Michael DeMarco

I want to first start this review by vehemently announcing that I have played, replayed, put down, and picked back up Horizon Zero Dawn, (w/ Frozen Wild), and I absolutely love it. However this isn't a review for that game albeit I will be comparing much of Forbidden West to it so here we go. First, the combat. Somehow, it feels slower and clunkier than the previous installment with a much higher, (and really only), focus on targeting weak points as the only effective way to deal with robots without giving the player the ability to use other equally fun tactics like brute force or hit and run tactics. Second, Weapon/outfit upgrades, it's now massively expanded but, at the same time, annoying. I like the stash mechanic and having collected resources auto revert to a separate chest when I don't have the room for it is a nice addition, thank you for that. Lastly, what is up with the anime special move loosely disguised as "concentration?" When I first saw the preview of the moves, I honestly thought they were mistakes and day one patch would fix it but alas, I get to watch Aloy, a tactically superior warrior splash "war paint" on her face, make the worlds dumbest looking smirk, and gain a pointless buff. Cmon now. Since when did anime super moves belong in this game?

So far it's been a great game however I've noticed some really bad texture flickering almost to the point of annoyance... I've been playing this game on my PS5 so maybe that's the issue? I don't know, either way, it's annoying. The game is incredibly aesthetically pleasing and a great addition to the survival crafting genre. I would have loved some kind of small base building or the ability to, perhaps, harvest and grow your own supplies, but the boat mechanics are really fun and the enemies are vast and diverse.