Horizon Forbidden West

Overview

Horizon Forbidden West is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), the game is set in a post-apocalyptic version of the Western United States, recovering from the aftermath of an extinction event caused by a rogue robot swarm. The player, assuming control of Aloy, must venture into the Forbidden West to find the source of a mysterious plague that kills all it infects. The player can explore the open world and complete quests using ranged and melee weapons against machine creatures and hostile rebels. Forbidden West introduced new gameplay mechanics to the franchise, such as new traversal tools, underwater exploration, and expanded melee combat.

Guerrilla Games began developing Forbidden West in 2018. The development peaked at over 300 full-time employees and cost around US$212 million, making the game one of the most expensive ever to develop. One of the team's goals was to retain the core qualities of the original game, and the team made efforts to expand exploration and combat to support various playstyles. Guerrilla also invested more resources into creating the game's cinematics and spent more time creating character-driven side quests for the game. Ashly Burch and Lance Reddick returned to provide the voice for Aloy and Sylens, respectively, and they were joined by Angela Bassett and Carrie-Anne Moss. As with Zero Dawn, the game was powered by Guerrilla's in-house Decima engine. Announced in June 2020, the game was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on 18 February 2022.

The game received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, combat, quest design and the cast's performance, but criticized its story and Aloy's characterization. Most reviewers agreed that Forbidden West was bigger and more refined than Zero Dawn, though it was more of an evolutionary experience than a revolutionary one. It sold over 8.4 million units by April 2023. It was nominated for several end-of-year accolades, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022 and the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. An expansion, Burning Shores, was released for the PlayStation 5 in April 2023. The game and the Burning Shores expansion were collected together, re-released as Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition for PlayStation 5 in October 2023, and ported to Windows by Nixxes Software in March 2024. A sequel is in development.

Official trailer

Announcement Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Role-playing (RPG), Adventure

Developer

Guerrilla Games

Publisher

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Series

Horizon

Engine

Decima

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Windows, PlayStation 5

Age rating

ESRB T

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

USK

12

PEGI

16

CERO

D

GRAC

19+

CLASS IND

14

ACB

M

ESRB

T

Release dates

Subscription history

Trophies

Trophies62

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

1

Silver

7

Bronze

53

Total

62

Points

1395

Platinum time

30 hours

Difficulty

3 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

1

Online trophies

0

• All Trophies Obtained Obtained all Horizon Forbidden West trophies. Platinum 20.59% of players
• Reached Level 20 Reached player level 20. Bronze 22.87% of players
• Reached Level 30 Reached player level 30. Bronze 22.24% of players
• Reached Level 50 Reached player level 50. Silver 21.32% of players
• Reached the Daunt Arrived at the Daunt seeking passage into the Forbidden West. Bronze 25.45% of players
• Secured Passage to the Embassy Cleared the way to the Embassy and reopened the Daunt. Bronze 24.51% of players
• Attended the Embassy Survived the ambush at the Embassy and gained passage into the Forbidden West. Bronze 24.22% of players
• Established the Base Secured a base of operations and rebooted GAIA. Bronze 23.21% of players
• Recovered AETHER Defended the Kulrut and recovered AETHER. Bronze 22.59% of players
• Recovered POSEIDON Drained Las Vegas and recovered POSEIDON. Bronze 22.39% of players
• Recovered DEMETER Encountered the Quen and recovered DEMETER. Bronze 22.25% of players
• Recovered Beta Followed Beta's distress signal and brought her back to base. Bronze 22.54% of players
• Discovered Faro's Fate Survived Thebes and befriended the Quen. Bronze 22.12% of players
• Flew on the Wings of the Ten Flew into battle and vanquished Regalla. Bronze 22.02% of players
• Discovered Nemesis Put an end to the Zenith threat and discovered Nemesis. Gold 21.83% of players
• Chose a Desert Commander Aided both Drakka and Yarra and chose the better candidate. Bronze 21.75% of players
• Saved the Daunt Resolved all of the problems troubling the Daunt. Bronze 22.39% of players
• Aided Kotallo Helped Kotallo build and test a mechanized arm. Bronze 21.62% of players
• Healed the Land-gods Helped Zo reboot the land-gods to save Plainsong. Bronze 21.62% of players
• Recovered Alva's Data Helped Alva retrieve data to help the Quen. Bronze 21.45% of players
• First Tallneck Overridden Reached the top of a Tallneck and accessed its information. Bronze 23.66% of players
• All Tallnecks Overridden Reached the top of every Tallneck and accessed their information. Silver 21.49% of players
• First Rebel Camp Completed Completed key objectives in 1 Rebel Camp. Bronze 23.02% of players
• Defeated Asera Investigated all Rebel Camps and helped Erend defeat Asera. Silver 21.33% of players
• First Core Overridden Reached the Core of a Cauldron and accessed its information. Bronze 22.35% of players
• All Cores Overridden Reached the Core of every Cauldron and accessed their information. Silver 21.27% of players
• Obtained 3 Stripes at a Hunting Ground Earned at least a Quarter Stripe mark in all three trials at one Hunting Ground. Bronze 21.96% of players
• Obtained 3 Stripes at All Hunting Grounds Earned at least a Quarter Stripe mark in all three trials at all Hunting Grounds. Silver 20.83% of players
• All Acquisition Machines Killed Killed at least one of every type of Acquisition machine. Bronze 21.43% of players
• All Recon Machines Killed Killed at least one of every type of Reconnaissance machine. Bronze 22.3% of players
• All Combat Machines Killed Killed at least one of every type of Combat machine. Bronze 21.61% of players
• All Transport Machines Killed Killed at least one of every type of Transport machine. Bronze 22.17% of players
• Rode All Regular Mounts Rode a Charger, Bristleback, and Clawstrider. Bronze 21.32% of players
• All Machine Types Scanned Encountered and Focus scanned every type of machine. Silver 21.27% of players
• Completed a Long Glide Glided uninterrupted for 60 seconds. Bronze 21.77% of players
• Completed 2 Flying Mount Quests Completed 2 quests that required a flying mount. Bronze 21.25% of players
• Won 2 Gauntlet Runs Won first place in two different Gauntlet Runs. Bronze 21.11% of players
• Completed a Set of Salvage Contracts Completed all contracts at a Salvage Contractor. Bronze 22.23% of players
• Completed 4 Rebel Outposts Defeated the outpost leader and recovered the tags from 4 Rebel Outposts. Bronze 21.98% of players
• Completed 3 Relic Ruins Discovered and completed 3 Relic Ruins. Bronze 21.84% of players
• Completed Arena Challenge Set Completed 1 Arena challenge set. Bronze 21.33% of players
• Defeated Machine Strike Challengers Won a match against 2 different Machine Strike challengers. Bronze 21.33% of players
• Obtained All Weapon Classes Obtained 1 weapon from every weapon class. Bronze 21.62% of players
• Used all Elemental States Inflicted every elemental state on an enemy at least once. Bronze 21.99% of players
• Performed 3 Melee Combos Successfully performed 3 different unlockable melee combos. Bronze 22.54% of players
• Stealth Killed 10 Machines Performed a stealth kill on 10 machines. Bronze 24.66% of players
• Tore off 100 Components Detached 100 components from machines. Bronze 23.05% of players
• Picked up 5 Heavy Weapons Picked up 5 different heavy weapons. Bronze 22.16% of players
• 10 Types of Machine Overridden Unlocked and used the overrides for 10 different types of machine. Bronze 21.2% of players
• Defeated the Enduring Defeated the Tenakth melee master known as the Enduring. Bronze 20.78% of players
• Fully Upgraded a Valor Surge Upgraded a Valor Surge to its maximum level. Bronze 22.85% of players
• Upgraded 3 Weapons Fully upgraded 3 weapons. Bronze 23.34% of players
• Upgraded 3 Outfits Fully upgraded 3 different outfits. Bronze 22.12% of players
• Upgraded Every Pouch Type Upgraded the Food Pouch, Potion Pouch, Resource Pouch, Trap Pouch, and any ammo pouch at least once. Bronze 21.79% of players
• Enhanced Weapon with Coils Equipped a weapon of any tier with 2 coils. Bronze 21.97% of players
• Unlocked 3 Weapon Techniques Unlocked a Weapon Technique for 3 different weapon classes. Bronze 22.55% of players
• Skill Tree Learned Learned all available skills on one tree. Silver 22.19% of players
• Recovered 5 Different Collectables Completed 1 Survey Drone, 1 Black Box, 1 Relic Ruin, 1 Vista Point, and 1 Signal Tower. Bronze 21.92% of players
• Used Dye Flowers Used dye flowers to unlock and apply a new dye. Bronze 21.98% of players
• Completed New Game+ Completed a New Game+ playthrough on any difficulty. Bronze 6.88% of players
• Completed Ultra Hard Completed a new or New Game+ playthrough on Ultra Hard difficulty. Bronze 6.58% of players
• Obtained All New Game+ Rewards Obtained all New Game+ weapons, dyes, and face paints. Bronze 6.67% of players

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Credits

Publisher

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Developer

Guerrilla Games

Released

2022-02-18

Age rating

ESRB T

Region

US

Time to beat

about 30.7 hours