Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West is an action role playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It launched for PlayStation 4, and was released on PlayStation 5 in February 2022.

Set six months after Horizon Zero Dawn, the story follows Aloy across a postapocalyptic American West. She travels through settlements including Chainscrape and Plainsong while investigating a blight that is killing crops and wildlife. Her search reveals that the mysterious signal that disrupted GAIA's subordinate functions originated beyond Earth.

The central conflict involves Regalla, a Tenakth rebel marshal played by Angela Bassett, who attacks the tribe's leaders and opposes their chief Hekarro. Aloy can choose whether to spare Regalla after the rebel leader is defeated at the Kulrut, a major Tenakth ceremony. The game also introduces Beta, a clone of Aloy created by Far Zenith scientists.

As Aloy restores GAIA, she learns that the Far Zeniths escaped the destruction of Earth and returned seeking the terraforming system. Their leader, Tilda van der Meer, presents herself as an ally, but the Zeniths' plan is to take GAIA and flee from Nemesis, a hostile artificial intelligence created by their collective minds. The revelation changes the threat from a regional war into a struggle over humanity's future.

Gameplay combines exploration, combat, and machine hunting. Aloy uses a Focus to scan machines and uncover clues, while a workbench system lets her upgrade weapons and outfits. New traversal tools include the Pullcaster for grappling and moving objects, the Shieldwing glider, and the Diving Mask, which permits extended underwater exploration.

The open world includes desert, tropical coast, snowy mountains, and the ruins of San Francisco. Several quests connect these locations to real landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Las Vegas sphere. Machines are redesigned animal-inspired threats: Aloy may fight Clawstriders, Sunwings, Tremortusks, and the enormous Slitherfang.

The game's faction stories give the setting political detail. The Oseram salvage camps pursue valuable old-world technology, the Utaru struggle with ecological collapse, and the Tenakth are divided by traditions inherited from a military hologram archive. Aloy can recruit allies for the final mission, including Erend, Zo, Kotallo, and Alva.

Forbidden West was developed using Guerrilla's Decima engine and received acclaim for its visual design, machine encounters, and world detail. It is also notable for its accessibility options, including extensive difficulty controls, subtitles, and customizable controls. The Burning Shores expansion continues Aloy's story.