Horizon Forbidden West™ Complete Edition Steam Charts & Stats

Horizon Forbidden West is a breathtaking sequel that takes everything great about the original and makes it even better. The world is stunningly detailed, rich with vibrant ecosystems, mysterious ruins, and awe-inspiring machines. Aloy’s journey is both emotional and empowering, with improved combat, deeper storytelling, and tons of exploration. I absolutely loved every moment — from gliding over lush forests to facing off against towering mechanical beasts. This game is a masterpiece, and a must-play for any action-RPG fan.

A Must-Play Masterpiece on PC. I can’t get across how much I love this game. Horizon Forbidden West is a breathtaking journey through a beautifully crafted world filled with wonder and adventure. From the moment I stepped into its vibrant landscapes, I was captivated by the stunning visuals and immersive atmosphere. The attention to detail is simply remarkable, from the intricate designs of the robotic creatures to the lush environments teeming with life. 9/10!

I really tried to like the sequel. I started it up not once, not twice... three times! But on every try I got discouraged by the very grainy graphics, the boring story and the uninteresting characters. Also controls weren´t as smooth as last time. I tried a lot to improve graphics. I asked the Internet, I asked ChatGPT, I asked my IT spouse. Nothing would help with the grainy image. Everything looked blurred. Faces also weren´t as pretty as in the first game. During dialog I caught myself checking my phone. It just couldn´t hold my attention. Characters were also not too great. Aloy in particular was rude, always in a hurry and very condescending towards men. All men are idiots here and can only be saved by the ladys. I am a girl gamer myself and I like representation, but make it believable. Controls are a bit imprecise, which led me to jump off very high towers more than I like to admit. So, for me a very regrettable "not recommend". Very regrettable indeed since I paid full price.

It's not that game is *bad* per se, it's just that.....well, yes actually it is bad. Go buy Zero Dawn instead. This is not the sequel you've been looking for. First of all, the story is just dumb. If it's the same writer (and I'd be surprised if it was) as they first one then they were high while they wrote this one. It's garbage. The dialog is also not near as good. They completely jumped the shark. I won't spoil stuff, except to say it's really, really stupid. And worse yet, it does a disservice to the first game. But let's talk about gameplay. Well, they turned the nice, tight, clean combat system into an absolute mess. Better have acid and fire and cold and electric arrows for different monster types! Which I think is fine for an RPG but this is no RPG. Also way more of an emphases on hitting the exact part of the enemies that they want you to, instead of just fighting the way you want to fight. It's their way or the highway. And "their way" is, well, stupid. And the climbing system was made *WAY* worse. You know those handy yellow-covered ledges and posts that showed you were you could jump to? Yeah, lots of places just don't have those anymore. You can use your focus to see the spots to grab onto -- and be rewarded with a jumble of yellow lines stretching all up and down and left and right up a rock-face. Shitty. They also added more traversal moves that just make the climbing/navigating sections more of a pain in the ass -- *not* more fun. They changed how the map and fast-travel work too, for the worse. And the UI is a much bigger pain in the ass to navigate. Everything is just *way* worse. Bad story, bad combat, bad dialog, bad navigation, bad UI. Best if we all just forget this game ever existed and let Zero Dawn stand on its own without being sullied by this turd.

The game is bloated, overdesigned and has completly lost the charm of the first one. Combat in particular is way worse. Controling Aloy is clunky and finicky, machines have instant gap closer and ranged attacks with either insane AOE or homing projectiles. Most of the time your dodge/roll is useless. It's not hard, it's tedious and not fun The writing is still mediocre and female-centric.

Spoiler free review. After thoroughly enjoying the first game I wish I never started playing the sequel. Even though I waited months for it to be sold on PC. The moment I started playing I noticed just how bad the audio is. I honestly thought my PC had issues processing audio - I use external DAC and a headset and no game so far had any issues with this setup but I was still sceptical. After watching videos online I had my confirmation that in fact it was the sound design that was sub-par to say the least. It feels as if sometimes half of audio is absent but that's just how it is. Never mind, I ploughed through, maybe this will change. Next thing was infuriating controls e.g. double arrow tap means dive and roll. I dove off many cliffs until I finally changed the controls. Talking about cliffs - the climbing mechanics are outright annoying. I don't enjoy them, nor I found them useful, might as well not have them in game. Felt half baked, bit like audio. Next onto the foes. I would fight a number of enemies, turn around, go 100m, fight one enemy, return - all enemies are back and well. Considering there's only a handful of characters in a square km surely it won't be much of a hassle to code this in. Especially as most of them follow a scripted path. Graphics are OK. Coming from Death Stranding - not great but OK. Different look I guess. However, when standing on top of a higher platform I noticed a lot of tiling issues with textures. Sort of thing you'd expect in much older game. Performance overall is nothing to write home about, I get 144 fps maxed out on 5080 and 9800X3D with up-scaling. One problem graphics wise is power usage. Even when paused or in map view game runs at 99% GPU usage. Most games would drop it to 10-20% but not this... To me it matters, if not for energy costs, for PC longevity and heat output which is very noticeable in warmer months. So far I'm 40 hours in and things are not getting any better so I am unsure if I should continue since I paid for the game or just abandon it altogether. I am noticing another unwelcome trend - "political correctness", kind of thing Disney is in hot water for now. It is subtle for sure but you notice it - some NPC character design, certain cosmetics for main character and other subtle hints. I won't go further into story as I don't want to spoil anything for those enjoying the game, I just found it a bit unnecessary. Overall - I am far too late in game for a refund and far too annoyed to continue. I hope this will help some players but I wouldn't hold breath that the developer improves on this. To me this hints of problems within the company and it's management.

[h1]Beautifully mediocre.[/h1] I think these 2 words accurately describe what HFW is. Review based on 100% achievement with over 150+ hours. Here's my [b]honest[/b] take. It's a gentle game about world saving that I can only imagine my daughter playing it. But not entirely for a hardcore souls fan or bloody gruesome Bloodborne enjoyer like me. This is seen when Ted Faro's fate was being censored by the devs as they didn't want to present this game as being "Horror". Starting with the cons first, I sincerely recognized gradually, that this game is being held back by a bit of LGBTQ aspect by mostly portraying weak male and strong female characters. Not that I entirely despise it, but the authenticity and personality of the characters could have done so much better with the likes of Erend and Ulvund. I especially dislike the part when Aloy first met Hekkaro. The formidable Tenakth Chieftain who's suppose to be the greatest warrior of Tenakth, but was being disrespected and threatened straightaway. I won't go into details as I'm sure people who've seen it will understand what I mean. Second con, I was playing ultra hard in my first playthrough and some of the quests were unrealistically challenging. I'm not even sure if it's been game tested properly. Like the arena Bellowback brawl and fight pit. My frustration wasn't unique and easily resonated with the HFW community. Last con. Burning shore DLC was not properly optimized in terms of graphics. It was minor, but, I would enjoy more if I didn't need to wait 15 seconds for the face paint or other non-major NPC to render. Pros. A lot of pros. [b]It's one of the most beautiful games I've played.[/b] As your first time riding on the Sunwing, the vast beautifully designed landscape of the Forbidden west can be grasp within your vision. It's quite breathtaking. Cauldron. Cauldron. Cauldron! An absolutely marvellous design reminded me of the Matrix machine world. It's dark. It's complex. It's mysterious, covered with great danger. The world is incredibly lively. Plenty of different interactions with the NPCs and it never felt robotic to me despite having over 150 hours of game play. I love the combat and weapon choices. It's one of the core reasons other than the Cauldron that made me purchase this game. Weak points, tearing components of different sizes of machine ranging from lightweight to titan in hard+ difficulty, is strategically engaging. As what a proper huntress would do in the wilds. Love it! Last but not least, the backbone of the story is very well written with great complexity and uniqueness that it doesn't feel "cheap" at all. You have the Eclipse and Hades in HZD. But now is being developed into much greater scale concerning with the Far Zenith, the Odyssey, the Sirius system, the Quen and ultimately the Nemesis. All in all, would play Machine strike again with Erend in the Base.

After finishing all the main quests, side quests, collectibles, and the Burning Shores DLC in over 114 hours of gameplay, I just want to share my personal thoughts. Just as a note, I’ve already played Horizon Zero Dawn before, so this is coming from that experience. I feel like a lot of things have been improved compared to the previous game. I don’t even need to talk about the visuals—obviously, with a 4-year gap, the graphics and visual quality are absolutely stunning. One of the improvements I noticed is that Coils and Weaves can now be stacked in your inventory, making it way more spacious and easier to manage. Weapon upgrades are now more progressive, the world feels more alive, and you can even randomly talk to some NPCs now (even if they only say generic lines). In this sequel, we get tons of new features like the Shieldwing, Pullcaster, diving gear, and a more flexible climbing system that makes exploration much easier. We also get to face new, more brutal and aggressive machines, plus some new mounts to ride. There are a bunch of new activities too—like machine races, colosseum battles with machines, and many more. Oh, and don’t forget, you can find some cool easter eggs from other PlayStation games here. Thanks to these new activities, you won’t just be going from one mission to another in a repetitive loop, especially in the mid-to-late game where it could otherwise start to feel really boring. But then again, I think that’s just how most AAA games are these days. I did run into a few bugs, like cutscenes not playing or NPCs not moving as they should, but thankfully these were easy to fix just by reloading the game. Overall, this game is still worth it if you want to continue Aloy’s journey and see the beautiful world they’ve created in the sequel. Just keep in mind that the quests can feel a bit repetitive in the later parts of the game, and you might encounter some bugs along the way.

[h2]Short version (spoiler free): Buy only on sale[/h2] - 6/10 This is one of those games that makes you wish there was a neutral option between recommend and not recommend. The game is ok. The graphics, as everybody else already said, are beautiful. However, the story is lackluster without a real direction. The world/lore are not really explored. The game has extra complexity with gameplay, movement, and world, yet all they ended up doing is making everything more of a chore to achieve the same result. The machines are cool but lack the art direction Zero Dawn had, and they are more annoying to fight against due to combat complexity. Side quests are completely forgettable. However, the game is still fun to play, you're still fighting cool robots in a cool world! I can recommend it when it is on sale but I would not recommend it for full price, as it is in almost every aspect a downgrade from Zero Dawn, which I find a shame as it is one of my absolute favourite games. [h2]Long version (SPOILERS AHEAD)[/h2] [h2]Graphics[/h2] The graphics are really amazing, even the smallest of objects have amazing details. There is not much I can complain about with one exception. The graphics of the settlements are completely the same. If you walk around Plainsong, everything looks the same, there is no defining feature. The same for Scalding Spear, Thornmarsh, and any other settlement. This adds to the settlements really not feeling like a settlement but like a hub for interfaces. [h2]Story[/h2] The story is by far the weakest point. They offer multiple plot threads which all have good potential, yet none of them are capitalised. They either are not completed (Blight) or unsatisfactory (Regalla and Zeniths). In general, Zeniths are boring and they should not have lost the fight as they were de facto gods (overpowered, mega advanced, immortal, invulnerable), but really thanks to "plot" you win. The win here being you disabling their shield and killing them, but the weapon used for disabling their shield remains unexplained, and you did not do anything for it. None of the characters were appealing, nor did they have any growth arcs (with one exception-ish being Kotallo). Aloy got a reset from Zero Dawn and also no real growth arc. What is a real shame is that they actually had potentially great characters such as HADES and Fashav, but both got killed off right away. I think they could have used HADES far more to develop the story. Imagine if you were forced to work with him toward the final goal — the sheer tension alone would have been a great dynamic. Fashav, on the other hand, could have been your bridge with the Tenakth, a group that despises outsiders. But alas, we had none of that. Instead, we had an ideologically loaded team with some story around it. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] They added several tools for more freedom in movement, but they are kind of an illusion. They added free climbing but only on parts where it does not add anything. Any story locations are still the yellow-marked climbing corridors. Grappling hook is slow and also only specific points. Mounts are cool and they added new ones, but too clunky to actually use (exception with the flying, but that comes too late in the game). Combat got a huge increase in complexity with more melee, more weapons, more elements, but at the cost of balancing everything had to be nerfed. Most of the weapons are useless. The weapons that you can use still feel underwhelming. Combat itself is also more annoying. The hitboxes and aiming are weird in this game. Machines stagger you a lot, often even if they miss. New machines got small weak points, but since your bow prefers to target armour, you first end up needing to remove almost all armour to even hit it. Something with climbing, pull caster, and getting staggered is that the animations are sloooooooooooooow. It completely takes you out of the game and even gets frustrating. There is also a lot of grinding for items, either to upgrade weapons, outfits, or overrides. Overrides in general are less satisfying. Cauldrons are long, a climbing fiesta with slow animations, and they reward you with some overrides and some overrides that you need to unlock by paying with the form of items. As a cherry on top, they added Apex versions of machines which cannot be overridden. [h2]World[/h2] The world feels empty. You only have marked locations with an activity, often a collectible or campfire. The collectibles are forgettable and even downright annoying. Especially ruins, since you require the pull caster and use it so often with the slow animation. However, cauldrons are a good contender as well with all the climbing. The settlements feel bland. They are a hub for quests and interfaces but lack any personality. They have no distinguishable features and there are people, but they do not live in them. The clans do not have any personality and they do not fit as how they are described. The Tenakth should be warriors and strongly against outlanders, but they act like hippies without a single worry in the world and so open to everybody. The world in general does not feel believable. The people do not react to anything; they are facing famine, are in the midst of a civil war, and machines are getting aggressive (again), yet it does not seem to exist. They simply do not seem to care. This was especially visible with the Bulwark — you blow up their defensive wall and city foundation, and they all cheer??? [h2]Other[/h2] This game treats you like you have a room-temperature IQ. It is extremely hand-holding to a ridiculous degree. I think the best example was with Alva. You need to open a door and get a hint from a data log that the code has a part of the founding month of the company. Then your companion says the founding month is October. She then also adds that October is the 10th month of the year. Such things reoccur often. They tell you what to think when you get some text; in puzzles, Aloy instantly says the clue; in missions, the obvious gets stated. The skill tree feels bloated, but at the same time nonexistent due to the amount of skill points that you get. [h2]Verdict[/h2] I could go on for hours on why so many parts are not good, and some others that I found fun and well done, but the review is long as it is. Although I am always up to discuss them if you want! Overall, though, for me this game just feels bloated with meaningless mechanics and a story that goes nowhere. It missed what made Zero Dawn so special and rather focused on doing everything else. The game is about as wide as the ocean with the depth of a puddle.

Its got the two best things. Giant robots and lesbians.