Horizon Forbidden West Hands-On Impressions

Horizon Forbidden West Hands-On Impressions

By  Jacob Sanderson - 1st Apr 2024

Aloy’s journey continues!

Horizon Forbidden West Hands-On Impressions

Horizon Forbidden West has finally found its way onto PC, and is a shining example of what a PC port should look like, on top of being a strong title. I’ve had the pleasure of putting some hours into it now, and I can comfortably say it’s worth your time and money.

The Perfect Port

Before I get too deep into the game itself, I'd be doing a massive disservice by not pointing out the incredible work Nixxes Software did on porting this game to PC. In an age where AAA games are often released close to unplayable on PC, having a fully functional port with little to no issues and new PC-exclusive features is an absolute joy. Along with a plethora of the usual graphics settings you’d expect for a PC game, it comes with DLSS, FSR 2.2 and XeSS, allowing for a flawless upscaling experience; this is helped by the game itself being gorgeous. The locations across the game are visually distinct and colourful, and the attention to detail in both the world and the animations is nothing to scoff at. From Aloy’s incredibly varied idle animations, reacting to the weather and her surroundings seamlessly, to the details found in the varied locales across the world, it all shows an impressive level of care put into every little facet.

Tutorialization (or lack thereof)

Tutorialization (or lack thereof)

To be blunt, I dislike the intro to Horizon Zero Dawn. It sets the tone and introduces us to the world and Aloy relatively well, but man, it’s slow. Contrary to this, Forbidden West does away with this slow burn, instead throwing you deeper into the midst of everything. The game trusts you as a player to have played the previous title while also carefully introducing the new mechanics in incredibly fluid ways. This is the same across the entire game, giving you the trust to experiment and try out new weapons, which was a core issue I had with the first game. Forbidden West highly emphasises player freedom in a way that the first didn’t. This is also compounded by the storytelling. While there is a quick recap video, it doesn’t pause to explain every last detail you might not know, and thanks to this, it feels like a true continuation of Aloy’s story rather than a new story building off the world of Zero Dawn.

At its core, Horizon Forbidden West’s combat is more of the same, tearing robotic dinosaurs asunder with a variety of unique and interesting weapons, but here we have so much more variety in what we’re obliterating and how. This is introduced from the very first machine you fight: Burrowers, which are entirely new and not seen in the previous game. To put this variation in perspective, Horizon Zero Dawn has 26 different species of machine, while Forbidden West has 43, 22 of which are brand-new additions, many of which have variants. The same can be said for the plethora of weapons: while many return, there are a few new weapons, along with additional variations and ammo types, such as the new Cluster ammo for the Blast Sling.

Power Progression

Power Progression

Through Aloy’s journey across the Forbidden West, not only will she come across new weapons and armour, but these can also be upgraded. At workbenches across the world, you’ll be able to upgrade your weapons and armour — doing this upgrades them statistically, improves certain perks and abilities, and also unlocks “coil slots”. Coils are stat boosts that can be slotted into gear with these slots unlocked. Aloy also gathers Skill Points as she levels up, which can be spent on unlocking new skills. The skill trees in Forbidden West are a little basic, but they do a good job at fleshing out Aloy’s kit, especially the melee tree, which feels the most impactful on her actual moveset.

It’s safe to say that Horizon Forbidden West picks up and is an incredibly strong entry following Horizon Zero Dawn, offering improvements upon many of its systems. It’s a great title to try out whether you loved the first game or were enamoured by its world — it’s truly an all-around improvement that should be experienced by any who loved it.


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