Horizon Forbidden West

Holy heck. This game is STUNNING. Easily the most beautiful looking game I've ever played. Brilliant story, well written and intriguing characters, challenging combat, tons of side activities, easy and fun to get lost just exploring/hunting, and just purely phenomenal. Aloy's return is glorious.

Aloy is back to try to figure how to reboot GAIA, new friends, new enemies, and lots of machines to destroy. The scenery is beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, and the world even more expansive. I'm not even half way through the game yet, but I am in awe of this masterpiece. If you loved Zero Dawn, you'll definitely love Forbidden West. Oh, and Aloy is still my spirit animal. Now, I must go, there's a cauldron I need to make my way into.

An example of how you nail a sequel. Great game. Didn't love playing the first one. But loved this one. I don't even consider myself a single-player gamer. I just historically always play Multiplayer. But this game sucked me in!

If you like open world RPGs then there really isn't one better than the Horizon arc. It's highly immersive with third person gameplay and compared to the first game in the series, it's bigger, richer with interactions and side quests, and has far more developed gameplay interactions with respect to combat and navigating the social and physical world. The protagonist is Aloy, a clone of the main scientist that developed the means for all life on Earth to be given a second chance after a 'whoops apocalypse' mistake by the 'Old Ones', who was made as a desperate measure by the AI controlling the terraforming system when, for reasons yet unknown, the AI is destroyed and everything starts to go haywire, threatening life on Earth once again. The visible instruments of this terraforming system are machines with a wide variety of terraforming jobs and physical forms from dinosaurs to cattle, which have run amok with no AI to guide them. The machines and some other characters that she meets get in the way of Aloy's mission; and they have to be destroyed, overridden and used for transport, or circumvented by other means. If you've never played it before you're in for a long-lasting treat. If you haven't played the original game, I would recommend you start there, as it is just as enjoyable and will add context.

Played Horizon: Forbidden West very excellent game also great graphics and voice work By Ashly Burch (Marvels's Avengers, Valorant) as Aloy, John Macmillian(Amenisia: Rebirth) as Varl, John Hopkins(Hitman 3) as Erend, Noshir Dalal(Star Wars: The Bad Batch) as Kotallo, Erica Luttrell(Westworld)as Zo, Freya Parker(The Void) as Talanah, Alison Jaye(Shameless) as Alva, Lance Reddick(John Wick Chapter 3:Parabelleum) as Sylens, Lesley Ewen(Arrow) as GAIA, Stefan Ashton Frank(Cyberpunk 2077 ) as HAEPHESTUS, Geno Segers(Yellowstone) as Chief Hekarro, Marc Kudisch(Mindhunter) as Erik Visser, Dan Donohue(Star Wars: Battlefront II) as Gerard Bieri/POSEIDON, Angela Bassett(Mission: Impossible-Fallout) As Regalla, Josh Keaton(Voltron) as Sun-King Avad And Carrie Anne-Moss(The Matrix, Mass Effect Trilogy ) as Tilda Van de Meer.

My personal 2022 GOTY while I understand it criticisms it tackles themes of AI, Colonialism, Loyalty, Extinction, and Family also improves on mechanics and adds more mechanics as well expands Aloys journey as well the story as well being Inclusive also Carrie Anne Moss like her Matrix Keanu Reeves Co-Star Plays a character Tilda much Like Johnny Silverhand you can't entirely trust ironically.

Great Music By Joe Hensen(Black Death) & Julie Elven(World Of Warcraft: Legion) Ben McCaw(Middle-Earth; Shadow Of War) and Direction from Mathjs De Jonge(Killzone 2) A Fantastic Sequel Expands The Lore Of Horizon 10/10.