There’s nothing wrong with that of course, but Forbidden West doesn’t quite hit the narrative highs that the first game achieved through its tight bond between Aloy and Rost, playing Aloy’s inner-conflict center stage and the world and its issues somewhat in the periphery view. Gone is the tight, character-driven journey about discovery and in its wake, a stock “end of the world” scenario. There are a few moments of shock and a couple of nice new additions, but the game’s main antagonists are just…bland. The game’s story is okay but given the lavish presentation and style put into this – including a stunning opening introduction with Aloy traveling West – the characters feel very archetypal.

The whole final conflict feels pretty rushed in the wake of this though, and without going into spoilers too much, there’s a development with a new character that does not work, leading to a pretty underwhelming final boss. While there is a resolution to the story, do be aware that there’s a fair amount of sequel bait too, as the game preps everything up for a much larger and more expansive third game to follow. I won’t spoil much of the story but once you reach the midway point of the adventure, Forbidden West seems to adopt a lot of mechanics and ideas from Mass Effect 2, complete with a base of operations, a litany of quests to undergo and a motley band of companions gathered in time for the final fight. Returning Aloy is at the front of this investigation, and soon learns that she needs to head into the Forbidden West in order to find the source of this and put a stop to it before it’s too late.

Sylens has taken Hephaestus and fled West, just as a strange mysterious plague begins to spread across the land. The story essentially picks up not long after the events at the end of Zero Dawn. However, we do also have a story recap over here at TheReviewGeek which you can check out HEREwhich explains exactly what’s happening. (That’s the last comparison I’ll make, I promise!)įor those a little rusty on the story leading up to this point, there is a brief recap at the start of this game. With new moves, a more expansive story and some insanely good graphics, this is a rock solid sequel that feels more like polishing up the open world formula rather than ripping it up completely ala. However, they’re not a complete deal breaker, and Forbidden West is absolutely worth the 30-50 hour playtime you’ll get from this sequel. Now, I’m going to try and not compare the two games, given I played 10 or so hours of Elden Ring before jumping into this one, but Forbidden West has some core problems that are hard to overlook. Yes, Breath of the Wild dropped several weeks after and took the world by storm, leaving Guerrilla Games’ title in the proverbial dust.įast forward to 2022 and after a year of delays and cancellations, Guerrilla Games finally release their long-awaited sequel, Horizon: Forbidden West… only for Elden Ring to arrive and completely change the landscape of open world games. Until, of course, that other breath came along and overshadowed Playstation’s original.

With an interesting setting, amazing lore and some rock solid gameplay, Zero Dawn felt like a breath of fresh air. When Horizon Zero Dawn dropped back in 2017, it brought a uniquely placed open world game onto consoles. Guerrilla Games sure know when to release their games. A solid sequel to Guerrilla’s open-world gem

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