Horizon Forbidden West

 PlayStation 5
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 10308 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7,816 out of 10308
  2. Mixed: 729 out of 10308
  3. Negative: 1,763 out of 10308
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  1. Zero__Dawn__
    Apr 27, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. An absolute masterpiece of a game, not only was the story extremely fun and diverse but, the amount of beautiful locations is enough to buy this game.… Expand
  2. losveratos
    Apr 27, 2022
    7
    Forbidden West is a step up in a lot of regards to Zero Dawn. Graphically, it's much more beautiful, the animations are often smoother, the enemy variety is better, and the story itself is much more interesting for side content and character development.

    Where Forbidden West lets me down is with how absolutely mouth droolingly stupid the game thinks I am. It has ZERO respect for my    Forbidden West is a step up in a lot of regards to Zero Dawn. Graphically, it's much more beautiful, the animations are often smoother, the enemy variety is better, and the story itself is much more interesting for side content and character development.

    Where Forbidden West lets me down is with how absolutely mouth droolingly stupid the game thinks I am. It has ZERO respect for my intelligence. There are no settings to turn it off. It just is what it is.

    Oh... I wonder how I do this puzzle I begin to say in my head as Aloy spells it out for my in crystal clarity before the thought even finishes. Oh, I wonder if this is the correct room to be in... immediately cut off by Aloy telling me I'm in the wrong room and need to turn around. Oh let's quickly scan this enemy and see his weakne.... nope, Aloy blurts out mid thought I SHOULD USE ACID! Apparently I'm a baby that needs my hand held. I'm 60 hours into the game and Aloy STILL tells me... oh, I wonder if I use my glider to get down there. No duh... wow. The baby needed help again.

    This is the single biggest mess up they made. It plays like the marketing team found a bunch of 60 year olds at a local mall to play the game as their first ever video game and took their feedback as gospel. It's infuriating.

    The next biggest problem, I've never grinded. Not once. Never. I avoid all enemies I don't need to kill. I've only killed enemies I'm forced to due to circumstance or quest lines. I'm not halfway through the map and my character is already max level. Quests give skill points... great idea. Quests giving massive experience... not so much. The entire EXP system needed a massive overhaul before shipping. Very poorly made. Or they want you to be max level before you're halfway done the game?

    Another issue I've experienced is the games punishing you for exploring. The nearest ? mark to the starting location pretty much requires an item to attain. Said item is 30ish hours into the game. The first quest you do? A side path that requires an item that's like 40 hours into the game. And that side path is off the main map. I'm just supposed to remember that a random quest cave I visited 40 hours ago had a side path that required an item to open... constant dead ends like this.

    This isn't a metroidvania. It's easy to run back to a random location in 2d games. Climbing up a massive mountain for 5-10 minutes with enemies along the way and no campfire there to fast travel back to AND THEN finding out I'm missing said item to open said path is a middle finger to the player. Game traversal isn't remotely easy enough for this type of implementation. VERY VERY VERY poorly thought out and implemented. Gating areas and progression through item checks, good... doing that constantly from the starting moments of the game and putting all said item checks 30-50 hours of traversal later? Not good. This system required better or more experienced people implementing it.

    My final main issue with the game is just TOO MANY WEAPONS. Oh... should I use my warrior bow with ice or the one with fire or the one with electricity or or or and that's just one weapon type. You often need more than 1. And so many different bows... It's frustrating to need to open the menu to unequip weapons or even armor because they're just so incredibly situational. Like... why would you ever... EVER main armor that boosts heavy weapons? Ever? Why would you? But oh.... I picked one up and this is a pretty hard fight so I guess I need to pause the game and take myself out of the battle and change my entire outfit mid fight now.... Who thought that was cool? It's like the weapon system from the old game and then someone tried to shoehorn in Borderlands absurd item system on top of it. It's such a terrible juxtaposition of anything the game should have been attempting to do.

    Oh... and fire the person or people that made and implemented the potion "system" (if you can even call it a system). That person or people have zero reason to have punished us like this. Just rip the entirety of it out of the game and their end credit lines with it. Terrible in every facet and every meaning of the word. Nonsensical and unnecessary.

    Finally I suppose I should mention the combat. Other than my above complaints about the garbage item system, it's mostly better than Zero Dawn. The rock paper scissors aspect of it gets a little old but it's still better.

    Overall... it's such a highly polished and clearly passion driven game. You feel the love. Really. But so many design failures and feature implementations gone horridly wrong that it's difficulty to give it better than a 7. Sorry guys. It hurts me. It does. But this is the score the game deserves.    … Expand
  3. CoconutGameEU
    Apr 26, 2022
    7
    The race system is the buggiest thing I ever seen in a PlayStation exclusive.
  4. Lightlollo
    Apr 25, 2022
    6
    Un gioco fin troppo spinto dalla pubblicità e sopravvalutato. È un open world con un gameplay che annoia dopo poche ore perciò non ne vale la pena.
  5. Xmadcatx33
    Feb 21, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Uno de los mejores mundos abiertos que jamas haga jugado, supera en todos los apartados al Zero Down sin duda.… Expand
  6. Kamikazeshocki
    Apr 25, 2022
    9
    First: The graphics are jaw dropping. THIS and Ratched and Clank show the power of exclusives. The water, the clouds, the variety, the details...unbelievable to see this on a console. I do not recommend the performance mode on this one since you loose too much of resolution on screen. And the loading times are a blessing!

    I spent lke 75h and did platinum trophy. So, the good thing is,    First: The graphics are jaw dropping. THIS and Ratched and Clank show the power of exclusives. The water, the clouds, the variety, the details...unbelievable to see this on a console. I do not recommend the performance mode on this one since you loose too much of resolution on screen. And the loading times are a blessing!

    I spent lke 75h and did platinum trophy. So, the good thing is, this game completely negates all it's former criticism: The melee combat is now good enough and how it should have been at part one. Furthermore the cities, NPC and open world are brought to life. And of course you can swim and fly now which makes a overall nice package. Fighting the machines is done very very well. The bad thing is, the story is "just" continuing what was started in part 1 and there is almost no mysticismn or secrets anymore despite...*no spoiler*. This is mostly why it doesnt deserve a ten. I really dug the apocalyptic story part one when you unrevelled the truth....but now you already know 90% of it. Also in direct comparision to Elden Ring I have to say that Forbidden West caters to the masses and is highly subjected to the standard open world formular. So if you are tired of open world games you will get one one the best here but it might still get a bit stale here and there with the many generic stuff to do, later on. But it's acceptable if presented in such triple AAA style and it is often more addictive than not.

    It's probably the second best PS5 game this year and I can highly recommend it.
    But in the end it has to bow before Elden Ring, which is just simply a better game with a better open world desing (though not graphically). If you can afford it, just buy both and play HZD first :D.    … Expand
  7. tomhughesnice
    Apr 25, 2022
    8
    TLDR More Horizon Zero Dawn with better graphics, weapons and skill tree.

    Pros - Graphics & Visuals are amazing. Playing on PS5 Performance mode 60fps this runs and looks great. I could not play at 30fps, hurts my eyes the stutter. - Side quests. Really well acted and not just generic fetch quests. Really add to the world building and grant decent XP boosts for your skill tree. -    TLDR More Horizon Zero Dawn with better graphics, weapons and skill tree.

    Pros
    - Graphics & Visuals are amazing. Playing on PS5 Performance mode 60fps this runs and looks great. I could not play at 30fps, hurts my eyes the stutter.
    - Side quests. Really well acted and not just generic fetch quests. Really add to the world building and grant decent XP boosts for your skill tree.
    - Skill tree. Loads of ways to specialise your build but not overly complicated.
    - Story telling is generally really well presented.
    - Stealth play is a lot more realistic than most games. Enemies will see you from realistic distances, you need to be much more careful.

    Cons
    - Combat is bit finicky. Button mappings are unorthodox in my opinion, find myself pressing the wrong buttons a lot. I suppose I could probably remap them, but I always use the default button scheme.
    - Some bugs. Texture popping certainly a thing. Have noticed the game running really slowly at one point had to quit. I expect them to be patched.
    - Pinging. I find I am constantly pinging for items of interest nearby. Its abit annoying, but I dont want to miss. anything.

    So mainly combat feels like the main weak point to me. Bugs will be fixed and I am patient enough to wait. As mentioned the side quests are excellent to the point I forget whats going on in the main quest. I think more of the side quests should have been woven into the main story or something. Cause I probably had about 20 hours or so in the middle just doing side quests.

    I have seen some people label Aloy a "Mary Sue"(Character perfect at everything). That is false, Aloy has to make questionable decisions at times and in some dialog she is abit of a dick quite frankly. I think they got her character just right in this, she is badass obviously and most NPC's basically worship her but still human.    … Expand
  8. BraveDzikus
    Apr 24, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What a masterpiece! After finishing Horizon Zero Dawn my hopes were really high and I musi say that I feel fulfilled and after seeing the ending only thing I can say is - Im waiting for the next part, because I know it will be Worth it. Definitely recommend!… Expand
  9. Suspect12
    Apr 24, 2022
    6
    Decent game, though there a few things that just irritate me to the point I can't call it a great game. I feel that there are far too many artificial playtime boosting systems/design choices that feel unnecessary. Some of puzzles are just plain irritating and the side content is mostly boring. Also, running on PS4, there are small graphics and physics glitches that I would guess aren'tDecent game, though there a few things that just irritate me to the point I can't call it a great game. I feel that there are far too many artificial playtime boosting systems/design choices that feel unnecessary. Some of puzzles are just plain irritating and the side content is mostly boring. Also, running on PS4, there are small graphics and physics glitches that I would guess aren't prevalent on the PS5 version.… Expand
  10. s14r43r
    Feb 21, 2022
    10
    Best game ever!!! Thank you, guerrilla games for this beautiful game!!! My personal game of 2022!
  11. zayngo
    Apr 24, 2022
    10
    Forbidden West is a masterpiece!

    Tbh, I hate the 1st game - ZD since the facial animation is rough & the story is kinda boring with too many redundant conversations. So, I didn't know why I bought this sequel. But after 12 hours of playing, I absorb myself into it. - The facial animation was improved a lots - The environment is absolutely stunning. Especially, in the 1st time I saw    Forbidden West is a masterpiece!

    Tbh, I hate the 1st game - ZD since the facial animation is rough & the story is kinda boring with too many redundant conversations. So, I didn't know why I bought this sequel. But after 12 hours of playing, I absorb myself into it.
    - The facial animation was improved a lots
    - The environment is absolutely stunning. Especially, in the 1st time I saw Las Vegas light it's was jaw-dropping. Love it!
    - The story is still not attractive but it's better than ZD. The side missions are interesting.
    - The combat is very awesome. I enjoy it much

    Hope the developers make some romances in Horizon 3. I'm looking forward to have a serious relationship with Kotallo    … Expand
  12. Alinasir
    Apr 24, 2022
    10
    This seems like good enough to enjoy. In all respects, this game is perfect and I do not think it has a particular problem. Both in terms of game story and gameplay is really great. In terms of graphics, it is still excellent and has completely entered the ninth generation.
  13. MoGee
    Apr 23, 2022
    7
    玩到中后期看着满地图的图标有点想吐，开了简单模式一路莽过主线了。 感觉剧情没有一代那么有意思，揭开一层一层面纱的感觉。
  14. Fox42
    Apr 22, 2022
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This goes right in my top 3. The game is amazing and Guerrilla has done a colossal work with this title. The creatures concepts are amazing, the landscapes are stunning, the soundtrack is just perfect, the story is way better than the first chapter (which was a very good one itself), pngs behaviours and dialogues are well written and the gameplay is really well managed. Also the mood given to the whole world and single areas is beautifully immersive. I gave it a 9 out of 10 just because of the main quest’s finale, in which i found the bossfight motivation a little bit trite. Also it was a pity that the story has a cliffhanger for a third chapter: in my opinion it could be ended with this second chapter and it could have been a perfect conclusion for the entire Aloy’s journey.… Expand
  15. GG_
    Apr 22, 2022
    9
    Dieses Spiel hat eine wunderschöne Grafik und eine spannende Story.

    Es hat auch kleine Schwächen, Nebentätigkeiten wiederholen sich sehr oft. Dafür ist die Hauptquest und Nebenquest, sehr schön und abwechslungsreich. Falls ihr die Story nochmal erleben wollt, oder das Spiel nicht spielnen konntet, hier habe ich einen Game Movie für euch gemacht. Https://youtu.be/51spDAq-jFw    Dieses Spiel hat eine wunderschöne Grafik und eine spannende Story.

    Es hat auch kleine Schwächen, Nebentätigkeiten wiederholen sich sehr oft.

    Dafür ist die Hauptquest und Nebenquest, sehr schön und abwechslungsreich.

    Falls ihr die Story nochmal erleben wollt, oder das Spiel nicht spielnen konntet, hier habe ich einen Game Movie für euch gemacht.

    Https://youtu.be/51spDAq-jFw

    Viel Spaß    … Expand
  16. poker909
    Apr 22, 2022
    0
    I won’t go find soup ingredients while I’m out trying to stop the earth from dying. I’m forcing myself to like this game but it’s not working. Instead of assembling a team after the events of the last game, nothing has changed, everyone still tries to worship anything with a blinky light, and the "forbidden" west is filled with all your old incompetent friends who managed to arrive beforeI won’t go find soup ingredients while I’m out trying to stop the earth from dying. I’m forcing myself to like this game but it’s not working. Instead of assembling a team after the events of the last game, nothing has changed, everyone still tries to worship anything with a blinky light, and the "forbidden" west is filled with all your old incompetent friends who managed to arrive before you. No one in the world can even tie their own shoelace without the help of the shallow and poorly written Alloy, and the entire game is just filler material with boring fetch quests. I can't think of a worse sequel.… Expand
  17. yasmincbr
    Apr 22, 2022
    10
    Being a fan of the first game, I was expecting a lot from this game and it did succeed!!! It delivered a hundred times more than I dreamed about, story wise and gameplay wise. So excited for the DLC and third one ❤️
  18. jhanson999
    Apr 22, 2022
    6
    I made the mistake of playing Elden Ring first, and I probably would have enjoyed this more if I played it first. It's kinda fun, kinda looks good, but it just isn't near the fun of Elden imo. All the hand holding is quite annoying. So heed my warning, play this before Elden ring.
  19. royalguy07
    Apr 22, 2022
    9
    Downright the most beautiful game out there to date, brilliant and vibrant coloring and details around every corner. The various zones and tribes feel distinguished enough in their themes and design to keep the game surprising and fresh at every turn. There has unfortunately been a decent amount of small visual bugs that keep popping up for me; Emtpy textures, popping, etc. It has beenDownright the most beautiful game out there to date, brilliant and vibrant coloring and details around every corner. The various zones and tribes feel distinguished enough in their themes and design to keep the game surprising and fresh at every turn. There has unfortunately been a decent amount of small visual bugs that keep popping up for me; Emtpy textures, popping, etc. It has been sporadic and unimpactful enough to where it hasn't bother me too much. The combat remains fun and extremely more layered than the orginal origin. There are definitely too many weapons in the game, it is interesting trying to keep the perfect balance on your quick wheel for any encounter you may come accross. But overall the weapon system maybe needed some streamlining, maybe tough to do properly cause I like there being multiple ammo and elemental damage types. The story remains the standout even if a little over the top, the acting and direction remains as strong as ever.… Expand
  20. kisunagi96
    Apr 21, 2022
    10
    This is a beautiful continuation of the first game stunning graphic combined with amazing gameplay that feel as though every action plays off the next, your truly never out of options in a encounter. The story is jaw dropping and the camera change from the first horizon game makes story elements more engaging. This is a solid 10/10 in my book
  21. Bwsmith
    Apr 20, 2022
    9
    I loved this game from beginning to end. The story was interesting and the game play smooth the fighting was a little repetitive. Just a beautiful game.
  22. Jaffamental
    Apr 20, 2022
    7
    I played the game for almost 200hrs completing everything and found the baby sitting to be the most infuriating mechanic of the entire game. I even had everything turned off and was almost at the end of the game and it was still telling me where to go, where to look, how to press buttons etc. I found the game way too easy even on the hardest difficulty. I found the abundance of crates toI played the game for almost 200hrs completing everything and found the baby sitting to be the most infuriating mechanic of the entire game. I even had everything turned off and was almost at the end of the game and it was still telling me where to go, where to look, how to press buttons etc. I found the game way too easy even on the hardest difficulty. I found the abundance of crates to loot ridiculous, why make resources rare only to hand them to the player on a silver platter? The story was it’s saving grace. The game mechanics were a little busted, like I’d press a button for an action and it just wouldn’t do it. Even mashing the same button sometimes did nothing. I encounter a few minor glitches and graphics issues but it wasn’t as bad as some other recent games (I’m looking at you dying light 2) It was an okay game but nothing I’d rave about. First game was definitely better.… Expand
  23. Luahanseng
    Apr 18, 2022
    10
    Horizon Forbidden West on PS5
    Game Completed : April 18, 2022
    Ongoing Platinum Trophy Playtime : 48hrs I was skeptical at first after hearing a lot of negative reviews resulting to starting the game with a very low expectation. from the get-go, its visual is ridiculously beautiful and were continuously amaze after many hours realizing how vast and stunningly immersive every each area    Horizon Forbidden West on PS5
    Game Completed : April 18, 2022
    Ongoing Platinum Trophy
    Playtime : 48hrs

    I was skeptical at first after hearing a lot of negative reviews resulting to starting the game with a very low expectation. from the get-go, its visual is ridiculously beautiful and were continuously amaze after many hours realizing how vast and stunningly immersive every each area you encounter. overall, it has positive combinations of the last of us 2 in terms of its phasing and immersion with the world, a bit of uncharted with its world interaction and breath of the wild with its open world freedom of exploration. I really don't like zero dawn it is so repetitive and boring while it is quite the contrary with forbidden west i absolutely love the game i was never bored, it is very addictive and beautiful from start to finish. Going in to the most important aspect, the game was highly criticize with its story and narrative it was said it is so convoluted, and out of phase but it in my opinion, it was the other way around. This just proves you don't always listen with what the critics says and i bet most of the people rated this game low are those who haven't even played the game (shame on you). this game is perfect and a MASTERPIECE! now I've finished the game and trying to get the platinum trophy    … Expand
  24. Alex_Sudo
    Apr 18, 2022
    10
    The story, gameplay, quizzes, graphics, animation… amazing! I haven’t played with a such pleasure since The Witcher 3, 6 h in a row every day. World is full of activities for any taste: fight, hunt, quizzes, tasks etc. Thanks a lot for this journey!
  25. Kl1m
    Apr 18, 2022
    2
    Alte Gebäude nur noch billige minirätsel und weniger Story. Kaum Audiologs aus der Vergangenheit. Spannung fehlt
  26. Cjdarling83
    Apr 18, 2022
    10
    Beautiful game, fun and compelling story. While I loved the CO locals of the first game more, this is an amazing sequel
  27. EddyMacs
    Apr 18, 2022
    3
    I can’t even imagine I’ve spent so much money and time on that. Totally not worth it
  28. L0_GUN9
    Apr 6, 2022
    9
    Game is amazing, only reason it is not ten is because at times the pacing can be bad with tons of cutscenes but overall amazing
  29. ATW77
    Apr 18, 2022
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been a video gamer for almost 40 years, but this one is denitely among the best I have ever encountered. Best sidequests since Witcher 3, flowless score and mind blowing graphics with good twist in the storyline. Easy 10 out of 10.… Expand
  30. ddogwr83
    Apr 17, 2022
    9
    Great game. Unfortunately the biggest leap is the graphics, which look fantastic. The fog and particles add realism to the dense environments. One knock I saw was that some ocean animations ran at 30fps (in 60fps mode).
    The story was the weakest aspect in my opinion. The first game struck gold and this one never achieves the same interest or investment.
    Gameplay was solid. I platinumed    Great game. Unfortunately the biggest leap is the graphics, which look fantastic. The fog and particles add realism to the dense environments. One knock I saw was that some ocean animations ran at 30fps (in 60fps mode).
    The story was the weakest aspect in my opinion. The first game struck gold and this one never achieves the same interest or investment.
    Gameplay was solid. I platinumed the game on hard and to do so required constant specific elemental use.    … Expand
Page:

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2022
2
#2 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 127 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 119 out of 127
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 127
  3. Negative: 0 out of 127
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 30, 2024
    100
    Horizon has enchanted me again. After a slow start, a graphically beautiful, sophisticated sequel comes, polished in every aspect, and underscored by a great soundtrack on top of that. The sequel was simply a success. Everything that worked before works even slightly better now. [Issue#317]
  2. T3
    Aug 11, 2022
    80
    Horizon Forbidden West is Guerrilla's best game to date, taking Aloy to new heights with a blockbuster release that meets the high standards set by PlayStation in recent years. While it's totally worth fans jumping in on day one, it's perhaps better to wait a few weeks until all the bugs are ironed out.
    Read full review
  3. MeuPlayStation
    May 11, 2022
    96
    Horizon Forbidden West is exactly what everyone thought it would be: an amazing game. It has an open world with plenty of things to do and places to explore, fights against some really well-developed machines and stunning visuals. The feeling is that the second game of the series improves on what was already great, and it feels rewarding and fun to play. It is another single-player masterpiece from Sony.
    Read full review
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