and a plethora of new machines have been introduced. At it's core this is a faster moving, distillation of the Monster Hunter franchise. Hunt, Loot, Craft, Upgrade... Hunt bigger prey, Loot better mats, Craft better gear....
During encounters with machines certain parts have to be targeted and knocked off in order to be collected after combat and used to upgrade Aloy's weapons and armor. At more challenging difficulty levels these parts must be detached from the machines prior to killing them or they will be destroyed, along with the machine, in the final explosion.
When I played the first game I was having some transitional problems moving from mouse and keyboard to controller and found it quite difficult to use ranged weapons effectively. I ended up playing the entire game, pretty much bashing everything with a stick.
but this time around I felt that ranged weapons were a lot easier to use and felt a lot more powerful.
There are a wider variety of weapons and ammo types this time, but all very situational. Different enemies have different weaknesses and resistances (again like MH) but swapping between the right weapons for the job, or building up elemental effects to then trigger with different ammo, is very easy thanks to "concentration". A bullet time effect that slows time while you draw and fire your weapon.
Concentration can be extended for longer periods and recharged quicker by enhancements from various skill trees available to Aloy as you level her and gain skill points to allocate.
You can spec into each type of weapon, passive and active skill abilities and even Horizon's very own version of an "ultimate". The level of customisation is surprisingly deep and feels quite personal and unique to your playstyle.
The overall flow of combat, coupled with the skill trees and character builds all gel really well to mark a big improvement over what was already a fun experience in the first game.
Other big quality of life upgrades are the "stash" and "fast travel" points.
While out and about you still need to craft ammo and healing items as with zero dawn. Only this time once your pack is full of machine parts, weaves, cores and sticks etc. any excess items are automatically deposited in your "stash".
This stash can be accessed from some fast travel points and most towns and outposts. You can also automatically use any materials from your stash when crafting at a workbench.
Bonfires still represent fast travel and quicksave points, although you don't need to interact with them to activate each one, proximity is enough. They are mercifully frequent in Forbidden West.
You can fast travel for free, from one bonfire to any other bonfire you have already discovered and unlocked on the map. You also have the ability to craft "fast travel packs" at any time. These allow you to travel from your current location to a bonfire, at the cost of one pack per time.
Overall Horizon Forbidden West is a big improvement over the first game and the first game was already tremendously well made.
The graphics, soundtrack, voice acting, controls and combat are all finely tuned and exceptionally well crafted.
There are a few annoyances mostly centred around jumping and platforming, but nothing that detracts from the enjoyment of what is one of the best, if not the best game out on PS5 so far.
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