Aloy sets off to the “Forbidden West” to attempt to find a backup copy of Gaia with which to keep life going, which of course isn’t going to be as straightforward as that. Turns out that defeating Hades at the end of Zero Dawn didn’t really save the world so much as postpone its collapse, thanks to the absence of Gaia, the AI responsible for maintaining life on post-apocalyptic Earth. The narrative itself picks up a little while after the previous game’s ending. And the best part is that Forbidden West mostly does this without really feeling like the gameplay is taking a back seat to the story, at least outside of the admittedly paced-like-a-slug first hour or so. We see a character who is starting to crack under the pressure of trying to save the world, and who slowly realizes that her own attempts to brute force her way through every situation with her own skill will inevitably break her. Aloy as a whole feels like a much more engaging character, with a fuller arc that focuses on her overreliance on herself and learning to trust others, as well as Aloy's coming to grips with her new role as a major diplomatic figure rather than just a warrior.
Right off the bat, you can tell this is one of the areas Guerilla put a good deal of effort into improving in Zero Dawn. While there were moments when you could see Aloy's personality really shine through (like yelling at Sylens), the vast majority of her conversations portrayed a fairly static, stoic character whose traits we were told about far more than actually shown. While I’m certainly not about to ding Zero Dawn for not making Aloy asexual or whatever, I do think her character felt a little flat after the well done and presented opening act. While I enjoyed Zero Dawn’s story, a lot of that was more for the lore and less the plot and characters themselves. Speaking of brave, Forbidden West once again focuses on Aloy, the Nora Brave and now savior of the world. You have to respect the bravery, if nothing else. And in the same year as the Breath of the Wild sequel. Fortunately, Sony made sure that the sequel will get the spotlight and attention it deserves by… launching it a week before the first open world From Software game. If it’s possible for a game to go underappreciated while still selling close to ten million copies, Zero Dawn is it, as it had the dubious distinction of launching in the same year as Breath of the Wild. And it all kicks off with Horizon: Forbidden West, a sequel to 2017’s Zero Dawn. Zelda, Elden Ring, Forspoken, Sonic, Starfield, and likely more. Get your crafting benches together and dust off those fast travel kits the year of the sandbox is officially upon us. By Paul Broussard, posted on 06 March 2022 / 4,500 Views
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