STATE OF PLAY RECAP

PlayStation surprised users this week with a State of Play dedicated to the highly anticipated Horizon Forbidden West. The State of Play ran 20 minutes and featured 15 minutes of new gameplay that was generated on PS5. Below are our big takeaways from State of Play: Horizon Forbidden West.

Graphics:

The world of Horizon has always been breathtaking and Forbidden West takes it to new depths by expanding the environment to showcase underworld masterpieces. In the State of Play, we saw a beautiful and lush forest, a white-sand beach cluttered with ruins from the old world, and an underwater world that looked like Atlantis. The big takeaway for me was how great the underwater sequence looked; there was a moment when you could see how the current was pushing water in a certain direction, and it looked stunning. 

Machines:

The debut trailer for Forbidden West showed a mammoth-like creature, which enemies were riding into combat; in today’s State of Play, we saw how the Mammoth can carry 4-6 enemies at a time. In the gameplay, Aloy is shown taking several different approaches to take down the beast, but the Mammoth proves a formidable foe. At the very beginning of the gameplay trailer, Guerrilla showcased a new griffon-like creature that could be overridden and rode by Aloy. Overall, we’re blown away by both of these new creatures featured today. 

Combat:

Aloy has a few new tricks up her sleeve as we saw her connect a device to her staff and deliver an electric shock to an enemy. Aloy’s bow has a new tool that allows her to connect to surrounding structures and grapple to them to avoid an enemy. Aloy also has a new parachute-like device that allows her to safely fall from tall distances; the developers went on to say later in the trailer that it could also be used in combat. Aside from all the new toys, (Aloy still has her bow and arrows), she was shown using a heavy machine rifle similar to the ones used in Zero Dawn, and she can evade enemies using a smoke bomb. 

Story:

The mission we saw today featured Aloy rescuing her friend Erend after he was captured by Raiders. Erend was on a mission for Aloy, searching for a device she needed. The trailer showed Aloy activate the device, which launched a giant 3-D map. We still don’t know too much about the story; however, we do know that a plague is taking over the world, and an approaching storm is about to have massive effects on the landscape. Aloy is searching for technology that will help her defeat the plague and restore the world to its normal order. 

Final Thoughts

We were absolutely blown away by the footage we saw today and can’t wait to dive into Horizon Forbidden West. We were a little surprised that we didn’t get a release date, but are still convinced Forbidden West will release in 2021. To see more of our reactions, check out the stream that LeRon and I did LIVE! 

What was your favorite moment from today’s State of Play? Comment below and tell us what made you excited for Horizon Forbidden West.