Horizonhas one of the most enthralling plots in the action RPG category, and Guerrilla Games has been entertaining players with its otherworldly AI antagonists similar toMass Effect’s Reapers. The first game of the series,Horizon Zero Dawn, took players into a post-apocalyptic world dominated by machines and primitive human technology. The sequel began six months after the final battle ofHorizon Zero Dawnat Meridian, with the protagonist Aloy trying to find ways to rid the world of the Derangement plague.Horizon Forbidden Westfeatured the return of Far Zenith - a cousin species on the run from another evolved AI called Nemesis, ending on a cliffhanger with Nemesis understood to be closing in on Earth.Horizon Forbidden West’s plot implies the time skip forHorizon Call of the Mountaincould be even shorter than the six months betweenZero Dawnand its sequel.
Gamers have had experience with futuristicgames likeFalloutand its Armageddon, butHorizontook the future to a new level by creating a millennium’s worth of lore.Horizon Zero Dawnrevealed bits and pieces of humanity’s history from the 21st century in its gameplay - from their struggles against climate change to inadvertently creating the Faro Plague extinction event.Zero Dawnended with Aloy foiling HADES' plans to end all sentient life on Earth, but the protagonist only gets six months of respite as the blight rendered land expanses uninhabitable at the start ofForbidden West. Players meet the Far Zenith species and discover Nemesis is hot on their heels, and the impending arrival suggests Aloy’s world-saving adventures will resume sooner thanForbidden West’s time skip.
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Horizon Zero Dawn’s Lore and Stage Setting for Forbidden West
HADES, the robotic villain fromHorizon Zero Dawn, wasn’t always a rogue Terminator-Esque AI. It served as a subordinate function of GAIA - the terraforming AI tasked with facilitating humanity’s return to Earth, helping to defeat theFaro Plague. However, GAIA picked up a strange signal, and its functions (mainly HADES and HAEPHESTUS) became erratic and fully self-aware, with HADES attempting to wrest control of GAIA’s terraforming systems to wipe out all life on Earth. Knowing it couldn’t defeat its former subordinate, GAIA created Aloy as a clone of her inventor before self-destructing her prime reactor in a fiery explosion.
As a result of GAIA’s implosion, Earth isplagued by the Derangement, causing all machines under GAIA’s control to become hostile and evolve into dangerous combat robots. To make matters worse, HADES survived GAIA’s heroics, slinking away with the help of Sylens to form a cult known as the Eclipse. Aloy would eventually defeat HADES by impaling his core vessel, preventing extinction - at least for the time being. Guerrilla Games set up the Forbidden West sequel with a clue of what signal caused HADES' malfunction, andForbidden Westwould eventually become one of the better sequels in recent memory.
Thetimeline skip forForbidden Westwas only six months, and the sequel began with Aloy on the hunt for GAIA’s backup to find a cure to the Derangement. In a Far Zenith facility, the protagonist finds a deteriorating HADES who reveals the malfunction-inducing signal was sent by “The Masters”. A large chunk ofHorizon Forbidden Westis a mechanical treasure hunt, as Aloy searches for all remaining GAIA’s subordinate functions to use in the fight against the Derangement. No sooner than Aloy completes her hunt for the functions, the Far Zenith - who have long been presumed dead - make their debut in the Horizon series, seeking a copy of GAIA to colonize a new planet.
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The Far Zenith are on the run from an evolved enemy of their own, Nemesis, as their home planet has been destroyed by the AI. The new group of humans has attained physical immortality, and they mean to secure GAIA’s copy by any means necessary to ensure their survival. However, Aloy triumphs over the new threat to Earth, destroying the Zenith and their base.Horizon Forbidden West’s final actends with a nail-biting cliffhanger, as the final boss Tilda revealed Nemesis was already in the outer solar system before her demise.
Humanity has seen its fair share of extinction-level events in theHorizonstoryline, but Nemesis is a greater threat by incomprehensible levels of ordinance than the likes of HADES and HAEPHESTUS - who gained sentience thanks to its signals. The Far Zenith were far more technologically advanced than the humans on Earth, attaining physical immortality and thirsting for more scientific conquests in theSirius solar system. In typical human fashion, the group was unsatisfied with their exploits, seeking digital immortality as another feather in their caps. Unfortunately, the project didn’t pan out as planned, and the collective consciousness of Zeniths festered into a vengeful sentient AI. Nemesis destroyed the Far Zenith’s home planet in a few hours, prompting the survivors to head to Earth for a copy of GAIA.
Unlike the Far Zenith refugees who traveled on a single ship, Nemesis appears to be traveling using a host of machines, powering it toward Earth at neck-breaking speeds. Tilda’s revelation of Nemesis' location leaves Aloy and her allies very little time to prepare, and it is safe to assume the time skip betweenForbidden WestandCall of the Mountainwould be very brief, as the threequel comes to a head. Series' main antagonists can struggle to generate the appropriate fear in gamers, but Nemesis has driven equal amounts of unease and anticipation inHorizon’s fan base. All roads lead to Earth, and many expect an epic showdown between the rogue AI and the last remnants of the human race.
Horizon Forbidden Westis available for PS4 and PS5.
