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"Horizon Forbidden West" in the test: machines to worship

2022-02-14T08:12:20.196Z


Horizon Forbidden West is the next big PlayStation game. Compared to its predecessor, it offers new weapons, mechanics and missions. But it also tells a lot about our relationship to technology.


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»Horizon Forbidden West«: The game is the follow-up title to »Horizon Zero Dawn«

Photo: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Spoiler alert: This text goes into the story of the game, but without anticipating too many details.

Las Vegas shows what has become of the world.

An artificial intelligence (AI) creates shiny, garish facades on house walls.

But they are only projections.

Pictures of what once was: a city that lived in gambling.

The intoxication of impartiality, exuberance, consumption.

What remains of the people who once lived here, of their world of pleasure, are mostly ruins.

Now even they are outshined by the glare of a machine.

"Horizon Forbidden West", the latest blockbuster for the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5, has the thankless task of following a game that caused a stir, above all with its impressive post-apocalypse game world.

A red thread ran through the country.

The search for what may have happened here.

In the end, the players found the answer.

What does a sequel do that can no longer rely on incredulous amazement?

That the players are tempted to understand a completely foreign world?

The answer is obvious: a follow-up title can make the world even bigger, the danger even more overwhelming.

And he can establish new weapons and game mechanics.

»Forbidden West« does all that.

Above all, the game makes you think about our relationship to technology.

more on the subject

"Horizon Zero Dawn" in the test: Déjà-vu in the land of RobodinosBy Carsten Görig

Everything at the beginning

The predecessor "Horizon Zero Dawn" outlined an earth on which mankind only exists scattered in individual tribes.

As the protagonist Aloy, you encountered living machines that were created by humans and led to their demise.

Technology ruled the planet, robotic saber-toothed tigers and buffalo roamed the landscape.

Aloy had to uncover how humanity came to an end - and in the process discovered that she herself was part of the downfall, just as she played a part in the resurrection of civilization.

The new "Horizon Forbidden West" now tells the players: What you did in the first part is worthless.

What you have built has been torn down.

You thought you had won - but look, here was the hidden trapdoor.

So the world does not blossom again, it withers.

Toxic plants produced by machine systems threaten what little organic life remains.

Aloy's path now leads to the West, to a gigantic-looking new game world in which she has to restore Gaia, the artificial intelligence that creates everything, from a backup so that the many sacrifices were not in vain.

Something new in the West

"Horizon Forbidden West" relies on those game mechanics that worked well in the first part and expands them with new ideas.

This includes a grappling hook that players can use to rip bars out of walls or pull themselves up at designated points.

Also new is a glider that can be opened after a jump to land softly on the ground or reach distant plateaus.

And now it's going deeper, too, with a mask that lets Aloy breathe underwater.

Compared to the predecessor, the many settlements also stand out, which appear much livelier than in the predecessor.

Unsurprisingly, there are also new machine creatures on which all sorts of new weapons can be tried out.

These include bows, a bolt shooter and a lance that can be combined with electricity or acid ammunition.

As in the first part, there's not much point in beating up metal monsters.

It is important to find their weak points in a targeted manner and to dismantle the creatures piece by piece - in order to then improve your own armor and weapons with the individual parts.

Fragments of the old culture

All this is nothing special for open-world games.

But »Forbidden West« manages better than other blockbusters to let its world speak for itself.

It is full of stories found in ruins or on hilltops.

Or even in the last dwellings of the old people - carved deep into a mountain as protection from the end;

ultimately in vain.

The virtual West is permeated by technology that has become a myth.

While we humans often try to explain the inexplicable through technology in the age of digitization, in »Horizon Forbidden West« the technology itself becomes the inexplicable.

Machines that till the field are worshiped as gods in the game.

Their names are fragments of the old culture, incomprehensible to the new: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti.

A minor character, of which there are many and many interesting ones in Horizon Forbidden West, has an outdated focus.

This is a device that enables Augmented Reality (AR).

With him on the eye, the world becomes a surface full of data and explanations.

Since it is an older model, the device can only decrypt some of the data.

For the character, the unreadable files become something forbidden, mythical - until Aloy takes care of the gadget.

The myth dissolves, technology becomes technology again.

Belief in technology that leads astray

Many of the stories in Horizon Forbidden West testify to attempts to find meaning in decline.

The game also allows players to reflect on topics such as Silicon Valley's belief in technology.

Artificial intelligence will be our salvation in the fight for a dying planet - such beliefs are at stake here.

About the hope that hardware and software is better than beating hearts, that algorithms will steer us in the right direction - regardless of the fact that they are written by people.

Tightly played through, the game's story unfolds in about 25 hours.

If you want to fulfill all side missions and explore the map to the last corner, you can easily spend 100 hours in this world.

It's a very entertaining hour.

Near the end of the story, players will find a hall displaying ancient artworks while baroque music blares.

They are relics of times long past.

Why are they still hanging on the walls here?

An ethereal voice answers, »It is comfort we can find in art.«

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-02-14

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