Here's Why 'Horizon Forbidden West' Is The Most Anticipated PS5 Game

It’s no secret that “Horizon Zero Dawn” was an excellent game. Its intriguing story, beautiful visuals and engaging combat all came together to create one of the PS4’s defining titles.

The game’s success had earned it an impressive following, so much so that its upcoming sequel, “Horizon Forbidden West,” was recently voted the most anticipated PS5 game in a poll.

“Horizon Forbidden West” won by a landslide in the community poll by IGN, gaining the favor of nearly half of more than 25,000 respondents, beating other games like “Ghostwire: Tokyo,” “Deathloop” and “Ratchet And Clank: Rift Apart.”

“Horizon Forbidden West” was first revealed in 2020 during the PS5’s reveal event. Guerilla Games, the developers of the series, has been quiet ever since the first trailer was revealed. Not much is known about “Forbidden West,” so why is it IGN’s most anticipated PS5 game?

The hype surrounding the game says a lot about its predecessor. “Horizon Zero Dawn” wasn’t exactly groundbreaking in terms of innovation (technological achievements aside), but it did successfully capture the two main aspects of what makes a narrative-driven game good: the story and the gameplay.

“Horizon’s” premise was simple: stop the bad guys, save the village and uncover secrets. The story wasn’t deep or complex, but it had enough layers of mystery surrounding the main character Aloy’s past and the history of their world that was ravaged by machines.

The game’s story was expertly paced, giving players enough time to explore and complete side quests without completely ignoring the main conflict of the plot unlike in most open-world RPGs.

Combat in the game demanded masterful use of the futuristic-yet-primitive weaponry to take down machines and human targets. Fighting off humans was fairly simple and the usual “stealth or guns-blazing” option was also present, but facing machines was a completely different story.

Each robot type behaved differently and they each had different strengths, weaknesses, attack patterns and so on. Every encounter with a hostile robot forced players to pause and think of how to best deal with the situation, making for a highly engaging and surprisingly intelligent gameplay loop.

Fans who are waiting for “Horizon Forbidden West” can expect more of the first game’s compelling narrative storytelling and smart enemy encounters. New maps, weapons, mechanics and features can also enhance the existing systems, making “Forbidden West” one title any PS5 owner should definitely watch out for.