Horizon Zero Dawn was a promising new beginning for a new series in my opinion and I was excited for a possible sequel. The sequel, however, is slightly more complicated.
First of all, the story is really... disappointing; the writing is inconsistent, the plot lacks development, the antagonistic group barely appears in the game and their motivations make no sense at all. It does expand on the lore of the first game at least, but it relies on the first game's story way too much without going further, and even the last mission is very underwhelming.
Same goes for the characters; they're already quite disappointing in the first game, and they didn't necessarily better in this game. The villains are comically evil, the supporting cast isn't engaging at all and even Aloy is uninteresting because all her development happened in the first game.
The gameplay, however, is really good; it's similar to Zero Dawn's gameplay, but it has QoL improvements, more weapons and better quest design.
Unfortunately though, the side-content is still repetitive, and the puzzles are boring.
Last but not least, the visuals are some of the best I've seen in an Open World game, despite the surprising amount of pop-ins.
Pros:
+ Interesting lore
+ Great gameplay
+ Nice amount of content
+ Breathtaking graphics
Cons:
- Very weak narrative
- Uninteresting characters
- Repetitive side-content
- Tedious puzzles
- Technical and visual issues
Narrative: 3/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Music: ?/10
Graphics/Audio: 10/10
Final Rating: 5/10
- Mediocre -
In the end, Horizon Forbidden West feels completely unnecessary, and it lacks the intrigue and mystery of the first game.
With Horizon Zero Dawn leaving a lot of room for improvement, Horizon Forbidden West had the potential to be a better game in almost every way, but unfortunately, it fell short and it's not nearly as good as it could've been.
Do I recommend it?:
Only if you're a fan of the first game; it's more of the same but bigger, although not necessarily better.
First of all, the story is really... disappointing; the writing is inconsistent, the plot lacks development, the antagonistic group barely appears in the game and their motivations make no sense at all. It does expand on the lore of the first game at least, but it relies on the first game's story way too much without going further, and even the last mission is very underwhelming.
Same goes for the characters; they're already quite disappointing in the first game, and they didn't necessarily better in this game. The villains are comically evil, the supporting cast isn't engaging at all and even Aloy is uninteresting because all her development happened in the first game.
The gameplay, however, is really good; it's similar to Zero Dawn's gameplay, but it has QoL improvements, more weapons and better quest design.
Unfortunately though, the side-content is still repetitive, and the puzzles are boring.
Last but not least, the visuals are some of the best I've seen in an Open World game, despite the surprising amount of pop-ins.
Pros:
+ Interesting lore
+ Great gameplay
+ Nice amount of content
+ Breathtaking graphics
Cons:
- Very weak narrative
- Uninteresting characters
- Repetitive side-content
- Tedious puzzles
- Technical and visual issues
Narrative: 3/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 6/10
Characters: 4/10
Music: ?/10
Graphics/Audio: 10/10
Final Rating: 5/10
- Mediocre -
In the end, Horizon Forbidden West feels completely unnecessary, and it lacks the intrigue and mystery of the first game.
With Horizon Zero Dawn leaving a lot of room for improvement, Horizon Forbidden West had the potential to be a better game in almost every way, but unfortunately, it fell short and it's not nearly as good as it could've been.
Do I recommend it?:
Only if you're a fan of the first game; it's more of the same but bigger, although not necessarily better.