Starting off with the first impression that Forbidden West will inevitably instill in anyone that plays it is the best place to begin when discussing Zero Dawns succesor, since sadly it is arguably its greatest strength. Horizon Forbidden West is a gorgeous game. Enemy designs are hyper detailed, and the densely realized landscape to explore is a sight to behold, utilizing the power of the PS5 that very few,(if any),have come close to, to this day. Much like in the prior title, I was constantly in photo mode, as the game relentlessly throws jaw dropping visual displays at a near constant basis. From a technical perspective the game runs just as well, with virtually no hiccups throughout my playthrough. An incredible feat for an open world game. However, Forbidden West shares far too many similarities to its open world counterparts that shouldnt be replicated; ultimately making the venture through the GAIA transmorphed Earth a borderline middling affair.
From the get go, the ESG agenda is hard to miss. The apparent vitriol Aloy has for men is downright ugly to experience. Almost every White man is either a boob with no common sense or downright evil. Anyone with a remote sense of competence is typically a women or an effeminate black man, and the pattern of gender/race correlation to ones morality continues through, from beginning to end. Its not at a level to outright ruin the experience, but certainly dampers any attempt for an engaging story. This is particulary egregious given how much help Forbidden West's story needs.
While the backstory is intriguing and well fleshed out, the deliverance is an absolute drag. Almost every bit of exposition is simply one character standing infront of the other, stating their lines like slightly animated mannequins. A few nuances in direction makes it a slight improvement over the it's predecessor containing the same issue, but doesn't remedy the problem at all. This is a very prominent motiff for the title in general; Improving on the prior game's faults without ever outright fixing the problem.
Combat is kept relatively the same as the original with a few welcome additions, yet are hardly viable given the efficacy the strike, shoot, dodge formula is. Fighting giant mech beast continues to be thrilling, but the human enemy types once again have braindead AI and the attempts to add depth to the fighting mechanics for the most part fall flat. The gameplay just doesnt have the legs to satiate such a long venture.
Like many contemporary open world games, it is just far too content rich for its own good. Horizon Forbidden West is insanely bloated, with many activities being boring filler that studios just cant seem to help but implement for the sake of padding. Not only that, its the same sort of activities you find in a myriad of other titles; most of the time those games do it better as well.
Horizon Forbidden West is indeed a good game that improves on Zero Dawn in virtually every way, but for every positive attribute theres just as many negatives pulling the other way. Aside from the visual spectacle its sadly not a very memorable adventure, joining the exceedingly crowded list of open world experiences with a lot to do, but not much truly worth doing.
From the get go, the ESG agenda is hard to miss. The apparent vitriol Aloy has for men is downright ugly to experience. Almost every White man is either a boob with no common sense or downright evil. Anyone with a remote sense of competence is typically a women or an effeminate black man, and the pattern of gender/race correlation to ones morality continues through, from beginning to end. Its not at a level to outright ruin the experience, but certainly dampers any attempt for an engaging story. This is particulary egregious given how much help Forbidden West's story needs.
While the backstory is intriguing and well fleshed out, the deliverance is an absolute drag. Almost every bit of exposition is simply one character standing infront of the other, stating their lines like slightly animated mannequins. A few nuances in direction makes it a slight improvement over the it's predecessor containing the same issue, but doesn't remedy the problem at all. This is a very prominent motiff for the title in general; Improving on the prior game's faults without ever outright fixing the problem.
Combat is kept relatively the same as the original with a few welcome additions, yet are hardly viable given the efficacy the strike, shoot, dodge formula is. Fighting giant mech beast continues to be thrilling, but the human enemy types once again have braindead AI and the attempts to add depth to the fighting mechanics for the most part fall flat. The gameplay just doesnt have the legs to satiate such a long venture.
Like many contemporary open world games, it is just far too content rich for its own good. Horizon Forbidden West is insanely bloated, with many activities being boring filler that studios just cant seem to help but implement for the sake of padding. Not only that, its the same sort of activities you find in a myriad of other titles; most of the time those games do it better as well.
Horizon Forbidden West is indeed a good game that improves on Zero Dawn in virtually every way, but for every positive attribute theres just as many negatives pulling the other way. Aside from the visual spectacle its sadly not a very memorable adventure, joining the exceedingly crowded list of open world experiences with a lot to do, but not much truly worth doing.