Aloy’s Epic Return

After almost five years, Aloy makes her glorious return in Horizon Forbidden West. At least Guerrilla Games does not make the red-haired warrior wait long since the new title picks up only months after Horizon Zero Dawn’s narrative. Aloy brings many heroes from Horizon Zero Dawn along for the continuing story, and the developers made everyone look so much better with incredible details. The Load Screen reviews the latest installment for Aloy as she journeys to free the remaining humans from a cybernetic re-apocalypse.

Aloy’s story is already epic, and Forbidden West jumps into that deep narrative, but it gives enough backstory that new players will catch up quickly on what is going on. She starts off completing her search of the last remaining stronghold with a backup of Gaia, the AI that saved the world. As she makes her final exploration, Varl from Horizon Zero Dawn tracks down the hero who vanished during a massive celebration of her victory. Aloy shows how far she progressed with the technology of the old world when she tosses him an extremely rare Focus, a tool of the ancients used for augmented reality clues. Her story continues from there as she hunts for the world’s salvation in the Forbidden West, and the terms of victory shift further against her battle against the blight.

She gets her hands on more lost technology, making traversing and combat more engaging and diversified than Zero Dawn. The added Pullcaster allows Aloy to pull herself towards targetable locations quickly, and some can offer original ways to clear the reach of robots below. However, the new glider is useful on its own but used in tandem with other equipment expands the parkour options for mind-blowing combat possibilities. Aloy retains access to every weapon from the previous game with four ammunition types, but the new Lance has devastating effects on humans and machines.

Guerrilla Games also improved the expanse of parkour through the UI overlay with Aloy’s Focus which players can turn on all the time. While the depth of maneuverability and climbing is freeing to Aloy, they do not reach the overall dimensions of games like Dying Light 2. Since Aloy can use her Focus to target climbing routes, the rigid and well-marked pathways of the prior game become obsolete. We did find reuse animations and maneuvers from Zero Dawn, like Aloy’s quickly repel action. Although, those recycled assets seem minor compared to the content added by the developers, which makes for an immersive and massive world to explore.

The depth in robotic creatures represents a good example of the new game’s width. It is a blend of many returning beasts with upgraded forms and even more brand-new fauna for an impressive line-up. Creatures like the raging warthog-style Bristlebacks join the Tallnecks, Scorchers, and powerful variants of the Horizon Zero Dawn cybernetic monsters. Our favorite so far is the Shellsnappers, especially when these impressive amphibious machines catch the player by surprise. The developers reworked every creature, and even the Stalkers show a more complex texturing and multiple materials than the original.

The Ravagers are not the only stuff returning from Horizon Zero Dawn and its expansion getting photorealistic texturing. Many characters come back to help Aloy again and get the same graphical treatment, including Erend and Varl. The amount of detail given to each NPC deserves a spotlight that could shine on any NPC and robotic enemies with the amount of detail provided. The beard on Varl’s face when he first catches up with Aloy is worthy of jealousy from God of War’s Kratos. Original characters are equally as detailed; including the healer Zo with her tattoos, headdress, and woven are worth a thousand pictures.

Luckily, the developers added a pretty decent photo mode. While it is more comprehensive than the Horizon Zero Dawn version, it suffers several issues that Guerrilla Games is working out. They have already resolved the little lighting leaks from some textures, but the camera can still get stuck in objects like the ground. The other limitations of the camera may not have easy fixes, such as camera maximum distance from Aloy and using the camera in cities and other areas.

The game’s biggest issues are the depth of resource management and the overall number of completable objectives scattered across the map. Forbidden West will have completionists playing extra hours while clearing out everything last mission. Seriously, the world feels as packed as an Assassin’s Creed title. Meanwhile, the rest of us will pump in hours simply scavenging for supplies since the game cranked up the variety of resources needed for upgrading and crafting. With the upgrade costs and crafting four distinct ammo types for a wide range of weapons, Aloy better have a Death Stranding size backpack and the legs that go with it.

The beauty of Forbidden West will have gamers returning for hours around a large open map, while the camera mode will do that for virtual photographers. Some minor issues cause occasional frame-drops, but Guerrilla Games is actively fixing them, like with the camera. Even with those problems, Horizon Forbidden West is a worthy successor. Unfortunately, PC players must wait since it is exclusive to PlayStation 4 and 5. Those PC gamers can always satisfy their post-apocalyptic robotic wilderness adventure with Horizon Zero Dawn, another title highly recommended by The Load Screen team.

Horizon Forbidden West

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

• Developer: Guerrilla Games

• Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

• Release Date: 2/18/2022

• Played on: PlayStation 5