Horizon Forbidden West Looks Breathtaking
Guerrilla Games have outdone themselves yet again with the recently released gameplay demo of the highly anticipated sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn. Just like the first gameplay demo of Horizon Zero Dawn, Forbidden West’s shows off Aloy and her specialty of taking down the dinosaur-esque machines that roam the post-apocalyptic world, while at the same time blowing everyone’s collective mind with the most gorgeous game visuals I think I’ve ever seen.
Obviously the PS5’s hardware is allowing for some unbelievable graphics while so much is going on at one time on screen. The underwater sequence in the demo is an example of this, while it’s not action-packed like the fight with the Tremor Tusk, it’s filled to the brim with so much detail that you might not notice the first time around. Aloy’s hair and clothes move differently underwater, the bubbles in multiple sections, some reflecting the light based on where the sun is, the school of hundreds of fish swimming about, the way the foliage sways based on the current, even the small mushroom like flora that you can barely see is pulsating as Aloy swims by. I have never seen a more dense underwater ecosystem in an open-world game. This is truly what the current-gen hardware is capable of, making these worlds people have grown to love, into an even more alive and believable immersive experience. This underwater scene just looks like it’s straight out of a big-budget movie.
Beneath the water isn’t the only part of the game that looks good, above ground is equally as mesmerizing. Vistas like those you only see in vacation advertisements, overgrown ruined buildings begging to be explored, luscious plantlife and tropical trees reaching towards the sunny day sky which is filled with skyscraper tall remnants of a past civilization looming on the horizon (no pun intended). I’m convinced this game will be the best looking game I have ever played, there’s no doubt in my mind.
Gameplay seems familiar to the first game with quite a few notable additions like enhanced melee combat that seems to have more depth, as well as cutscene-like animations that play out when Aloy performs certain moves with her spear. The spear can also be imbued with charges mid-combat that allow for cool enhancements that do different things like knockback enemies. Human enemies now have armor that you can target and shoot off much like the machines do in the first game, and there’s also a lot of slow-time mechanics happening when Aloy is aiming her bow as well as when she’s jumping through the air using her new grapple gadget. Most importantly the melee combat feels heavy, it feels impactful, something I’m sure we’ll end up feeling in the DualSense controller too, which I can’t wait for.
Besides the grapple, which I do believe is called the Pull-Cast, Aloy has access to a slew of other new items and enhancements. A smoke bomb allows her to momentarily blind machines and humans for an easier getaway. The Focus Scanner highlights areas Aloy can free climb anywhere in the open-world. The Shield Wing is Horizon’s take on a Breath of the Wild style glider that lets you fall safely or surprise enemies from above. And the diving mask lets you breathe underwater for long periods of time. She also has new grenades that can be thrown with the Blast Sling, a weapon returning from the first game. The adhesive grenade was the only one shown off and it spreads an orange goo-like substance over the Tremor Tusk to slow it down for a brief time. A new launcher that fires exploding spikes on impact was used by Aloy during the Tremor Tusk fight as well, which destroyed most of the human enemies riding atop it. The weapon wheel showed up for a brief moment and showed more arrow type options, more grenades, and the three item rarities from the last game with a green rarity Blast Sling, a blue rarity bow, and a purple rarity bow. All of the weapons found in the game can be upgraded via a workbench but Guerrilla Games didn’t go into detail on that quite yet.
Based on how insane Horizon Forbidden West looks, and sounds (the music during the combat is UNREAL) it might be time for me to go back and finish the first game. I know, I know, I never finished it, don’t hate me. But I want to experience this world at its fullest whenever Forbidden West finally releases, and that means understanding the story and lore from the first one. I want to know why Aloy and her tribe are in the remnants of San Francisco. What technology could they be looking for to help stop the spread of the blight that’s decaying everything it touches? Where did this blight come from? What’s Aloy’s story? I’m off to find some of these answers, and probably get distracted taking some pictures along the way because Horizon Zero Dawn is also a very pretty game. Time to go hunt some machines.
