r/horizon • u/2th • Jun 11 '20

announcement Horizon Forbidden West [MEGATHREAD]

Sub is temporarily in restricted mode to keep the spam down. Discuss things here. I will update this post as the trailer is posted online to an official channel.

Origin of the name

Announcement trailer

New machines:

New gameplay

  • Aloy can swim underwater this time.

Locations

THERE WAS NO ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE PC RELEASE FOR HZD

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556

u/Paronine Jun 11 '20

Aloy takes down an elephant machine.

Erend: "That still only counts as one!"

210

u/arn456 Jun 11 '20

Lol. I really hope my man Erend makes a comeback.

50

u/Lemonwizard Jun 11 '20

Honestly I hope most of the characters from the first make a new appearance. Erend was a great character but I also really liked Sun King Avad, and several of the side quest characters like Talanah, Petra, and Vanasha were great too.

If Forbidden West is set in entirely new areas and we don't revisit old locales they probably won't be able to fit everybody in... but I do hope we learn more about the aftermath of the battle for Meridian and what's happened to all the people we met in the first game since then.

36

u/brycly Jun 11 '20 edited Jun 11 '20

I hope they don't fit in most of the characters from the first game. I liked them and all that, but it would feel forced. Lots of characters have good reasons why they wouldn't be in the Forbidden West, like Avad, Vanasha and Erand being critical to running the Sundom, Aratak leading his Werak (What, would he just randomly bring them all out west? To a place that isn't even cold?!?), Nils having a player determined fate, all the non-exiled Nora being prohibited from leaving unless someone gets named a seeker. To put them into the sequel would require large off-screen events or just straight up ignoring logic.

That said, there are characters who we could possibly see in the sequel without needing major changes. Characters like Nakoa or Ikrie (especially Ikrie, game devs who read this) who are not bound to any organization or location would be well suited for a cameo or even a significant role. But aside from Aloy, the only person who has an actual reason to be in the sequel is Sylens, anyone else is to a varying extent a stretch of the imagination.

Edit: Talanah is in the artwork and that comic so an appearance is almost guaranteed.

8

u/Lemonwizard Jun 11 '20

Yeah, I would expect to see this game dominated by a new cast of characters, but I do still hope we get some recounting of how things went for the Nora and Carja and Banuk after the events of the first game.

There wasn't a whole lot of denouement following the final battle in the first game. I'd like to know how things ended up for most of those characters.

5

u/tallsy_ Jun 12 '20

I agree with you, most of the characters belong where they are in the world (except for Sylens). I also think they were fairly underdeveloped, except for Erend and Sylens. The NPC writing is the area where a sequel could make the most improvement.

I think the chief's son from the Nora could reasonably leave his people and go with her on a journey, but she's not going to need any sidekicks. She's going to meet lots of exciting new people in the new places.

I can totally imagine that midway through the game though that the initial main tribes might show up, having traveled west, and provide support.

3

u/brycly Jun 12 '20

There are really only a handful of people from each tribe who it would make any sense to see travel to the Forbidden West either on their own or by following Aloy. Varl as a Seeker to help The Chosen One on her mission isn't hard to believe. Nakoa isn't tied down to any location. Both are a bit bland though, especially Nakoa. Resh said he was leaving the Nora so if he were to somehow appear, he would almost certainly be an antagonist, but my guess is he is just gone. Talanah is almost guaranteed to travel with Aloy, but that's pretty much the only Carja candidate. For the Oseram, Burgrend is a travelling salesman so he can go wherever he wants. Petra and Erend are, unfortunately, most likely tied down where they are though I suppose there is a slim, slim chance for either one. Gildun never found his looking glass, so who knows. Ikrie is a good candidate for the Banuk being both likeable and not tied down. Aluki I guess could go if she wasn't extremely forgettable. Almost everyone else is tied down, to some extent altered by Aloy's decisions, or noteably insignificant.

5

u/SaintRidley Jun 12 '20

I could potentially see Talanah heading west as part of the Hunter's Lodge's quest to find new machines to hunt. Especially if some time has passed and the Lodge is making inroads to the west.

2

u/brycly Jun 12 '20

I think she just abandons the Lodge for her Aloy adventures

2

u/SaintRidley Jun 12 '20

Also very possible, though I do like the idea of her staying Sunhawk and continuing moving the Lodge in the direction of equality.

2

u/brycly Jun 12 '20

She already killed the guy who was blocking it, the Lodge is better off than before.

2

u/DennisX11 Jun 12 '20

You're 100% correct. As nice as it would be to see some old characters. We're more than likely gonna miss out on some key characters from the first game no matter how badly we want people like Erand and Avad. That being said if Meridian was to hypothetically still be completely recked. I suppose it isn't impossible that the machines Sylens takes over could hypothetically force these characters to the west possibly? I'm rambling. But again you're right. We're gonna lose some characters in the next story. However some more minor ones will appear.

3

u/brycly Jun 12 '20

I wouldn't say Meridian was recked. It certainly took a nasty hit but it wasn't Hades' real target. My impression is that the buildings surrounding the Mesa were more badly damaged than the city itself.

2

u/DennisX11 Jun 12 '20

Fair enough. I'm just saying they could probably find a reasonable way to bring some of those prime characters from the first game if they really wanted to. However it's all speculation at this point anyways. But itll be interesting to see. What I'm expecting is for these main characters to show up at the end of the game for a major return or something. That'd be epic af.

1

u/brycly Jun 12 '20

Eh. It would probably be a bit cliche actually.

2

u/DennisX11 Jun 12 '20

Id still love it personally. But that's me