Get ready to set foot into the untamed wilds with our Horizon Forbidden West review, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn.
Set in the distant future, we follow a brave hunter named Aloy who is marked by a mysterious past. She ventures into the forbidden western lands to find a cure for the planet.
A deadly red blight threatens the future, and she must unravel its secrets, face terrifying new machines, and forge alliances to save a world teetering on the brink.
Previously exclusive to the Playstation5, the game is now available on PC as a complete edition.
If you’re still unsure whether or not you’d like to pick a fight with a mechanized otter, check out our spoiler-free ONE Esports Horizon Forbidden West review to see if the game ticks enough boxes to be put on your wish list.
GET YOURS TODAY: Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition – PC |
Horizon Forbidden West review by ONE Esports
As someone who played the first game, I was a big fan of Horizon Forbidden West even before it came out.
The original trailers looked ambitious yet achievable considering the quality of Zero Dawn. When I finally got my hands on Forbidden West, it didn’t disappoint.
The combat had been vastly improved upon from Zero Dawn, new machines and weapons were added, and the story had me hooked from start to finish.
Were we finally going to save the world? Who are all these new people? What is that machine?!
Speaking of machines, I didn’t think they could get any better, but I was so wrong. Enough teasing for now, let’s dig into this Horizon Forbidden West review.
What does the Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition include?
The PC version of Horizon Forbidden West is only available in the complete edition. This edition includes:
- Horizon Forbidden West base game
- Burning Shores DLC
- Carja Behemoth Elite outfit and Short Bow
- Nora Thunder Elite outfit and Sling
- Photo mode special pose and face paint
- Apex Clawstrider strike piece
- In-game resource pack
- Digital soundtrack
- Digital art book
- The Sunhawk digital comic book
GET YOURS TODAY: $50 Steam Gift Card |
Battle Horizon Forbidden West’s brutal machines your way
The animalistic machines are the stars of the Horizon series, so what’s better than staring down a gigantic steel mammoth? Beating it to a pulp however you want of course!
Horizon Forbidden West allows for so many styles of play thanks to its large arsenal of weapons. There are standard and sharpshooter bows for the shooter game junkies, a short-ranged bow and spear for us folks who can’t aim, and a walk-in closet full of traps, bombs, and other cool gadgets to blast, stun and incapacitate our targets.
Fighting against new machines is always the best part, especially when they get bigger and more deadly as the story goes on.
I felt an addictive sense of power whenever l finally downed the metallic giants and whaled on their weak spots. Every weapon was fun to use but I did gravitate to a few that fit my personal needs during my playthrough.
I found stealth, strategic planning, and brute force all viable playstyles in the game too. Some felt more suitable in certain situations but once I observed my targets movements and learnt my limits, the world was my oyster.
If mouse and keyboard gaming isn’t your thing, controllers are supported for the PC version as well. Both are useable but there are definitely pros and cons to each.
Mouse and keyboard were great if I really wanted to aim properly, but sometimes got messy especially with so many buttons to memorize.
Controller felt much simpler to use, but limited how well I could aim.
GET YOURS TODAY: $20 Steam Gift Card |
Journey through this beautifully dangerous world beyond 30 FPS
Something that has to be mentioned in this review is that the game looks absolutely stunning on a high-end computer.
While console is capped at 30 frames per second, this PC edition will fly as high as your graphic card allows. I thought the game looked great on my Playstation5 but the PC version just takes it to a whole other level that I didn’t think was possible. Everything I saw in the trailers was achievable on PC.
I’ve seen my fair share of visual masterpieces, but this game is definitely going to be up there for a long while. Sometimes I’d travel great distances on a machine rather than fast travel just so my eyes could feast on a massive world so obviously made with love.
Survive the Forbidden West while finding a cure for the dying land
As the continuation of the Horizon series main story, Forbidden West’s main plot is really fleshed out and interesting and didn’t feel like it was scraped together just to make a second game.
Zero Dawn mainly followed Aloy as she didn’t spend much time herself getting to know those around her. Now it felt like I’d been given time to bond with everyone who’s standing by my side, and it’s because Aloy herself now realizes how important they are to her as well.
Who wants to die alone anyway?
The telling of the main plot was so well done too, I wish I could go back in time to experience it for the first time again. There are moments where things slow down so if you like a quicker paced story, you might not like the storytelling as much and hit skip.
Side quests and tasks had the right amount of repetitiveness to them to keep things interesting and fresh when I sidetracked from the main story. As a bit of a completionist and curious explorer, I loved the abundance of explorable content in the game and finally marking them off my map.
The pc version is available now on Steam and Epic Games for purchase.
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