Horizon Forbidden West, an unforgettable adventure, a heroine who is already an icon
Horizon Forbidden West
After the review of Horizon Forbidden West, let's try to reflect on the work done by Guerrilla Game with a cool head, retracing through the memories the salient moments that made the latest PlayStation exclusive one of the most successful and precious. One of the merits of this Horizon 2 is precisely that of surviving its grand finale, tormenting you for another game, another mission. Aloy's epic is not to be forgotten, you suffer when you realize that sooner or later this world too will run out of its precious cartridges, while you would like more and more.Post Horizon
Horizon Forbidden West: The moment in which in the midst of a storm we discovered the first great settlement of the Wild West How wonderful it was to live and get lost in the world of Horizon Forbidden West. Seventy hours, many we have passed, full of stories, faces, discoveries, truly incredible. This is where my curiosity has always been rewarded, which is what all video games should do. If wandering around as Aloy something catches your attention, it is most likely worth investigating, taking a detour, snooping around to figure out what a trace, a clue might lead to.While you don't like question marks on the map to point you to the location of a point of interest, those in Horizon Forbidden West are just the beginning of an adventure that could take you somewhere else. Let's not forget that we are still talking about an action game, not compatible with the more reflective approach of an RPG that would do well to hide its best cards as much as possible.
After playing Horizon Forbidden West, it's really hard to imagine how these open world action games will grow any further. Guerrilla has perfected the formula reaching what we could define a conceptual perfection of the genre, at least as we have imagined it to date. Any further modification, any further layer of complexity, would distance Horizon from its target audience, without being sure of being able to replace it with other types of users. Horizon therefore has to remain like this, in part it is obliged to, trying to further improve what it has managed to achieve with this second game in the series.
Past and future of an open world
Horizon Forbidden West: There is nothing better than being with the right weapon at the right time! Some limits are intentional, in some cases they are even essential to make the game work as it was imagined by its creators. For example, the horizontal construction of its open world, at first glance simplistic, guarantees the sense of progression promised right from the title: in the game you slowly advance into the forbidden west, and it is essentially a journey that starts from the far right of the map up to to reach the far left, where you know the game will reach its peak. If you try to tackle Horizon Forbidden West as a linear adventure, it will behave just like a linear adventure, something not all open worlds of this caliber guarantee. If you don't want to waste time, you can go straight to the point and be totally satisfied.But if you want to lose yourself in the world of Horizon Forbidden West, oh Guerrilla has thought of you too. Starting from the map, which offers ideas for adventure in every corner, up to that key (and totally unexpected) place that we will also learn to call home, Forbidden West welcomes you with everything you need to make you take it easy, very comfortable. Not just missions: the game teaches you that every path can hide a secret, that a dip in the lake below can reveal a submerged cave as dangerous as it is profitable. Forbidden West keeps you constantly at attention, but not forgetting the essential white space, or areas of nothing that serve to give weight to the greatness of the adventure and the work. This is where you can get lost, where basically every direction is the right one.
Pret-a-porter adventures
Horizon Forbidden West: the Guerrilla game hides surprises in every corner What do you want to complain about? Climbing is a weak point, bugs are an extra that we would have gladly done without, but I challenge you to find adventures that are as immersive as they are immediate. Then let the SSD and the way in which it is used be sanctified: you throw yourself on the sofa and in a moment you are in the midst of a mission, perfectly described by the menus and therefore without the risk of not understanding anything. The game almost seems to be calibrated on this speed of use, and damn it if I loved turning on the console, doing a secondary mission, and then putting everything back on standby waiting for the next twenty, thirty, forty minutes free. Forbidden West is built with respect to our time, and it shows in so many design choices.Horizon Forbidden West doesn't even have to chase the complexity of Monster Hunter, despite the presence of huge creatures to hunt. But this has certainly not prevented the designers from doing an exceptional job to say the least in the battles against biomechanical animals that will stand against us. Compared to the first game it is a real revolution that adds a complexity that is as surprising as it is actually essential to keep the player's interest high. Also in this case totally customizable through the options. For those looking for a complete experience, challenge included, Forbidden West offers fights that are anything but obvious, where learning the use of traps and all the equipment on which Aloy can get his hands will make a profound difference. Even the battles with humans, in their simplicity, hide some surprises, such as the exciting clash that awaits us once we finally cross the great gates to the west.
Guaranteed spectacle
Horizon Forbidden West: often the game asks for specific parts of a creature, and it will not always be an easy task ... Difficult to remain impassive when you are there, climbing through the blizzard, on the trail of that huge winged creature that now twirls and caws metallic on the highest peak; impossible not to clench your fists in victory when the dangerous herd ends up in our traps, and just as we had imagined. But what really delighted us is to finally see living cities, and some changes to the map based on our work, with settlements that are rebuilt or decorated for primordial rituals, special areas open only after a cycle of themed missions, and all a series of events that are good for you to discover.With these expedients, the game conveys the idea of being at the center of credible and evolving stories, instead of in a place that is frozen in time and operated on command by the presence of the protagonist. The illusion has limits, but it holds out until the end. The amazement, on the other hand, is growing, it never stops because the game constantly raises the volume, placing you in front of the scenographies that take your breath away and that in some cases can even transform, transforming the entire landscape in turn. If you've made it to Las Vegas, you know what we're talking about ...
Nine cross-section
Horizon Forbidden West: Cauldrons won't be the only dungeons in the game ... We've decided to give the game a nine-to-one because Horizon Forbidden West is built on an overwhelming amount of great insights. Guerrilla has carefully studied the path taken by this type of open world in recent years, has taken note of the weaknesses and strengths of a game structure that the public loves and hates to the same extent. Certainly he also copied, as it should be: Breath of The Wild can be seen everywhere, from the "paravela" that allows Aloy to glide in a fall (but in Horizon it works mainly as a shortcut to go down to the valley), to the posthumous surprises of some particularly important areas, passing through a world building able to silently guide the unwitting player.The main difference between the Sony game and the Nintendo one is that the world of the former is built around its detailed missions, that of the latter is itself a gigantic main quest. You don't even need to prefer one to the other: it's just great that both exist, one more poetic and whispered and the other explosive and cheeky, and it's great that they influence each other.
But what an old-gen!
Horiszon Forbidden West: imagine you are complaining about the graphics of this game ... Despite the rumors among the communities, we remain convinced that support for PlayStation 4 has in no way clipped the wings to the project. Horizon Forbidden WestIt will be very interesting to discover with you how Horizon Forbidden West will influence upcoming action games with a similar setting. The quality of the quests of this new PlatStation exclusive must become the norm if the open world is to be based on them. After Forbidden West it will be really difficult to get back to completing the hundreds of useless half-baked missions proposed in other games; it will be difficult even for Sony itself that with its many Open Worlds will have to repeat the magic over and over again, unless it reinvent the wheel every time but it is quite unlikely that this will happen and in the end it would also be useless.
A front page protagonist
Horizon Forbidden West: there is always a creature bigger than the previous one ... The latest Sony exclusives have taught us one thing, however: PlayStation Studios are perfectly aligned to the tastes of the public. Sony hasn't just invested in video games, the real added asset in recent years has been its characters. The Forbidden West marketing campaign is super obvious, you are selling a new Lara Croft in a moment of great public receptivity, as well as super successful, thanks to the paired statue and coverage of Vanity Fair (attention: only in digital version) that they generated a more than discreet media buzz.An obvious strategy yes, a 1 + 1 = 2 that would come to everyone's mind, but not easy to implement. You can set up a certain type of socially engaged communication only if the raw material, in this case Aloy, allows it. Nintendo characters are too tied to their childish two-dimensionality, and that's okay; Microsoft offers more hardcore games that often do not even have a clear protagonist, the expendable face (Senua is too gritty, but she has possibilities). PlayStation Studios build their games around protagonists as strong as the gameplay they are entrusted with; every game tries first of all to create a star that the user can relate to, and feel cool.
It's cinema!
Horizon Forbidden West: "shut up in wonder and then you become as big as the earth and raise your love song "Alda Merini Mechanisms similar to those in cinema that allow social messages to be effectively conveyed (exploited), to reach an extremely large audience that is not necessarily interested in video games. In short, Sony's popularity is not the random variable that detractors want you to believe; and before you create a plaster cast of a character to talk about strong arguments, you must have this character.The purpose for which Aloy served could not have been entrusted to Princess Peach nor to the Master Chief.
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And don't forget to tell us in the comments how the your trip, and what you are enjoying most (and least)!
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