The Horizon Games Are A Whole New Open-World Experience
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“There’s so much more to discover before the world ends.”
– Sylens, Horizon Zero Dawn
The last two decades have brought us some truly incredible video games. Skyrim, The Witcher, The Legend of Zelda, Fallout – we could go on and on. In 2017, one game took the world by surprise: Horizon Zero Dawn. Built around rich, mysterious lore, complex and relatable characters, and truly beautiful visuals, Horizon Zero Dawn established itself as a major contender in the open-world role-playing game genre.
Horizon Zero Dawn is an open-world action role-playing game developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2017. Set in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by primitive human societies and feral, animal-like machines, players take on the role of Aloy, a fierce hunter and Outcast of the Nora tribe. As a child, Aloy stumbles across a remnant of the Old Ones – a Focus that shows her details and workings of the world not visible to the naked eye. It’s clear from the very beginning that Aloy is different from other people. She is not satisfied to blame goddesses, spirits, and the sun and moon for her dying world. Instead, she believes the answers, and the solution, lie with the Old Ones and the mystery of what brought about the apocalypse long ago.
The game’s narrative is beautifully crafted. Aloy is a compelling character whose background as a Nora Outcast shapes her relationships with those around her. She is prickly, blunt, and fiercely independent. She has no patience for greed, pride, or selfishness. Her natural distrust of everyone she meets works well as a narrative tool, introducing feelings of unease when interacting with certain characters.
At the same time, the close bonds Aloy forms with other characters feel more significant because of her hyper-independence. “I hunt alone” is her usual response to offers of help and companionship. While some players might be frustrated by her constant refusals of help, I feel it’s consistent with her character. It makes sense given her early life as an Outcast and the gradual revelations that, by her nature, she truly is not like anyone else (but you’ll have to play the game to find out why).
Aloy’s world is over-run by animal-like machines that live in aggressive disharmony with humans. Some machines are more aggressive than others but, as a rule, they will kill you whenever they get the chance. There are 26 machine species in Horizon Zero Dawn, including horse-like Striders, ice-shooting mechanical crocodiles called Snapmaws, and panther-like Stalkers. Each species has different abilities, attacks, and weaknesses. This is where Horizon’s combat system comes into play – and excels. Aloy’s Focus reveals a machine’s weak points (often components that can be knocked off or destroyed) and what type of damage (tearing or elemental) works best against them. You’ll spend a lot of time working out how best to defeat each machine type, which typically involves a lot of rolling. Some machines can be fought up close and personal. Others will kill you in a second, so probably best to find a safe vantage point and use your bow.
The first time I played Horizon Zero Dawn, I didn’t understand just how important it is to choose the right weapons. Aloy is armed with her trusty spear and hunter’s bow from the outset, but as you encounter more settlements, Merchants will offer you new arrays of weapons. The bows in particular are game-changers. Once you get your hands on bows that fire the different elemental arrows or inflict heavy-duty tearing damage, fighting the increasingly deadly machines will become a lot easier. The game allows further customization of your weapons using coils, which you pick up from downed machines and in various chests. Weapon coils can increase different types of damage or improve handling, with a range of other effects added in Horizon Forbidden West.
Outfits work in a similar way. The further afield you venture, the more outfits you will come across. Some offer better protection from certain types of elemental damage, melee or ranged attacks, or abilities such as stealth. Outfit coils are acquired throughout the game and can be used to improve your stats. Also, some of the outfits look really cool.
As you accumulate XP through machine (and human) kills and completing quests, you also gain skill points. These points are used to unlock skills and allow you to customize your gameplay and fighting style. In both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, skills are grouped into categories. Unlocking skills enables you to access the next skill within that category. In Horizon Zero Dawn, the broad categories are Prowler, Brave, and Forager, with Traveler introduced in the Frozen Wilds add-on. There are six categories in Horizon Forbidden West: Warrior, Trapper, Hunter, Survivor, Infiltrator, and Machine Master. By choosing skills within the different categories, you can choose to expand your melee skills, your stealth or sniper skills, or your ability to gather valuable resources.
One of the things I appreciate most about the Horizon games is that they reward curiosity. The more exploring you do, the more likely you are to find special items, some of which can offer you major advantages in the game’s later stages. The story’s narrative is so compelling that, my first time playing Zero Dawn, I was caught up in the sense of urgency. I rushed through side quests and the main storyline as if the world truly was depending on me. I still found some great stuff, but I realized afterwards that I missed a lot.
The second time, I took my time. I explored every inch of the map; climbed every climbable cliff, crisscrossed the countryside, stumbled unwittingly into machine sites, and was so ridiculously overpowered by the time I returned to the main storyline that I had a much smoother time tackling the tough machines later on. But aside from making combat easier, I enjoyed the second play so much more. I could truly appreciate the scale and beauty of Zero Dawn. Tallnecks, ruins, vantage points, and the eerie remnants of our world scattered throughout landscape inspired by different parts of the United States – the Horizon games are a wonder to look at and a thrill to explore.
Horizon Forbidden West, released in 2022, is even more beautiful than Zero Dawn. The developers made some great improvements, particularly the ability to use your Focus to look for handholds on walls and rock faces – which would have saved me a lot of time in the first game!
From a narrative perspective, Forbidden West expands on the themes and plotlines of the first but keeps everything moving; the sense of urgency remains and Aloy is just as dogged and stubbornly independent as before. However, the game also takes time to acknowledge the friendships and alliances she formed during Zero Dawn, further immersing the player in Aloy’s world. Forbidden West introduces new species of machines, so you can look forward to a whole new host of things that can and will kill you. It also features different mechanics in terms of elemental damage, Aloy’s mobility, and the more puzzle-based aspects of the game.
The Horizon games embody the essence of the immersive gaming experience. The narrative is intricately woven and intelligent, and supported by a rich history that is gradually revealed as players move through the game. You can play it straight through and not worry about side quests or the massive amount of data points that fill in various parts of the game’s background. Or you can take your time, rescue hapless mercenaries, kill some bandits, and explore the vast and beautiful world. Either way, when you’re standing on the Tallneck’s head, make sure you take a moment to admire the majesty of what’s around you.
Have you played Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West? If so, how do you think the games compare? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. And don’t forget to sign up to our email list to get Finds of the Week and our free newsletter, PopPulse Digest, delivered straight to your inbox each and every week.
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