Horizon Forbidden West – Meet the new adventure on PC!

Five years after the release of the first installment, Guerrilla Games has released Horizon Forbidden West, a sequel to Eloi’s exciting adventures in the stunning world of the future. The new game not only continues the story of the first installment but expands on it, bringing us an even more exciting story and new features. And now this adventure is available for PC players as well.

On March 21, the full edition of Horizon Forbidden West, the direct sequel to the successful Horizon Zero Dawn created by the talented team at Guerrilla Games, was released on PC. The sequel brings even more scale, new mechanics, and changes compared to the original, surprising players with its variety and the beauty of the virtual world.

The beginning of the journey

The story of Horizon Forbidden West resumes six months after the conclusion of the events of the first installment. Eloi, after spending this time in isolation, returns to challenge a new threat that is slowly but surely poisoning all life. After the death of Aida, it becomes clear that the death of this super AI has only temporarily stopped the destruction, and now to save the world Eloi sets out to find a copy of Gaea, a machine intelligence created to revitalize the planet. She is joined on this difficult journey by both old and new friends, including Erend and Varl, but they will also have to face new enemies, while the mysterious Silence continues his manipulations in the shadows.

After the epic events of the first part, it was not easy for the developers to create a decent sequel, but they managed to do it. There were fears that the plot might seem too narrow compared to the scale of the previous events. However, the developers managed to raise the bar even higher, revealing new global mysteries and details of the Gaea organization, the secrets of Elizabeth Sobek’s life, and much more. The writers have moved the plot off-planet, which gives hope for an epic continuation of the story, but much is being withheld about the details for now due to embargo restrictions.

Finale, Disappointment, and Potential

The second installment of Horizon Forbidden West, though it expanded the scope of the story, left some players with disappointment due to the finale. While it is logical and properly wraps up the current stage, some felt cheated when they learned that it was only the beginning of new challenges rather than the conclusion of the story. Horizon Zero Dawn didn’t have such an open ending, so the ending of the second installment feels like a kind of disconnect between expectations and reality, making the time spent playing the game somewhat devalued.

Although the developers position the game as an open-world Action/RPG, the story is still the main focus, with everything else being add-ons for fun and to increase the game’s longevity. Despite promises of bigger challenges ahead, it’s unknown when exactly the third installment will be released, and it could take a few years.

Due to limited playthrough time, many players focused mainly on the story, paying attention to side quests only occasionally. As a result, some were able to complete the game in a relatively short amount of time, but Horizon Forbidden West is so rich in interesting content that players could have spent much more time – 30 to 40 hours or even more – to fully explore this exciting world.

Explore, fight, have fun

The world of Horizon Forbidden West has certainly become more expansive and diverse. The game’s map has grown considerably, and the number of available activities, quests, and entertainment has increased significantly. Players can now enjoy various leisure activities such as racing robotic animals, creating tattoos, face painting, or even playing board games. Being able to challenge locals to a fight adds to the adrenaline rush, and the ultimate challenge to the strongest at the end allows for a special rank and status in the game’s world.

Traveling through the world of Horizon Forbidden West has become even more exciting and varied thanks to new means of transportation. In addition to the familiar fast travel through campfires and riding animals, the second part of the game features new tools: a glider for short flights and a mask for breathing underwater. Traveling has become even more exciting and engaging with these new features.

In addition, the variety of robofauna in the game has been significantly expanded. Now players can not only move on the ground but also in the air on a variety of mechanical creatures. However, the opportunity to fly on robopterodactyls becomes available only towards the end of the game. The possibilities to tame robots have also been significantly expanded: players can now tame even the most dangerous and large machines.

Locations in Horizon Forbidden West became even more diverse and large-scale. The familiar snowy mountains have been joined by coastal areas with beaches, deserts with endless dunes, swamps, steppes, jungles, and savannahs. In addition, the game has underwater locations, adding variety to the exploration of the world. Although they are not full-fledged separate locations, but rather separate areas on the map, such as flooded cities or lakes, they still give the game a unique character.

Eloi can now spend long periods underwater, collecting useful resources and herbs. The aquatic areas have become an integral part of the game world, blending seamlessly into the main storyline and providing players with many interesting quests and stories to explore. These new features make the game world more lively and exciting, allowing players to feel not only a heroine saving the world but also an explorer penetrating the depths of the mysterious underwater world.

Eloi and her friends have found their haven in the form of a former research station, now turned into a cozy hub. It’s home to artificial intelligence and huge servers that provide them with all the information they need. Initially a cold and modern base, it has become a real home, decorated in Horizon style, where each of the heroes has their room.

The hub has everything necessary for living and working: workbenches for creating and modifying equipment, a laboratory for research, a cozy room for rest and communication, and even a bar where you can relax after intense adventures. Here the main events of the story take place, secondary quests are launched and personal quests of Eloi’s friends are launched, making this hub not only a place to live but also the center of all events in the game.

Gameplay

In Horizon Forbidden West, Eloi has gained new abilities and upgrades, making her combat skills even more varied and effective. She now wields a hookwheel that helps her open alternate passages and secret locations and has also installed new modifications to her spear, used throughout the story and beyond.

The combat system has also undergone major improvements. It now features combos, strong and weak strikes, super strikes, and special skills in both melee and ranged combat. Weapons have received new abilities and alternative skills that can be unlocked for characterization points. There are also many more additional heavy guns on the map, such as machine guns, arrow guns, and flamethrowers, which add variety and tactical options in battles.

Skill upgrades have also remained an important part of the game, allowing Eloi to improve her skills in close and ranged combat, as well as in handling animals and more. Weapons and armor had different color classes before, and improving them is now possible at workbenches that are scattered throughout the world. All this creates a feeling of even more variety and individuality in the gameplay, and the bright and stylish outfits of the heroine complete the picture, reacting to the environment and creating the atmosphere of a lively and diverse world of Horizon Forbidden West.

Splendor in every frame: Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West is a next-generation game not only in terms of gameplay but also graphically. Simply put, if you doubt this, just compare the first installment on PlayStation 4, then on PlayStation 5, and PC. The improvements will be so obvious that there will be no doubt left.

There is simply nothing to pick on here. However, it is recommended to play in graphics priority mode, because in performance mode the image may become blurry and the clarity may deteriorate. Increasing the frame rate changes almost nothing. Besides, the game itself is so well-optimized that it doesn’t have any glitches or lags. So safely choose the graphics priority and enjoy all the splendor of the new generation of games.

Horizon Forbidden West strikes the imagination with incredibly beautiful cutscenes and story clips. Animation of characters’ faces, detailing of the surrounding world, range of drawing, shadows, shaders – all this is done at the highest level. Graphics in the game are bright and saturated, and the world is just alive and as realistic as possible. Dynamic change of weather and time of day gives the game even more depth and atmosphere.

The technical state of the pre-release version of the game turned out to be one of the best in memory. Although to be honest, that was a surprise – after all, we were dealing with an expensive Sony exclusive on a new console. But of course, there are always some concerns. However, there was one crash and one bug the entire time we played the game when Eloy’s feet fell under the ground while jumping. 

Even with the frequent use of subloading locations through narrow passages, no problems were noticeable. If such techniques were used, they were done so subtly that they didn’t draw attention.

Bottom line

Horizon Forbidden West not only continues the tradition of beautiful games but also expands the Horizon universe, making it larger and more diverse. Improvements to the combat system, the addition of new classes and activities, and a more diverse world make the game even more appealing to players. However, the story is a bit of a letdown due to the overly open ending, which may cause some frustration for players. Either way, Horizon Forbidden West is a game that deserves attention and is sure to be one of the highlights of the gaming industry.