There was stiff competition for the best games back in 2017 with games like Breath of the Wild and RE7, among those was Guerilla Games' most ambitious game thus far: Horizon: Zero Dawn, an at-the-time PlayStation 4 exclusive open-world adventure that was incredibly unique and critically acclaimed. Horizon remained a bright spot for PlayStation 4 during that year that saw great success for a brand new IP.
With the PS5 launch coming this fall, and rumors abound stating that Horizon is becoming a trilogy, many fans have been waiting for the Horizon Zero Dawn 2 reveal. With Horizon: Forbidden West, the vision for Horizon's future has now been unveiled to fans and will be coming to PS5 in the near future. Judging from what was shown in the reveal, Forbidden West could be poised to become Sony's Breath of the Wild open-world spectacle.
Breath of the Wild Changed Open-World Games
Dialing back to Nintendo's open-world epic The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, very quickly did Link's latest adventure become one of the most innovative open-world adventure games ever made. The game exhibited an elegant simplicity unlike any other game before it, emphasizing a giddy and child-like wonder rarely invoked by many video games. Rather than presenting the player with endless quest markers, Breath of the Wild's sense of discovery took center stage. Rather than quest completion being the focus, every aspect of Breath of the Wild's world was meant to pique player's interest like purposeful distraction.
While not all open-world games were guilty of "checklist" gaming, Breath of the Wild came out during a time where this concept was a genuine criticism for other open-world games before it. What's noteworthy about Breath of the Wild was the fact that upon release, its gameplay concepts acted so vehemently against this notion that the game received praised as a result. Sure it's fair now to go back and criticize the game further, as Breath of the Wild is not a flawless game by any means, but Breath of the Wild was a moment in games that many should look back on as a pivotal instance in video game history.
A Different, More Expansive Horizon
As much as hardcore fans may not want to admit it, Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn released far too close to each other. Some will believe that Zelda stole Horizon's thunder, others will state that it forced an unfair choice for players to pick which to play first. But the truth is that Horizon: Zero Dawn and Breath of the Wild shared a lot of similarities that Forbidden West is emphasizing even more. Where Horizon: Zero Dawn was story about self-discovery and belonging, Horizon: Forbidden West seems to be foreshadowing a great calamity coming to its "post-post apocalyptic world."
From the trailer alone, it seems Aloy's journey in Forbidden West will be more about exploration and discovery in service to ending another apocalyptic infestation. Aloy will travel to several old landmarks of the former San Francisco and surrounding areas, in search of answers to this red plague that seems to be infecting the new Earth. The trailer also specifically states that there's "no depth [Aloy] won't explore," along with her underwater with a breathing apparatus. Subsequent shots also show Aloy climbing up a sheer rock face with her bear hands, something players consistently did in Breath of the Wild. Horizon: Forbidden West may be signaling that players will have more freedom in traversal and exploration by taking the near-limitless approach that Breath of the Wild utilized.
Capturing the Spirit of Discovery
In a lot of ways Horizon: Forbidden West seems to be following the same storytelling concepts that Breath of the Wild featured in its narrative. Aloy will traverse a completely new world ravaged by an unknown apocalypse that occurred 1000 years ago, and explore to find a way to stop some sort of world-ending plague that's taking over flora and fauna. There will even be flashes of life before through Aloy's Focus, showing what life was like in the futuristic America prior to its collapse. This sequel seems to have Breath of the Wild DNA written all over it, and while that doesn't mean it's better or worse because of it, it does mean Horizon: Forbidden West could capture that same magic.
Breath of the Wild had Calamity Ganon as its version of apocalypse, though it wasn't as much of a plague-inspired malevolent force like the red vines that appear in Forbidden West's trailer. Horizon: Forbidden West also seems to utilize these flashes of modern-life similar to the Princess Zelda flashbacks in Breath of the Wild. These commonalities are largely coincidental, as many of these systems were present in both Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn.
That being said, it's clear that Horizon: Forbidden West wants to lean further into the discovery aspects that were so beloved in Breath of the Wild's gameplay. The one clear inspiration from Breath of the Wild has to be from Aloy's traversal, as she's seen climbing a sheer rock face and swimming underwater, each a precarious and dangerous place that Horizon: Zero Dawn never let players explore before.
Horizon: Forbidden West may very well attain the same level of gameplay freedom and layered complexity that Breath of the Wild had, whilst simultaneously building off the same foundation that Horizon: Zero Dawn laid on PS4. Assuming the game lands well and captures that same feeling that Breath of the Wild emphasized wholeheartedly, Horizon: Forbidden West could see Breath of the Wild levels of praise.
Horizon: Forbidden West is in development for PS5.