Horizon Forbidden West
Developer/publisher SIE (Guerrilla Games) Format PS4, PS5 Origin The Netherlands Release Q3/4 2021
The new console generation has only just begun, but already Sony is ahead of the competition. PS5 shifted around 2.5 million units on day one, putting it ahead of Microsoft’s Xbox Series numbers. It was starting from a position of strength, having become the clear market leader during the PS4 era. The value offered by Game Pass could yet be crucial over the coming years, but for now Sony has stuck to the approach that worked last time around. Those early adopters have invested in PS5 because they want to play high-quality big-budget PlayStation-exclusive blockbusters.
Between Demon’s Souls and Miles Morales (not to mention Astro’s Playroom, and Bugsnax on PS Plus) PS5 had a robust day-one offering. Plenty of timed- and console-exclusives are coming throughout 2021, from Deathloop to Ghostwire: Tokyo, Housemarque’s Returnal and PS Plus car-combat game Destruction AllStars. But, perhaps understandably given Covid’s impact, there are no dates on the potential system-sellers: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart appears to be the closest, with God Of War: Ragnarok and Gran Turismo 7 likely but not certain to launch this year.
That leaves us with Guerrilla Games’ sandbox sequel, which is pretty much the epitome of Sony’s PlayStation strategy. Indeed, ‘pretty’ and ‘much’ sum up Forbidden West: using a souped-up version of the studio’s Decima engine, its world looks even more vibrant and detailed than the original. It will, according to director Mathijs de Jonge, be bigger, too, and deeper – underwater exploration is one of many additions. Greater climatological diversity is also promised, with Aloy’s journey taking her from post-apocalyptic Utah through Nevada to coastal California. And, of course, she’ll face off against a range of new machines, ranging from giant turtle-like Shellsnappers to Sunwings: effectively mechanical pterosaurs. In other words, it sounds like exactly what you’d expect from a sequel to Zero Dawn.
Yet given the impact of Covid on operations and the extra effort needed to realise larger worlds, and not forgetting that Guerrilla is making the game for PS4 too and will want to avoid the kind of headlines that Cyberpunk attracted, we do wonder whether a 2022 launch is more likely. (Tellingly, at the June PS5 event, de Jonge only said the studio was “aiming to release the game next year, in 2021”.) Either way, we’re confident the wait will be worth it: if exclusives are the most important part of its arsenal, Sony will be doubly keen to ensure its biggest guns are firing on all cylinders.