To deny it would be not to admit the truth: Horizon forbidden west it was among the most popular games of the whole event Sony. Despite this, however, we are talking about one of the most important productions of the Japanese house, an exclusive that on the current generation (here you can find our review) has proved fundamental to give greater depth to the PlayStation 4 title park. huge success has brought Guerrilla Games to develop the second installment of the series, which will hopefully arrive a few months after the release of PlayStation 5. While we don't have much information, it's okay to start talking about the work in friendlier terms, leaving more detailed previews and opinions to specific articles. What you will read below are impressions based on that little material released, although we must say that we were pleasantly impressed.
Where were we
Aloy at the end of his first adventure he had apparently defeated ADE, an artificial intelligence guilty of machine corruption. However, right on the finish, we discover that our apparent ally Sylens he was waiting for the right moment to get hold of ADE and its data, in order to check its capabilities. Betrayed by what we thought was a friend, it is clear that the protagonist's journey has yet to be completed, and this Forbidden West prepares to put another important piece in the girl's story. This second adventure will take us to discover new regions of the game world, with new enemies and tribes. It seems evident, in fact, that beyond the ever-present threat of ADE in the background, there will be a new war between peoples, this time more bloody and violent, with the use of machines on both sides.
Horizon forbidden west it will probably take us to what's left of San Francisco, in a dying land that Sylens is meanly corrupting to take control. We don't know if this character is actually aiming for something else, but now he is at the head of a tribe capable of overdriving machines. The most interesting detail is certainly related to three red comets, which we are sure will acquire important significance over the course of the game.
Expectations and hopes
The play on some sections was particularly explicit, like the underwater ones: we still don't know how they will be exploited, but they certainly will be there. The protagonist will be equipped with a super-technological mask to breathe underwater, so it is reasonable to expect a certain freedom also with regard to marine explorations. Aloy could already climb mountains from the first chapter, but in reality this mechanic was limited to particular holds, so we hope that this aspect has also been revisited, guaranteeing us the possibility of getting anywhere without wasting too much time. The dimensions of the map in this sense seemed to us particularly large, even more than in the past, but in Horizon Forbidden West we hope to also find a more accurate and effective verticality, not particularly exploited in Zero Dawn.
Another fairly discussed element of the first chapter was precisely the management ofopenworld which, although interesting and characterized by stimulating ideas, has always given the feeling of being in line with the standards of the time, but not beyond. After the publication of titles such as Breath of the Wild (released almost simultaneously) e Red Dead Redemption, now we expect a further effort from the team to create a map that is not only large, but also rich in content and activities. The secondary missions should be revised: Horizon Zero Dawn had interesting non-primary quests, but they couldn't be compared to the main ones in the least. Of course, their usefulness was mostly linked to the discovery of the tribes and their traditions, but in a second chapter we certainly expect a greater characterization. The last element where we expect a substantial improvement is the gameplay: in the long run everything was quite repetitive and not particularly stratified. In this second chapter we not only expect different guns and ammunition, but also the possibility of engaging in fights in a different way to break the monotony of some sequences.
A deep artistic sense
If the art design of the first chapter had left you speechless, Horizon Forbidden West seems to want to far surpass its predecessor. Although the style does not differ that much, it seems that on the screen there are many more evocative elements able to give personality to the scenario, which we are sure will also ignite the spark of curiosity in the minds of the players. Just look at the bridge or the immersed station in San Francisco, the attention to detail is impeccable, as has already been demonstrated in the past. Precisely for this reason, it is impossible not to name the Decima Engine, a graphics engine owned by Sony which, combined with the power of PlayStation 5, prepares to show all his strength. In fact, the graphic impact is as disarming as it is beautiful, highlighting a staging out of the ordinary.
In conclusion, we do not expect a real revolution from the new Horizon Forbidden West, we believe that this experience retraces, in broad terms, what was proposed in the past. For sure new features and improvements will be implemented, due after the solid foundations established thanks to Zero Dawn. The community can't wait to check Aloy again, pick up on her story and see where fate will take her. In this chapter we will probably see her final maturation, after the shocking truths she learned from her past: the young woman knows what she has to do, she has realized that the responsibility of the entire planet is on her shoulders, and she is not allowed to make mistakes.
