The post-apocalyptic, animalist machine-filled world of the Horizon franchise is filled with a wide variety of human tribes and several intriguing characters beyond the protagonist, Aloy. Aside from Aloy’s isolationist Nora home tribe, six other tribes can be encountered throughout the post-apocalyptic western United States in the Horizon franchise. From the shamanistic Banuk to the seafaring Quen, each tribe has their own unique customs, beliefs, and members whom Aloy confronts or allies with in her quest to save the world from rogue artificial intelligences, warmongers, and genocidal aliens. While Horizon 3 may be months or years away, players can still predict which characters will appear alongside Aloy during the climactic battle against the alien AI Nemesis.
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Characters Who Appear in Horizon Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, and Call of the Mountain
Aside from LEGO Horizon Adventures, each Horizon game has both introduced new characters and included old favorites from previous titles in a range of roles. In Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy encountered several allies who helped her defeat the Eclipse cultists and stop the rogue AI HADES from destroying all life. Some served minor roles, such as the Nora stitcher Teb, while others were the centerpoints of vital quests and directly helped Aloy in combat scenarios. Some of Aloys most notable allies in Zero Dawn include the Oseram Erend and Petra, the Banuk Sylens and Aluki, and the Nora Varl, Sona, and Nakoa. Many members of the Carja tribe also aided Aloy, including:
- Sun-King Avad
- Prince Itamen
- Dowager Queen Nasadi
- Spymaster Blameless Marad
- Spy Vanasha
- Senior Military Advisor Uthid
- Elida
- Warden Janeva
- Nil
- Sunhawk Talanah
- Sun-Priest Namman.
Only a handful of characters from Zero Dawn play major roles in Horizon Forbidden West, including Erend, Varl, and Sylens. However, a few Zero Dawn characters do briefly appear in Forbidden West’s prologue and select side quests, such as Avad, Itamen, Marad, Nil, Talanah, Vanasha, and Uthid, but they don’t play major roles in the sequel. Elisabet Sobeck and Aloy’s fatherly guardian Rost also appear a couple of times in Forbidden West, but only in ancient holograms, audio logs, and dreams. One character who appears in both game’s DLCs, the Frozen Wilds and Burning Shores, is the enthusiastic Oseram delver Gildun, who seeks to discover old world treasures in the Greycatch and Hoover dams as well as the Murmuring Hollow in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.
Returning Zero Dawn and Forbidden West Characters in Horizon Call of the Mountain
In the virtual reality spin-off Horizon Call of the Mountain, several characters from both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West appear. Blameless Marad returns as a sort of guide, while Forbidden West’s minor antagonist and leader of the Oseram Sons of Prometheus, Asera, returns to threaten the Carja and the fragile peace between the tribes. Asera’s appearance in Call of the Mountain is actually a prequel to her appearance in Forbidden West as the VR game takes place during the events of Zero Dawn. Aloy additionally returns in Call of the Mountain, but as an NPC for the first time, offering guidance to the redeemed Shadow Carja and Itamen’s Shadow, Ryas, Horizon’s first new leading protagonist besides the Sobeck clone.
Characters Most Likely to Appear in Horizon 3
Little is currently known about the plot or setting of Horizon 3 aside from the fact that it will follow Aloy in stopping the Far Zenith-created alien AI Nemesis from destroying all life on Earth. Guerrilla Games is currently working on a story-focused multiplayer Horizon spin-off and NCSoft is rumored to be developing a Horizon MMO with both expected to release before the mainline Horizon 3. While some characters from Zero Dawn, Forbidden West, and Call of the Mountain may appear in these spin-offs, they can still pop up in and play pivotal roles in Horizon 3. The most likely characters to return in Horizon 3 are those who appeared in most games so far, such as Avad, Erend, Marad, Nil, Sylens, Talanah, Vanasha, and Uthid, with the Carja expected to help fight Nemesis.
Significant allies made in Forbidden West will also have a high probability of appearing in the next mainline Horizon game in some capacity, ranging from brief appearances like the Carja leadership or major companions such as Erend and Varl. Those close to Aloy who were given Focus devices have a high probability of helping combat Nemesis in Horizon 3, including Alva, Beta, Erend, Gildun, Kotallo, and Zo. Erend and Zo will probably have significant plotlines in Horizon 3 since Erend is now Aloy’s closest living friend and Zo will likely give birth to Varl’s child at some point in the game. If Aloy does travel to the faraway Quen Empire for aid, Alva and Seyka should play important roles in negotiations between the east and west. The latter seems especially likely to appear given her potential romance with Aloy.
Horizon Forbidden West
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 88 /100 Critics Rec: 96%
- Released
- February 18, 2022
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Guerrilla Games
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Engine
- Decima
- Franchise
- Horizon
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
WHERE TO PLAY
Join Aloy as she braves a majestic but dangerous new frontier that holds mysterious new threats. This Complete Edition allows you to enjoy the critically acclaimed Horizon Forbidden West on PC in its entirety with bonus content, including the Burning Shores story expansion that picks up after the main game.
Explore distant lands, fight bigger and more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far-future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon.
The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity while fearsome new machines prowl their borders, and life on Earth is hurtling toward another extinction.
It's up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions and unravel the legacy of the ancient past.
