There isn’t much to complain about in Horizon: Forbidden West. The game is gorgeous, and there is plenty to do around every corner. Beyond the glitter of the world, you’ll be quickly charmed by most of the cast, especially Aloy, our Nora heroine. Aloy is witty, intelligent, and, powerful, but she also takes on the role of your tour guide to the West.
Initially, you’ll be thanking her for helping you out, but once you get attuned to the game, you may find yourself begging her to just put a sock in it for a bit and enjoy the sounds of Horizon’s spectacular game world. Every time you pick up loot, wander near a point of interest, discover a new item, or have anything in the backlog, shealwayshas a comment ready. Most of the time you’re able to just ignore and get used to it, but in some instances, this just defeats the whole purpose of certain activities. It’s not like the devs are unaware of Aloy’s motor mouth, and they evenreleased a patchwhich, among other things, cut down on the amount of times that Aloy would go on about her stash.
Forbidden West will seldom ask you to use your brain to complete various levels, in both main and side quests. Aloy will always drop hints on how to do things, taking away the whole joy of solving it yourself. Sometimes these hints are vague enough to be useless, but most of the time they’re specific enough that you figure out the answer without even thinking. You enter a room and she starts saying, “maybe the crate over there can help,” even before you notice there is a crate.
This isn’t unique to Forbidden West. It is a typical ritual among modern games to mention everything they see - from Days Gone to Ghost of Tsushima. Most of these games have a checklist that is already enough to show you what to do, so there really is no need to tell us there is an outpost nearby when we’re in the middle of hunting for boars.Shhh Aloy, you’ll scare them away!
For regular exploration, the running commentary is tolerable. Being told how to complete relatively simple puzzles is where it has no place. If Aloy’s game’s going to guide me, on top of an already existing question mark in the game’s map, where is my autonomy in playing the game? Am I just the combat grunt?
Aloy mentioning everything isn’t bad all the time. It is nice, for example, that she tells you when you’ve looted the entire area and no valuable loot is left. A simple tick on the map does well, but your character vocalising it is even better. You’ll know when to leave, instead of worrying about leaving perfectly good loot behind.
Forbidden West is as foreign to Aloy as it is to the players. Any landmark is new to her, and when you see something new, having her give a little insight on whatever it is you’re looking at can help pull you into the world. The talkative nature makes even more sense if you consider Aloy’s past. She was an outcast who was shunned and had only herself to talk to, most of the time. That helps you sympathise with her need to monologue, and adds a little bit of personality to the character, but sometimes that comes at the cost of immersion and satisfying puzzle-solving. Perhaps if we could pipe her down in the options menu (in much the same way we can tell Google Maps to only speak when itreallyhas to) would help many of us playing it to find a happy middle ground.
