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- Feb 18, 202225% CONFIDENCELow confidencefrom the source
Horizon Forbidden West Review - IGN
Successful sequels build on their predecessors in multiple ways – think Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Uncharted 2. They all improve what came before them by conjuring up exciting new gameplay mechanics, developing characters through engaging stories, and switching up mission design to offer variety. In other words, they take a solid base and combine with new elements to create more advanced bonds, much like an alloy… or in this case, an Aloy. Horizon Forbidden West does this with aplomb, building on the already impressive foundations of 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn to tell a thrilling story full of familiar explosive combat against elaborate robotic foes and blockbuster action sequences, but also adding Witcher-like settlements to the map and filling it out with great side quests. There’s a genuine sense of exploration and loads of completely involving lore behind it all to uncover. The result is a fantastic open-world action-adventure that, despite falling into a couple of its old habits, emphatically delivers on the promises made five years ago.
- Guerrilla's Horizon Forbidden West was dated 18 February 2022 for PS4 and PS5 in an 25 August 2021 PlayStation Blog post, with pre-orders from 2 September 2021; the move to 2022 was blamed on the pandemic[3]
- IGN's review (Simon Cardy) calls it "a triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature and character design, and a captivating open world" but short of revolutionary[1]
- Reception was generally positive, with nominations for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2022; it sold over 8.4 million units by April 2023[2]
- A Windows port followed 21 March 2024 and the Burning Shores expansion in April 2023[2]
Notable features
- It is the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), set in a post-apocalyptic Western United States where Aloy investigates a plague; development cost about US$212 million[2]
- A third-person action role-playing game by Guerrilla Games built on its in-house Decima engine, for PS4 and PS5[2]
- New traversal tools let Aloy pull down obstacles and grapple, a diving mask opens underwater exploration and a glider lets her glide; tamed machines serve as mounts[2]
- Aloy fights with bows, traps and the new Shredder Gauntlet, scans machines for weaknesses with her Focus and can detach their parts; skills span six categories[2]
- New content includes Relic Ruins puzzles, the Machine Strike board game, Witcher-like settlements and strong side quests; the playthrough took about 32 hours[1]
References 387% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]25%ign.com/articles/horizon-forbidden-west-reviewign.com· Posted Apr 30, 2023· Starts Feb 18, 2022 ✓· 1% of score
Date has passed, but ign.com does not confirm it happened then; unverified.
- [2]88%Horizon Forbidden Westen.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 14, 2026· 99% of score
Wikipedia confirms 'the full game was released on 18 February 2022' - an exact match for the pin's stored date.
- [3]95%Horizon Forbidden West arrives on February 18, 2022 – PlayStation.Blogblog.playstation.com· Published Aug 25, 2021· 0% of score
PlayStation's own blog post (25 August 2021) announces Horizon Forbidden West 'coming to both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 18, 2022' - matching the pin's stored release date, though the post itself predates the actual launch by nearly six months as an advance announcement.
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