mithril_dm

After days and days of seeing this game praised to the end of the earth and back I picked up a copy to try my hand. I strongly recommend waiting several months for some updates to make this game playable. I will revisit this review when the game's technical mess is fixed on PS5 or PC. Pros - The bosses are very cool and quiet unique, and very fun to fight (when the fps isn't falling through the floor) - The world is very beautiful despite the old engine - The variety of classes, weapons, and items to pick up is great and fun to play around with - The open world is great to explore and very enjoyable, feels very fun to feel like I'm discovering secrets Cons - From a technical perspective this game is a mess. The frame rate is abysmal, even in performance mode but especially in quality mode. I couldn't play more than 20 minutes without getting motion sick, and had to stop several times because of this - Frame rate is about 40-55fps, never stable, and was occasionally dropping to less than 20. - The game is intentionally hostile to anyone who hasn't played the previous games and is very inaccessible, and has no interest in engaging new players to its obtuse systems - The UI is actively terrible. Finding items, figuring out how to upgrade items, figuring out what to do with runes, even closing the map, are all made intentionally obtuse for seemingly no reason. A simple example; the button to open the menu and to close the menu are two different buttons for no good reason, completely wasting the limited buttons available on a controller. Every button was very unintuitive to me This is a game made only for fans, and even though I think there's a lot to be enjoyed, feeling like the developers are constantly trying to hamstring me in stupid (and not game play related) ways and sell me a product that is extremely unoptimized is not my idea of fun.

Horizon Forbidden West is the perfect sequel, and those who appreciated the first game will be well served by its sequel. More than once I was in complete awe of the technical achievements, the fantastic twists in the story, and breathtaking scenery, the extraordinary creatures, and brilliant performances. For each shortfall I found in Zero Dawn, Forbidden West has an answer that I love, or at the very least appreciate. The story is absolutely captivating. For the best experience, it is absolutely worth playing Horizon Zero Dawn, and for those who played it many years ago, worth jump in for a few hours for a refresh. The story of Forbidden West picks up directly after Zero Dawn, and though it does an excellent job of catching the player up on the overarching story beats, remembering the finer details and characters will make the sequel that much more impactful. Plus, being able to recognise the massive leap in technical quality also makes for an even more enjoyable experience. Of everything I am impressed by, the story is right up there. I am not forgiving of excessive cutscenes as a crutch for games, but every cutscene felt fruitful and seamlessly integrated, and more than once I found myself lost in the performances of the cast. I felt a strong pang of affection and admiration as the opening credits rolled, a feeling that persists as I play now 25 hours in. What Guerrilla have achieved is nothing short of a miracle, and I have enormous respect for the team that put this game in my hands. Note: despite reports of bugs and pop in, I only experienced 1 minor bug and 1 instance of pop in when racing. Otherwise, the game runs seamlessly on my PS5.