REVIEW: Horizon Forbidden West is the great evolution of Zero Dawn

At the time of the launch of the PS4, Guerrilla launched with the console the game Killzone: ShadowFall and good, we saw the result. Fortunately, in 2017, we were graced with a new game from the studio, called Horizon Zero Dawn. The game pleased both critics and the public and here we are with the sequel.

Now we know the franchise name is just Horizon and Zero dawn it has a lot more to do with the story of the first game. For this reason, the new game was named Horizon forbidden west, as we are now going to literally explore the entire Western United States.

Speaking of the Forbidden West, it is important to note that it was already mentioned in the first game in a very detailed document (read here, on the game's wiki). This is important because practically everything that the author of the document reports, we can witness in the new title.

Towards the Forbidden West

With the end of the first game, we discover that Zero Dawn was a terraforming system created by Elisabet Sobeck a thousand years ago to save planet Earth. It was divided into 9 subordinate roles so that each one took care of a different area on the planet.

The problem was when Hades, one of these functions, by an unknown sign, rebelled from the system and generated all the problem we saw there. In addition to the issue with Hades, we discover that Aloy is a clone of Elisabet and the only one capable of cleaning up all the mess that Zero Dawn has left.

Horizon Forbidden West picks up just a few months after all that, with Aloy in search of a backup of GAIA, the main subordinate function of Zero Dawn. With the terraforming system corrupted, fauna, animals and humans began to suffer from the "plague" and only with Aloy stabilizing Zero Dawn, things can finally get back to normal.

Coming to the Forbidden West

Aloy is willing to do anything to stabilize Zero Dawn and finally bring Elisabet's plan to fruition. With that in mind, the only option left is to head to the Forbidden West. The reason involves Sylens, a character you probably hate because of the first game.

The way the Forbidden West is presented to us is simple and straightforward, which is great, but both from the previous game's document and from what NPCs comment on, I figured the location would be more… sinister. Don't get me wrong, the exploration is amazing, the settings are beautiful, and the new machines bring a great challenge, but the story has a problem with selling something and, in practice, being something else.

And that doesn't just happen with this mythological issue in relation to the Forbidden West, but in all its development. We have great characters, moments that I felt in the scene of Thor arriving in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War, but it seems that everything is escalating, escalating and escalating, to in the end deliver a solution so simple that it generates a feeling of frustration.

On the other hand, if it fails to deliver an outcome at the height of its development, I can't say the same about the side missions. There are many missions and all the ones I had the opportunity to do carry a very interesting emotional weight.

An example of this was one of the missions where a village is suffering and without strength to fight, as they always depend on the position of their leader. The key point of the mission, however, is that this leader is in blind faith, waiting for a divine message that, in that context, does not exist. The outcome of the mission generates an interesting discussion with a solution that I particularly loved.

The Horizon Forbidden West Experience

If the game's history makes some strange slips, the same can't be said for the experience of playing it. Even with the game in its simplest version (PS4 base), the game is beautiful. Despite being a cross-platform game, I felt a significant improvement over Zero Dawn in every aspect.

The characters' faces are much more detailed, we have a much wider variety of scenarios, which was already pretty cool in the first game. We have snow, forests, swamps, great mountains and even the sea. All this made the game a little heavier, but luckily it has good optimization.

Most of the time, I didn't experience choking or fluidity problems, just a certain delay when opening the map or moving the bench and the like. It's nothing that will take your peace, but it takes a little while. Already in area transitions, I had a feeling of nostalgia with the PlayStation 2.

This is probably something exclusive to the PS4 version, but whenever the game needs to load a new area, for example, a loading screen pops up out of nowhere. It's very brief and doesn't affect the overall experience.

Now, one thing that bothered me was a bugs related to the game's fast travel command. The map is large and rich in detail and you will need to use the fast travel feature many times. The thing is, every time I needed to use this feature for the last area of ​​the game, it went into an infinite loading screen, again a PlayStation 2-style experience, but this time quite unpleasant.

Like every current game, Horizon Forbidden West has a photo mode and as you can see in the photos I took for the analysis, you can do interesting things if you know how to tweak the adjustments, changing Aloy's pose and expression, putting filters and configuring more camera details. The only issue that bothered me about him was when I changed Aloy's pose and that created a blur in the character. It doesn't matter if it's moving or not, it's there.

Gameplay, combat and exploration

Horizon Forbidden West is definitely one of the coolest things I've had the pleasure of playing this year. The first game has great combat when it comes to machines, but it lacks in combat against human enemies. Around here, we had improvements in everything, raising not only the challenge, but also the possibilities.

Aloy now has the help of a glider and a grappling hook like Batman, which also serves to pull heavy objects and this allows you to approach enemies and machines in different ways. In addition, we have new variations of bows, dart throwers, bolt throwers and even the so-called shredder gauntlets.

The skill tree is gigantic and even doing a lot of optional stuff in the game, I couldn't complete any of the 6 variants completely. They are divided into Warrior, emboscada, Caçadora, survivor, saboteur e train driver. Each of them works a different role for the protagonist, ranging from hand-to-hand combat to converting machines and traps.

Speaking of abilities, Aloy now has two new roles in combat: one is called weapon techniques and, as its name suggests, brings new functionality to them. Some examples are the hunter's bow, where you can use a volley of arrows or a triple arrow. These abilities use your stamina gauge, represented in yellow, and can be used by aiming and shooting with the button. R1 instead of R2.

The other novelty is called Bravery Rush. Upon activating one of these boosts, an animation plays and Aloy activates a device, increases her stamina, enhances her strength or simply causes a large area explosion. Each of the skill trees has unique Boosts, but you can only use 1 at a time, and they can be upgraded to level 3. Boosts need the purple bravery bar to work by being activated by holding the button L1 and then the R1.

Putting all this into practice against the machines is really very good. I already loved the idea of ​​you having to use tactics for each machine in the first game, and here, it's maintained and with quality. You will need to understand what each type of ammunition does to each enemy, study the best strategy to perform well.

In addition to keeping the machines from the first game and the Frozen Wilds DLC, Horizon Forbidden West brings some interesting news. Guerrilla recently released a brief battle with one of the new game's most iconic beasts, but you can expect things like kangaroos, dinosaur variations, and other surprises.

Finally, exploring the world of Horizon Forbidden West is very interesting. Because of Aloy's new "trinkets", you will have a certain spirit of take and bring in the game. This includes a new material called drilho, used to upgrade various weapons and armor.

They are secret caves, black boxes of planes from the old world, the famous cauldrons as in the first game, which serve both for exploration with puzzle, as well as to increase the amount of machines you can convert. To top it all off, Aloy now has a special item that allows her to breathe underwater. This not only increases the rate of exploitation, but the dangers around the world. All this helps to enrich the already very interesting lore of Horizon, being a full plate for the curious.

Among the activities around the map, you'll have hunts, melee challenges, various rebel outposts, scattered collectibles and, of course, the return of the incredibles necks. Despite having a bit of the feeling of Ubisoft's open world games, for example, I thought everything was on point to remain interesting and non-repetitive.

Atmosphere, soundtrack and voice acting

The setting of Horizon Zero Dawn already didn't need comments for being very beautiful, but Horizon Forbidden West delivers something even better. It's just wonderful to be exploring a place full of snow and suddenly come across a big and immense desert or the sea.

These scenery changes are very rich in detail and I have rarely come across repetitive or dull locations. The only area that bothered me, not because of the beauty, but because of the way it was made, is San Francisco. The place is divided into places with seas and many buildings, but it looks like an unfinished place many times, taking you to regions with glitches and apparently aimless.

As far as the soundtrack is concerned, I have no complaints. The game remains faithful to the predecessor Zero Dawn, with good ambient music and the main theme of the game remains, although it undergoes some changes in rhythm at times, generating even more emotion. It's not the game's strongest point, but it's competent.

In Portuguese localization, we have a very good job here. Tatiana Keplmair returns to lend her voice to the protagonist and we have several participations of other great national voice actors in NPCs and company. Despite the excellence of the work, I felt a certain strangeness in the lip movements of the characters in languages ​​other than the original. For most people this won't get in the way, but it's good to warn you.

Verdict

Horizon Forbidden West is a great continuation of a new franchise that promises a lot. Although it takes a little time to deliver an outcome that matches the rest of the game, it manages to deliver an excellent experience in its combat, exploration of side missions and much more, mixing great moments of shared tension, fun, or just enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

Horizon Forbidden West was played on the base PS4 on a copy provided by Sony. The game will be released this Friday, February 18, for Playstation 4 and 5.

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