Cover artwork I generate from the game data. I do not use publisher artwork.
Game profile
Horizon Forbidden West
Aloy explores a lush, overgrown post-apocalyptic American West Coast and fights massive machine creatures. Tactical trap setting, bow combat and a deep world history drive the exploration.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Action / RPG, set in a world after the collapse. Visually it is going for realism, and the overall tone stays light and upbeat. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
The difficulty is moderate and fair, demanding attention without punishing you for it. The narrative carries the whole thing, and the mechanics serve it. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It runs on 2 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Massive machine creatures
- Tactical bow combat
- Lush post-apocalypse
This fits you if
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- the writing matters more to you than the mechanics
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
Look elsewhere if
- you skip cutscenes and want to get to the gameplay
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- you want to play it side by side with someone
- you prefer a stylised look over realism
What it costs you in time
About 45 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 8 weeks, or 23 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 92 out of 100, which puts it above 93 percent of the 1206 games here and at rank 72 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, Action averages 83 points across the database, so this one sits 9 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 380 collected ratings.
Released in 2022 and 4 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2022
- Genres
- Action, RPG
- Playtime
- approx. 45 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Moderate, fair
- Story weight
- Carries the whole game
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Post-apocalyptic
- Visual style
- Realistic
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PlayStation, PC
- Critic rating
- 92 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizon Forbidden West | 2022 | approx. 45 hrs. | 92 | Mid price |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 2017 | approx. 40 hrs. | 89 | Budget |
| ELEX | 2017 | approx. 45 hrs. | 60 | Budget |
| Duet Night Abyss | 2025 | approx. 50 hrs. | 79 | Free-to-play |
If you liked this, try these
- Horizon Zero Dawn Shared: Action, RPG, Post-apocalyptic
- ELEX Shared: Action, RPG, Post-apocalyptic
- Duet Night Abyss Shared: Action, RPG, Post-apocalyptic
- Hogwarts Legacy Shared: Action, RPG
- Wuthering Waves Shared: Action, RPG, Post-apocalyptic
- NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... Shared: Action, RPG, Post-apocalyptic, shorter