Horizon Forbidden West review: Aloy’s adventures get wilder

Despite its arrival on PC, it took some convincing for me to delve into the post-apocalyptic, almost mythical realm of Horizon Zero Dawn. The dialogues are rich with all kinds of jargon and references, and so well-written, that it feels unjust to jump into this without playing the prequel, Horizon Zero Dawn. The handholds have been removed, and Aloy now grabs onto crevices and rocks to make her way to the top, in a way that feels more open and natural – albeit nowhere close to what you would find in an Assassin’s Creed game. It never feels overbearing and if one of the characters has been rambling for too long, you can cut short the conversation and revisit those dialogues later. At the early stages, you have limited lung capacity, but as the story progresses, you’re given a diving mask that lets you go deep-sea diving for unlimited time. Simply hovering over the game on the home page fills your eardrums with an angelic chant that feels connected to the original while striking out on its own – as a sequel should.