After months of waiting, fans were finally given a real look at the next-generation of gaming with Sony's PlayStation 5 gameplay event last week. Among a number of exciting first-party exclusives including Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Guerilla Games broke its silence and announced Horizon: Forbidden West, a direct sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn.

One of Horizon Zero Dawn's biggest achievements was the game's story, plethora of lore, and incredible world-building, and fans have spent three years speculating on where the series would go with Horizon: Forbidden West, and in particular, what the game would be called. Guerilla Games promised that by the time players finished the first game, it would be clear why it was called Zero Dawn. With such strong attention to detail, surely that means Forbidden West isn't just another random subtitle. The subtitle has meaning behind it, which could have some major implications for the future of the series.

RELATED: Sony Confirms PS5 Digital Edition With Extra Accessories

Horizon Zero Dawn Ending Explained

horizon forbidden west name explained

Warning: MAJOR STORY SPOILERS ahead for the ending of Horizon Zero Dawn. Throughout the story, Aloy learns that the old world was destroyed nearly 1,000 years ago after humanity lost control of militarized robots that served as peacekeepers. These robots had been designed with the ability to self-replicate and feed on organic matter, making them entirely self-sufficient, and soon the Earth was overrun and all life wiped out. Horizon Zero Dawn gets its name from Project Zero Dawn, a secret project controlled by an AI called GAIA, that would terraform Earth back to a point where it could sustain human life using underground databases, factories, and cloning facilities to build new robots, restore Earth, and restart humanity.

The initial goal of Project Zero Dawn was to create new life and use the power of GAIA to teach the next generation of humanity to not repeat the mistakes of the past. However, the creator of the militarized robots sabotaged GAIA's teaching system and in-turn, the cloned humans were reduced to the Stone Age. One of GAIA's subsystems known as HADES was designed to enact extinction if Project Zero Dawn wasn't favorable for human existence and restart the process, leading to the robots slowly starting to turn against humanity once again throughout the story. Horizon Zero Dawn ends with Aloy stopping the cultist group Eclipse that was helping HADES enact an extinction-level event, and stabbing HADES with Sylens' lance, putting an end to the AI's corruption.

How Zero Dawn Sets Up A Sequel

Fortunately for players, the game doesn't end with the death of HADES and the end of the corruption - which would essentially stop any robots from ever needing to be fought in the first place. Horizon Zero Dawn features a post-credits cut-scene that shows HADES survived the attack from Aloy and is now being held by Sylens in some sort of cylindrical device. Sylens' briefly speaks to HADES in the cut-scene, indicating the duo are far more involved than previously led on and that Sylens intends to learn more about the old ones. "Hello, old friend. Remember me?" Sylens says to HADES. "We've still so much to discuss, so much you never revealed. Your master, for example. The ones who sent the signal that woke you. Knowledge has its rewards, don't you think? Well, let's begin."

Sylens acted as a guide and mentor for Aloy throughout Horizon Zero Dawn with the ultimate goal of learning as much as he can about the Old Ones. However, for a long time, it's not clear whether Sylens can be trusted or not and for good reason, because he was the founder of the cultist group Eclipse. Obsessed with learning about the Old Ones, Sylens repairs HADES and teaches him about the new world, before manipulating the Shadow Carja into creating Eclipse to serve HADES, all in his pursuit of knowledge. Wherever the story goes in Horizon: Forbidden West, Sylens' mission is to find the ones that woke HADES up in the first place.

RELATED: Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop are PS5 Console Exclusives

The Forbidden West

horizon forbidden west name explained

With the announcement Horizon: Forbidden West is coming to PlayStation 5, what is Guerilla Games implying with that subtitle? Outside of the obvious move to a new western region, including locations such as San Francisco in California, the Forbidden West plays a large role in the game's lore as a location where only the sun can go. Horizon Zero Dawn earned its name from Project Zero Dawn, a clever naming convention that refers to the beginning of a whole new age of humanity, kind of like the sun rising at dawn for a brand new day.

Following that same logic, could Horizon: Forbidden West also be referring the sun sets, with a third and final game in the trilogy themed around night and/or darkness? After all, it's always darkest before the dawn and a middle chapter would need to lay the groundwork for the stories conclusion. Many of the games tribes worship the sun, which is how the Forbidden West got its name in the first place, so it only makes sense that the subtitle would play far more of a role than just the name of a new land. Of course, this is all purely speculation right now, so hopefully Sony and Guerilla Games goes more in-depth on Horizon: Forbidden West in the next State of Play live stream.

Horizon: Forbidden West is in development for PlayStation 5 and PC

MORE: Days Gone 2 on PS5 Needs to Address These Major Issues