Horizon Forbidden West picks up where its predecessor Horizon: Zero Dawn left off. Nora hunter Aloy, now known and loved throughout the world as a rescuer, must once again face the dangers of the man-made and now extremely dangerous ecosystem. In the sequel, her journey takes her from Utah to the Pacific coast, so that numerous new challenges and tasks await her.
Horizon: Forbidden West: Story, History, Lore
Half a year has passed since Zero Dawn. Aloy was able to save the world from destruction in the previous game by successfully locking Hades away. But the danger has not yet been averted. Gaia, the extensive ecosystem created by humans, is once again threatened with complete destruction. A destructive plague is raging throughout the land, which will slowly but surely wipe out humanity. Worshipping storms sweep through the entire country, the soil is contaminated and the water is undrinkable.
Aloy, the savior of the land, once again sets out on a quest to save the world. First alone, then accompanied by her friends, she finds out that restoring the Gaia system is the only solution. But to restore the system to its former glory, Gaia needs her sub-functions. While the player is already familiar with the functions Hades, Minerva and Hephaestus from Zero Dawn, he is given the task of finding the remaining programs and bringing them back to Gaia’s base. For only by incorporating them can Gaia succeed in bringing Hephaestus and engineering under control once again.
Horizon: Forbidden West: What It’s About
The essential storyline of Horizon: Forbidden West is to save the land and recover the sub-functions Aether, Poseidon and Demeter. While Aether regulates the air and thus can control the destructive storms, Poseidon purifies and spreads the water. Demeter regulates soil activity, so that only through it is possible agriculture and consequently the continuation of the food chain for humans. However, all three sub-functions have hidden themselves well, each finding refuge in a supercomputer. Part of Aloy’s main task is to find them and incorporate them into Gaia by means of a core. The journey to the hiding places takes the heroine across the country, making her cross deserts, jungles and mountains.
In the course of main quests, Aloy manages to overcome the dangers and restore Gaia’s three important core functions. However, the super AI only briefly succeeds in bringing the ecosystem back under control and regulating it. Gaia needs Hephaestus and his machines are needed to actually make the land habitable for humans, animals and machines. However, since this sub-function is one of the most powerful, Gaia finds it anything but easy to gain control of the program. Thus, Aloy has to go out one more time and collect the remaining functions Artemis, Apollo and Eleuthia.
Horizon: Forbidden West – Part One
In the first part, Aloy was still considered an outcast and motherless, which made her shunned by everyone. As the savior of the land, the heroine was able to successfully win friends and allies, who will stand by her side in the sequel. The adventurer also needs them, as a multitude of new dangers and enemies await. In the meantime, not only the machines are the main danger for the Nora huntress. While in the east the tribes are hostile, in the west the Tenakth wait for their bloody revenge. There are numerous legends and myths about the warlike people, who are divided into several sub-tribes. Especially the past with Meridian and the Carja contributes to the fact that the entire people is considered bloodthirsty and strong hostility prevails.
At first, the Tenakth people seem hostile to Aloy as well, although her exploits have reached deep into the west. Through her heroic deeds and support in battles, however, the huntress manages to win the trust of the clan chief Hekarro and many of his fighters. Shortly after the game begins, Aloy and a legation from Meridian encounter hostile Tenakth, led by Regalla, Hekarro’s enemy. After Aloy and her friends are able to ward off the danger posed by Regalla and her troops, she sets off for the Tenakth capital. But they are also waiting there and want to overthrow Hekarro. Together with the Tenakth, Aloy manages to banish the danger from Regalla and win the trust of the clan chief and his confidants.
Unlike in the predecessor, the hostile Tenakth keep lurking as one of the main opponents in Forbidden West. Regalla and her rebels have established outposts throughout the West, where they plan to overthrow Hekarro. One of the game’s side tasks is to find the large and small camps and defeat all the enemies. However, since the enemies have now learned to bridge the machines, they can skillfully steer them and even ride on them. This gives them significant advantages in battle, which Aloy is only armed with the right equipment and appropriate strategy.
Horizon: Forbidden West – Old, new World
On her way to the West Coast, Aloy repeatedly encounters relics from the past. One of the most relevant to the story is herself in the form of the clone Beta. Beta, like Aloy, was created from the genetic material of Elisabet Sobeck, but at the same time has known since her birth what the world looked like before Zero Dawn. Created by Far Zenith, an organization of the ancients and responsible for the planned space colony Odyssey, she was supposed to be able to control the Zero Dawn terraforming system and thus Gaia. Unlike all humans in the current timeline of Horizon Forbidden West and Zero Dawn, she had access to the Apollo knowledge program through the Far Zeniths and could learn a wide variety of subjects.
In the course of the story, Aloy first encounters Beta and the Far Zeniths, who are extremely hostile towards her. Eventually, the huntress learns that Elisabet Sobeck’s clone is being abused for the sole purpose of retrieving Gaia and plans to free her from the organization’s clutches. It is true that she succeeds in this. But Beta does not approve of the plan of the group around Aloy to defeat the Far Zeniths and restore the Gaia system. Since the Far Zeniths have obtained eternal life with drugs and implants, they have been able to survive since the start of the Odyssey and thus preserve the knowledge of the ancients. With persuasion and the fact that the world is dying, Aloy manages to convince Beta. Together they plan to destroy the Far Zeniths and save the land once again.