horizion forbidden west

• Horizon Forbidden West is a game developed by Guerilla Games and released on PlayStation consoles in 2022
• Horizon Forbidden West sold over 8 million copies worldwide in its first year
• Horizon Forbidden West


  • Combines the physical challenges of real-time combat with a highly developed story full of interesting characters and rich landscapes
  • Is a hybrid of action and role-playing conventions
• Action mode


  Emphasises real-time gameplay and combat with the player taking control of the hero to overcome challenges and defeat enemies
• Aloy's combat in Horizon Forbidden West

  1. Forage for ridge-wood to craft hunter arrows

  2. Use concentration mode to slow down time and zoom towards targets

  3. Sneak up on enemies for stealth kills

  4. Hack and slash with melee attacks
• Weapons in Horizon Forbidden West

  • Elemental bombs launched from Blastslings
  • Spike Throwers
  • Brawlbreaker Boltblaster
  • Skykiller
• Boss fights


  Challenging encounters that help drive the game's storyline
• Role-playing games


  • Defined by the interplay of narrative codes, dynamic characters, and a highly developed game world
• Open world


  Horizon Forbidden West is set in a post-apocalyptic United States about one thousand years after a plague of self-replicating robots almost wiped out all life on the planet
• The game world of Horizon Forbidden West is designed to feel "authentic and alive"
• The day-night cycle and dynamic weather system add variety to the game world
• Exploring the open world of Horizon Forbidden West

  1. Scale up Tallnecks to unlock new map areas

  2. Discover hidden locations and uncover secrets
• Guided mode


  Provides on-screen icons and directions to help players navigate the open world
• Explorer mode


  Removes the on-screen guidance and gives players more freedom to navigate the open world
• Uses and gratifications


  Players engage with Horizon Forbidden West because it offers diversion and fun
• Aloy


  The protagonist of Horizon Forbidden West, a skilled hunter and archer tasked with saving the world from another apocalypse
• The chosen one


  Character trope where a protagonist is destined or prophesied to save the world
• Aloy's relationships with other characters

  She is viewed as cold and arrogant, but learns to appreciate the importance of friendship
• Dialogue wheel


  Allows players to choose how Aloy interacts with other characters, shaping her personality
• Clothing


  Outfits in Horizon Forbidden West provide different stat boosts and can be customised
• Many male players prefer to play as female protagonists in games
• Third-person perspective


  Allows players to see the protagonist and their surroundings, improving navigation and combat strategy
• Science fiction elements in Horizon Forbidden West

  • Set in a post-apocalyptic future where self-replicating machines have devastated the planet
  • Introduces the Far Zenith consortium with ambitions to build a new civilization in space
• Horizon Forbidden West


  • Cinematic masterpiece
  • Borrows heavily from the language of science fiction
  • Relies on the iconography of the science fiction genre
• Elisabet Sobeck


  Roboticist and engineer who led the development of Zero Dawn project
• GAIA


  Artificial intelligence built to oversee the new world
• Oswald Dalgard


  Public face of Far Zenith consortium, ambitious to build a spaceship to send settlers across the galaxy
• Futuristic elements in the game

  • Wilds with remnants of the old world
  • Ruined buildings with exposed metal girders
  • Automatic doors
  • Electronic shutters
  • Turnstiles
• Focus


  Augmented reality device worn by Aloy to process objects, target weaknesses, and decode information
• Machines in the game

  • Burrowers
  • Slitherfangs
  • 43 types of machines
• The graphic violence and intense combat events mostly contain fantasy elements with only occasional melees against human enemies
• Narrative theory


  Horizon Forbidden West can be classified as a "genre of order"
• Horizon Forbidden West


  Positions the player as the saviour, appealing to personal identity and ability to work through stressful situations
• Proairetic (action) codes


  Sequence actions and events in the narrative
• Hermeneutic (enigma) codes


  Create suspense and prompt the player to uncover secrets
• Semantic codes


  • Dress codes for tribes
  • Braided wire and sentry tower signifying a restricted area
• Binary oppositions


  • Natural world vs advanced technology
  • Aloy's desire to be a lone hunter vs need to form alliances
• Vladimir Propp's character types

  • Aloy as the hero
  • Varl as the helper
  • Sylens as the villain/dispatcher
  • Grudda and Thurlis as donors
• Narrative modes


  Action role-playing games have violent and physical disruptions and repairs
• Mode of address


  Effective mix of narrative and spectacle, with dynamic camera, HUDs, advanced combat systems, and seamless transitions