With Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered and LEGO Horizon Adventures now complete and released, Guerrilla Games may now focus its attention more on the development of the currently unnamed Horizon multiplayer game and Horizon 3. Ever since 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West and 2023’s Burning Shores expansion, many players have come up with various predictions on how the Horizon trilogy may end. Aloy could travel through the Pacific Ocean to seek aid from the advanced Quen Empire or maybe Sylens may try to utilize old 21st-century technology to try and defeat Nemesis. However, there’s one aspect of Horizon 3 that Guerrilla could focus on especially: how older tribes are reacting to humanity’s past instead of introducing new tribes.
Rumor: New Horizon Game Could Be Launching Next Year
Fans of the Horizon series may not have to wait long to see Aloy again, as a new title may be released much sooner than many fans expected.
Horizon’s Exponential Revival of Old World Knowledge
Ever since Ted Faro destroyed the intellectual APOLLO subroutine from Project: Zero Dawn thousands of years ago, humanity has remained in a relatively primitive state. While ruins of 21st-century structures and gigantic robotic animals fill the post-apocalyptic landscapes, the lack of access to old-world data left early civilizations to come up with their explanations for the world just as ancient humans had done before the common era. This resulted in the isolationist Nora viewing automatic security communications as the deity All-Mother and the Carja viewing the sun as a holy figure. Similarly, a lack of context for the ruins led many tribes to identify robots and artificial intelligence as demonic figures who punished their ancestors.
However, not every civilization was left entirely in the dark. Ancient Quen recovered a treasure trove of early Focus devices that granted them minor access to old-world knowledge which helped them develop a technologically advanced empire. The Tenakth, meanwhile, were able to learn from ancient museum exhibits to learn about old military structuring and strategies. The Oseram were additionally able to repair some old-world tech, including the holographic displays of Las Vegas, and use some old technology as inspiration for their own. Tribesmen can additionally find Focus devices scattered about the landscapes and use them to access remaining active old-world facilities, such as Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn.
Horizon 3’s Potential Old World Knowledge Plot Thread
Throughout both Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, Aloy has increasingly learned factual old-world knowledge thanks to her Focus, lessons from Sylens, and genetic identity as a clone of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, the creator of Project: Zero Dawn. By the end of Forbidden West, Aloy and her companions were able to acquire a copy of APOLLO from the extraterrestrial humans, the Far Zenith, and were able to reunite its data with Project: Zero Dawn governing A.I. GAIA. From there, Aloy’s allies began learning more about humanity’s past, particularly looking for ways to defeat the incoming Nemesis. In the Burning Shores expansion, Erend plans on returning to the Oseram to give them Focus devices so that they too can prepare for the fight against Nemesis.
While Erend and Aloy’s other friends have good intentions about providing access to ancient knowledge to their respective tribes, it may create further conflicts and obstacles with previously established tribes. Most post-apocalyptic civilizations are set in their ways which have been established for hundreds of years, and they may not all be welcoming to hear their cultures were fallacies this entire time. Religious leaders in the Utaru and Carja such as Sun Priests may prove especially resistant to accepting old-world knowledge as it may threaten their status of power within their tribe if their deities are revealed to not be holy figures at all.
How Tribes May React to Ancient Knowledge in Horizon 3
The Quen may prove the most hostile towards this discovery of information as their society, while dedicated to the recovery of ancient knowledge, is authoritarian with only government officials and noblemen having access to old-world data. They may directly oppose Aloy’s efforts to educate the tribes as it threatens to collapse the social hierarchy of the Quen Empire. On the other hand, the Oseram and Tenakth may be more accepting of knowledge as it can help improve their technology, weapons, and battle tactics. While Aloy has proven herself to tribes time and time again in the Horizon series, she may still have to overcome some societal bigotry in Horizon 3 to gain the tribes' full support in helping defeat Nemesis.
Across the Horizon franchise, seven tribes have been featured, including the Nora, Carja, Oseram, Banuk, Utaru, Tenakth, and Quen.
Horizon Forbidden West
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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.
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
- How Long To Beat
- 29 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
