Horizon Forbidden West seems to be the next must-have PlayStation exclusive, thanks to a handful of stunning trailers and the recent State of Play demo showcase. Guerrilla Games recently confirmed that the action RPG is nearly done with development and will be ready for a holiday 2021 release on PS5 and PS4.
During Horizon Forbidden West's State of Play unveiling last month, it was action picks up 6 months after the first game. It's an easy enough detail to overlook, but for Horizon specifically, there's quite a few movings in the world that this time jump is a big deal.
Aloy's Character Development
Guerrilla Games has a history of using time jumps as a narrative tool in its games, the most famous of which being the 9 year gap between the events of Killzone 3 and Killzone Shadowfall. That franchise's setting was propelled into the future to allow for a more compelling human story to be told, after mixed reception to what had previously transpired. While the Horizon franchise has been met with much warmer fan reception, it can't be forgotten that Zero Dawn itself also utilized a similar tactic, as it charted Aloy's early years and growth at the start of the game. This trend is important to keep in mind when it comes to Horizon Forbidden West, as the 6 month time hop is likely to serve a significant story function here too, beyond just being the explanation behind Aloy's journey to west coast of the United States.
As its protagonist, Aloy is the heart of the franchise in every sense of the word. Jumping forward into the future for any length of time will therefore have a big impact on her character, and the journey the previous game left her in the middle of. Thematically, Horizon Zero Dawn was all about Aloy's coming of age story. While exploring that process, Guerrilla Games ensured that she wore a wide array of hats, from Outcast to Seeker, before finally settling into the role of reliable hero. Horizon Forbidden West shows that Aloy's character development is far from over despite this, and the game will likely use the time jump to show how the aftermath of Zero Dawn has changed her life, as more people have become aware of her deeds.
During last month's 19 minute State of Play, there were already a number of tell-tale signs that Aloy has started to be viewed more as a leader by those around her. Even though only 6 months will have passed by the time Horizon Forbidden West starts, that still means she'll only be roughly 19 years old. Leading a group of people at that age is still a challenge that the game's narrative will need to spend time exploring. Picking up a little bit into this process not only gets the ball rolling quicker, but it also creates a level of chaos for players to catch up on that's similar to what Aloy will probably be feeling herself.
Rogue AIs and Plagues
At the center of Horizon Zero Dawn's story was the antagonistic rogue AI, HADES. Once as a sub-section of the world rebuilding GAIA, the intelligence was splintered into independent individual entities by a signal of unknown origin. The part that became HADES was motivated in this moment by its original status as a failsafe, to set about on a crusade to exterminate all organic life on Earth. Ultimately thwarted by Aloy, herself cloned and brought into existence by GAIA, HADES was last seen being scooped up by Sylens at the end of the game. What's been shown of Horizon Forbidden West so far suggests that HADES could be the source of the Red Plague that's ravaging the world, as the AI seems to have an affinity for that kind of apocalyptic disaster.
The 6 month time gap is tantalizing because it brings up two important question, what have HADES and Sylens been up to in the interim, and where exactly have they gone? During Horizon Forbidden West's debut trailer, the later was seen assisting the new antagonistic Tenkath tribe, which could be a sign that whatever the answers end up being, he'll reappear with some form of nefarious agenda. With each of GAIA's subordinate functions having their own free will and abilities, and the appearance of multiple global disasters, there's a chance Sylens might have assisted HADES in forming an alliance with its former teammates.
There's already signs that one AI in particular might have already joined forces with HADES during this time. Most of the dangerous combat robots that have been unleashed on humanity so far were built by HEPHAESTUS, another of GAIA's subordinates, once it gained free will. One of the narrative strands of Horizon Zero Dawn revolved around Aloy encountering this AI and ending its schemes, which means there's already plenty of motivation for it to play a bigger antagonist role in her future.
The Horizon Expanded Universe
Moving forward in time isn't something Guerrilla Games is doing purely on a whim to keep the story moving along; instead, it's become as much of a necessity. Thanks to the impact and plaudits the first game received, Horizon has grown into a multimedia franchise all of its own, with branches spanning a host of different mediums. One of the biggest of these is the Horizon Zero Dawn tie-on comic book series published by Titan Comics, which thanks to COVID-19 induced delays, is currently still in the process of releasing its second Erend-themed volume. Crucially, the series has focused on exploring events that happened after the credits rolled in its name sake. Reflecting that in Horizon Forbidden West via the time jump is therefore a big deal, as it solidifies this expanded content as being important to the overall canon of the universe.
While it remains to be seen if just how much of an impact the comics ultimately have on the overall narrative of Horizon Forbidden West, there's a handful of signs that fans will want to familiarize themselves with their pages. During the first volume, Aloy only briefly appears at the start, instead giving way for Horizon Zero Dawn's Talanah to take center stage. What's significant about this, other than the likelihood of that character's return in the sequel, is the fact that her adventure heavily revolves around a handful of encounters with a 'new breed' of powerful black-armored machines. One of which is a Clawstrider, the raptor-shaped robot that just so happened to feature heavily in the recent State of Play demo. These two details suggest that the 6 month gap could be significant from a gameplay perspective, and could facilitate the introduction of a new form of legendary beast style encounter in-game.
Horizon Forbidden West is in development for PS4 and PS5.
