It’s prettier, a product of the upgrade from the PS4 to the PS5 the game is available for both platforms, but the lack of latest-gen exclusivity doesn’t seem to have hampered its splendor on the more souped-up system. And when Sony needed a showstopper to provide the climax of its June 2020 “Future of Gaming” showcase of the forthcoming PS5, it dropped the announcement trailer for Forbidden West, which was then scheduled for a late-2021 release (later delayed to this Friday, partly because of COVID-caused production complications).įorbidden West cements the series’ marquee, face-of-the-PlayStation status by building on its predecessor’s foundation in several respects.
Sony has sold more than 20 million copies of the first Horizon on PlayStation 4 and PC, counting copies of the Complete Edition, which included the expansion The Frozen Wilds.
When Guerrilla, the Sony-owned studio most famous for the Killzone franchise, released Horizon Zero Dawn five years ago, the game became an instant franchise-starter and system-seller, elevating Aloy into the PlayStation protagonist pantheon occupied by Kratos, Ratchet, Ellie, and Nathan Drake. Screenshots via Sony Interactive Entertainment The wind works even as a metaphor: Horizon Forbidden West is a game that sets out to sweep and blow its players away, and its size and scope are as bracing and breathtaking-and, at times, overwhelming and disorienting-as a gale-force gust to the face. And they subtly speak to the stakes of the narrative, reminding players that the wind is so restless not just because it looks cool, but because the biosphere is falling apart and humanity is months away from going extinct. They visually propel the player onward, as Aloy’s quest to fend off disaster drives her. They visually link the varied ecosystems that make up Forbidden West’s massive open world, which is significantly larger and denser than Zero Dawn’s. (It’s appropriate that the PS5’s 3D audio architecture is called the Tempest Engine.) But the breezes of Forbidden West aren’t just for show. Maybe Guerrilla Games made its follow-up to Aloy’s inaugural adventure so windswept because the constant movement and multidirectional sound please the senses and display the PlayStation 5’s processing power. And wherever you are, protagonist Aloy’s long, auburn braids undulate and toss in a lively way that probably took a team of animators months to model. In the mountains, snow whirls and settles in drifts. In the forest and the jungle, tree branches sway and ground-level eddies of detritus reveal visible zephyrs. On the plains, the grass billows like waves, and the open sky sometimes yields glimpses of an ominous supercell, its angry clouds circling an unnatural red center. In the desert, dunes shift underfoot, dust devils dance in the distance, and passing sandstorms block out the sun and turn broad daylight into premature twilight. The wind takes different forms depending on where in that world you are. It’s always windy in the world of Horizon Forbidden West, the new sequel to Sony’s 2017 hit Horizon Zero Dawn.
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