3.5/5 ★ – Cyberrax's review of Horizon Forbidden West.

Forbidden West is visually stunning, perhaps more so than any other game I've played before. Story was decent but I struggled to enjoy it until towards the end. That was because there wasn't lots of story to tell but there was plenty of gameplay in its place. The lore of this universe is brilliant. And I love the world building too, more so in the first game. But this game really suffered with the game mechanics and difficulty. Mechanics were somehow a huge downgrade from Zero Dawn. Especially swimming. Trying to swim through doors was slow and glitchy and downright painful. And the combat was infuriating. I don't understand why they changed things unnecessarily when Zero Dawn already perfected so much. That was what I loved about Zero Dawn. The unique combat, the expansive world, and the heart. But Forbidden West takes the combat/movement and the world and spits on it. The story does however still have heart which drives this game forward, and kept me playing. I also dislike just how difficult this game is. I started on Normal difficulty, then not far in switched to Easy. 2/3 of the way through the game, I relented, and I switched to Story difficulty. It was so frustratingly difficult. And repetitive. The final boss was somewhat hard to defeat even on Story, I can't imagine how hard it must be on a higher difficulty. I also found myself struggling traversing the open world. Constantly bumping into machines and getting knocked off my mount, mostly by Stalkers. Then being stuck without a mount and also having to defeat countless machines to continue forward. And don't get me started on those Tallnecks. I despised them in this game. I did like the addition of the Sunwing but of course that only comes in more towards the end. In conclusion, this was one of the most frustrating games of all time. But the story, lore, characters, and world is just about enough to be enticed by another adventure as Aloy. RIP Lance Reddick.