Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West takes huntress Aloy west, into the flooded ruins of California, to find a way to stop a plague destroying the last remnants of the biosphere. The open world combines overgrown cities, desert, rainforests, and, for the first time, underwater zones you can dive into. The apocalypse here is colorful and vibrant, individual tribes have their own culture and architecture, and towering over it all move giant robotic animals, still the series' main attraction and the reason players stop and simply stare.

Combat is built on preparation. With the scanner you reveal a machine's weak points, choose the type of ammunition, shoot off a fuel tank, or tear off a weapon you can then use yourself. New tools have been added to the bow, including a glider, a grappling hook for quick traversal, and improved climbing, making movement across vertical terrain far more free than before. The character develops through branching skill trees and through crafting, which requires materials from specific machines. Alongside the main story, the game offers dense side quests, hunting challenges, and the board game Machine Strike. Aloy can choose between a silent hunt from cover and a direct clash, dodging at the last moment beneath a giant machine while aiming for individual components.

Technically it's one of the best-looking titles of its generation. Vegetation detail, facial animation, and the lighting of a sunset over the remains of skyscrapers rank among the best the console can achieve, and the player can choose between a higher-resolution mode and a smoother-running one. The music uses ethnic instruments and orchestra, and spatial audio helps well when hunting for machines hidden in foliage. Reviews praised the scope, the combat system, and the technical side, with reservations about the sheer number of systems and the pacing of the story in the first half. Today Forbidden West feels like the completion of what the first game only began. The Burning Shores expansion later added a standalone area available only on PlayStation 5.