This review contains spoilers
Last review of 2022, so I'll finish the year with a game that I played and platinumed at the very beginning of the year. Made by Guerilla Games, Forbidden West is a sequel to the first one and because I'm a PlayStation exclusive whore, I decided why not and pre ordered this even though I felt the other one was average. This one is....a tad bit better though still average. I'll start again with the story.
In this entry of the series, you play as Aloy again after the first game. You're now searching for a backup of GAIA after defeating Hades from the previous game, hoping to use it to restore the Earth. Lance Reddick, who I learned in this game was made Sylens (who I actually remembered his name this time) tells her to go out West to find more answers. You end up finding the corpse of Hades from the previous game's stinger (after going through a valley in the midst of Civil War with your friend Varl), of which you're able to find a backup of GAIA. However, this was interrupted by humans who fled Earth using special tech during the great collapse centuries ago, who also have their own Sobeck clone. From there you find a mountain base where GAIA reunites with other AI and tasks Aloy to merge her with even more AI in certain spots (like Vegas BAYBEEEEEEEEEE as well as San Francisco where you encounter Ted Faro's corpse who looks like something out of Oat's Studios Zygote) to make her whole again all while dealing with the rogue human colony (who is called Far Zenith). You also juggle in between several different tribes and gain new allies while trying to get these pieces of AI. However after trying to trap an AI, the Zeniths kill your buddy Varl and everyone's depressed including his girlfriend from another tribe. However one of the Zeniths, Carrie Anne Moss (aka Trinity from the Matrix) saves her and explains that she used to date the original Sobeck, that she has regrets and that Sylens has been instigating the tribe war and supplying the rebel threat with tech to fight the Zeniths. After defeating the rebel leader, Aloy and her group team up with Sylens to defeat the Zeniths and take down the threat. They manage to do so, avenging Varl's murder while learning of the Plot Hook for the next game: Another rogue AI destroyed the Zenith colony on a different planet, and if I remember correctly activated HADES from Zero Dawn? Don't know if that's true but Carrie Moss dies after trying to force Aloy to join her, GAIA is now whole and they plan to stop Nemesis in Horizon 3.
I'm actually surprised I remember more of the plot and didn't have to copy paste from Wikipedia, though much of it was still hazy and suffered from a lot of issues that the first game did: certain characters are fleshed out and interesting from Varl and Eruend to Sylens. Other characters I don't remember, it's a step up from what happened in the last game but it's still kind of an issue here. From the goofy names I can't remember to characters that are built upon sort of but not really, I'm not sure if it's because I suck at fancy medieval sounding names or if it's just cause the characters weren't interesting but I just didn't remember much from the last game. I remembered a bit more of course; Aloy, Sylens, Varl and Eruend. But others are kind of hit and miss. That's all I can think of right now for story.
The gameplay is more of the same, it still feels good but now you can swim underwater with the Diving Mask and you can use new tools like the Glider and the Pullcaster (with more I don't remember). It's mostly minor improvements, enough to make it noticeable but not enough to make it a huge overhaul and that's fine cause the truth is the gameplay is still the best part of Horizon anyways, though still following that Ubisoftish formula with your tallnecks, your bandit outposts, etc.
It's more of the same but even prettier than the last one, with beautiful landscapes that represent Nevada and California with varied biomes from swamps to desert to snow land. Guerilla as always hits with their graphical presentation and art style, with the soundtrack also fitting with the environments they're putting them in.
To finish off the review, I'll say this. Didn't encounter any glitches other than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Et7X4WwF8&ab_channel=gamemast15r
The game is fine, a bit better on some ends but is overall more of the same. If you loved Zero Dawn I think you'll love Forbidden West and that's fine, I hope for the third It'll be much better but I kind of doubt it and I'm really mixed on how Guerilla is going all in with the Horizon IP but if it makes them happy god bless. I'll probably buy the new DLC when it comes out and try it out just because I'm a completionist but truthfully as a game it's ok. A friend of mine put it best:
"Visually stunning yet entirely uninspired. It’s beautiful, and I love how the world of Horizon looks from a design point of view, but the gameplay is a predictable fanfare of Tomb Raider-isms (both original and reboot). It's a spectacle."
If I were to make a comparison maybe I'd compare it to Avatar, the series that makes billions of dollars but also feels average; though I still hope/think that 100 percent they'll eventually port this to PC especially considering how popular the series is. Last review for 2023 I'll see ya'll next year!
In this entry of the series, you play as Aloy again after the first game. You're now searching for a backup of GAIA after defeating Hades from the previous game, hoping to use it to restore the Earth. Lance Reddick, who I learned in this game was made Sylens (who I actually remembered his name this time) tells her to go out West to find more answers. You end up finding the corpse of Hades from the previous game's stinger (after going through a valley in the midst of Civil War with your friend Varl), of which you're able to find a backup of GAIA. However, this was interrupted by humans who fled Earth using special tech during the great collapse centuries ago, who also have their own Sobeck clone. From there you find a mountain base where GAIA reunites with other AI and tasks Aloy to merge her with even more AI in certain spots (like Vegas BAYBEEEEEEEEEE as well as San Francisco where you encounter Ted Faro's corpse who looks like something out of Oat's Studios Zygote) to make her whole again all while dealing with the rogue human colony (who is called Far Zenith). You also juggle in between several different tribes and gain new allies while trying to get these pieces of AI. However after trying to trap an AI, the Zeniths kill your buddy Varl and everyone's depressed including his girlfriend from another tribe. However one of the Zeniths, Carrie Anne Moss (aka Trinity from the Matrix) saves her and explains that she used to date the original Sobeck, that she has regrets and that Sylens has been instigating the tribe war and supplying the rebel threat with tech to fight the Zeniths. After defeating the rebel leader, Aloy and her group team up with Sylens to defeat the Zeniths and take down the threat. They manage to do so, avenging Varl's murder while learning of the Plot Hook for the next game: Another rogue AI destroyed the Zenith colony on a different planet, and if I remember correctly activated HADES from Zero Dawn? Don't know if that's true but Carrie Moss dies after trying to force Aloy to join her, GAIA is now whole and they plan to stop Nemesis in Horizon 3.
I'm actually surprised I remember more of the plot and didn't have to copy paste from Wikipedia, though much of it was still hazy and suffered from a lot of issues that the first game did: certain characters are fleshed out and interesting from Varl and Eruend to Sylens. Other characters I don't remember, it's a step up from what happened in the last game but it's still kind of an issue here. From the goofy names I can't remember to characters that are built upon sort of but not really, I'm not sure if it's because I suck at fancy medieval sounding names or if it's just cause the characters weren't interesting but I just didn't remember much from the last game. I remembered a bit more of course; Aloy, Sylens, Varl and Eruend. But others are kind of hit and miss. That's all I can think of right now for story.
The gameplay is more of the same, it still feels good but now you can swim underwater with the Diving Mask and you can use new tools like the Glider and the Pullcaster (with more I don't remember). It's mostly minor improvements, enough to make it noticeable but not enough to make it a huge overhaul and that's fine cause the truth is the gameplay is still the best part of Horizon anyways, though still following that Ubisoftish formula with your tallnecks, your bandit outposts, etc.
It's more of the same but even prettier than the last one, with beautiful landscapes that represent Nevada and California with varied biomes from swamps to desert to snow land. Guerilla as always hits with their graphical presentation and art style, with the soundtrack also fitting with the environments they're putting them in.
To finish off the review, I'll say this. Didn't encounter any glitches other than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Et7X4WwF8&ab_channel=gamemast15r
The game is fine, a bit better on some ends but is overall more of the same. If you loved Zero Dawn I think you'll love Forbidden West and that's fine, I hope for the third It'll be much better but I kind of doubt it and I'm really mixed on how Guerilla is going all in with the Horizon IP but if it makes them happy god bless. I'll probably buy the new DLC when it comes out and try it out just because I'm a completionist but truthfully as a game it's ok. A friend of mine put it best:
"Visually stunning yet entirely uninspired. It’s beautiful, and I love how the world of Horizon looks from a design point of view, but the gameplay is a predictable fanfare of Tomb Raider-isms (both original and reboot). It's a spectacle."
If I were to make a comparison maybe I'd compare it to Avatar, the series that makes billions of dollars but also feels average; though I still hope/think that 100 percent they'll eventually port this to PC especially considering how popular the series is. Last review for 2023 I'll see ya'll next year!