Horizon Forbidden West Review: After Over 80 Hours Played on PS5 (4k 60FPS)
1,624In this Horizon: Forbidden West Review we’ll be sharing our impressions on the sequel to Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn. https://fextralife.com/horizon-forbidden-west-review-gameplay-impressions-playstation5-4k-60fps - Having enjoyed over 2 weeks with the game and had plenty of time to explore and experience everything it has to offer, we are ready to answer the question: Should you Play this? This will be a story spoiler-free review, but the game is a direct sequel to the original so there are some unavoidable spoilers for Zero Dawn.
Developed by: Guerrilla
Published by: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release date: February 18th 2022
Platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 5 (Reviewed on Playstation 5)
Price: Standard Edition $69.99 USD
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Story & Setting
03:24 Gameplay
07:13 Audiovisual & Performance
09:11 Scale & Replayability
09:50 Final Thoughts & Pricepoint
When I started Horizon Forbidden West, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a direct sequel, it was clear that many things would carry over, so it should feel familiar, but what could be done to improve on the critically-acclaimed original? As it turns out, there was quite a lot: from better climbing, exploration and tools to interesting skills and improved melee fighting, to expanded activity ranges and deeper NPC interactions.
As I jumped into endgame and “post game”, I had found my groove for combat, progression and exploration, and got into a relaxing rhythm to uncover all secrets on the map and finalize my collections to fill up all my datapoint entries from my notebook. At this point is usually where I consider, is this worth the price? And it gets a little tricky.
On the one hand, I found the story cliched and wasn’t overly impressed with it. On the other hand, the game has truly amazing production values and the gameplay is solid. But is this enough to make you spend USD 70 on this game rather than on Elden Ring, that comes out a few days later? In my opinion, no…
Horizon: Forbidden West while phenomenal in many ways is also decidedly average in others. The game doesn’t do anything new or groundbreaking, and in many ways it’s just more of the same sort open world game we’ve seen done over and over again with Assassin’s Creed, Ghost of Tsushima, and even games like Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption. And while that is fantastic company to be included in, those games simply do the same things better.
There is certainly a fan-base and market for Horizon: Forbidden West, as Zero Dawn sold well and had outstanding review scores. And there aren’t a lot of games that compete in terms of sheer size and production value (except the ones I just mentioned). So I think if those are some of your favorite games you will enjoy Forbidden West, and this will likely be a day one buy. However, if you’re new to the franchise or you’re wondering if it’s worth getting a PS5 just to play it, I’d hold off until after Elden Ring or until the price comes down a bit.
So what are your thoughts after all this: Do you have this on preorder already or are trying to decide if you want to get it? Let us know in the comments!
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