Horizon Forbidden West may be the latest in the franchise from Guerrilla Games, but it’s not going to be the last. The franchise is moving to VR with Horizon: Call of the Mountain, but it’s also clear by Forbidden West’s ending that a proper threequel is in the works.

WARNING: THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST’S ENDINGThis is because Aloy and her companions learn of a new threat to the world, and like in any good fantasy RPG, there have been plenty of them. Aloy has stopped HADES, HEPHAESTUS and the Far Zeniths, and the game ends with her preparing for the coming threat: Nemesis.

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Horizon Forbidden West: The Arrival of Nemesis

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Through Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy will learn of the Far Zeniths, their survival, and the destruction of their planet Sirius. It wasn’t clear why the Far Zeniths "sent" the extinction signal, nor why they were on earth after GAIA, but all of it comes back to Nemesis. Far Zeniths managed to achieve some form of physical immortality—at least as far as aging and shielding their bodies go—but they wanted more. They wanted a digital immortality where they could truly last forever in whatever form, but the project ended in failure.

Prior to this though, the collective consciousness of many Far Zenith members had been uploaded to a program, for some reason dubbed Nemesis as if that wasn’t foreshadowing enough. When it failed, Nemesis was left alone, meaning the collective consciousness of several powerful and egotistical company CEOs, millionaires, and they likely were all left to fester together.

This bred a hatred for the Far Zeniths, with Nemesis escaping, destroying Sirius, and sending the Extinction signal to Earth so Far Zeniths couldn’t have a home. As Aloy stopped that, it doesn’t seem likely that Nemesis will care that she’s not a Far Zenith. If anything, there’s a solid chance that her similarities to Elisabet Sobeck will breed even more rage into Nemesis. The Far Zeniths may be gone, but their collective minds are perhaps more dangerous than ever.

It's uncertain how a Horizon threequel will begin. Perhaps players spend some time preparing for its arrival or perhaps its arrival begins the game. What’s clear is that Nemesis is as big of a threat to Aloy’s world as the Reapers were to Mass Effect—its prerogative appears to be to end life.

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Horizon Forbidden West: Nemesis is the Antithesis of GAIA

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How it all shakes out is anyone’s guess, but that primary function works beautifully to tie up this trilogy. The Horizon series has always been about the old vs. new, the technological world vs. the natural one, and, in short, the corporate world vs. the everyday human. Zero Dawn was meant to save humanity, and that means innocent people died in the war against the machines to make it happen. The corporate world, meanwhile, saved itself in the Stars.

Without APOLLO, the people of Earth were more innocent and tribal, and they fought against the machines and technology of the old world. Aloy bridges that—just as Elisabet did before her, with GAIA. GAIA is a machine, and like all machines, GAIA’s name is purposeful. GAIA is a personification of the Earth, and through GAIA, Earth was able to repopulate. Fixing GAIA was the key to save the Earth in Horizon Forbidden West, and Nemesis—named after the Greek god of Retribution—will likely destroy it in pursuit of its revenge.

GAIA is the embodiment of the current world, one of humanity and purpose, of the natural order. Perhaps it was intended to have APOLLO to educate new humans, but it's perhaps better off that Aloy, the Nora, and all the tribes were all to come out of the ashes the way that they did. It taught them to appreciate their lives and resources, something the Far Zenith never learned.

Meanwhile, Nemesis is the embodiment of the old world, of corporations and destructive technology. There’s certainly a beautiful symmetry here. Aloy has faced and learned of egotistical CEOs and corporate faces, who played some role in the Earth’s destruction. Nemesis is all of them in one. Its defeat will mean that GAIA’s existence as it is now, the natural world, and all of that is how it should be. And knowing Aloy, there will be a plan.

Horizon Zero Dawn is so named because of the plan to save humanity. Horizon Forbidden West is so named for the plan to travel west, collect the missing GAIA subfunctions, and once again save the world. Whenever the threequel releases, its name will also bear the same naming convention—a name for Aloy’s plan to stop Nemesis. And this beautiful symmetry will come full circle, and all the major themes and twists of Horizon Forbidden West may somehow lead to a more unified, more beautiful, and better-prepared world, thanks to GAIA but also to Aloy.

Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.

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