In Guerrilla Games’Horizonfranchise, players are introduced to Aloy. Due to her upbringing, she learns to rely on herself a lot, and her strong sense of independence becomes one of her defining traits. As the franchise has progressed,Aloy has learned that friends are also useful, and they can help her accomplish bigger goals. This is seen inHorizon Forbidden West, where she regularly keeps up with her friends at the Base. The next game should build on this by featuring a full-blown follower mechanic that allows Aloy to tackle quests with a chosen friend.
With a dedicated follower mechanic, the game afterHorizon Forbidden Westwill stand out and introduce a new layer of depth for all missions. Players will have a lot of choices, as Aloy has made quite a few friends along the way. Furthermore, it will stress the recurring themes of friendship, teamwork, and unity the franchise tries to push forward.
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Aloy the Fiercely Independent Heroine
Aloy’s early life has her living as an outcast. Although she is supposed to be part of the Nora tribe, the weird circumstance surrounding her birth cause her to be cast. Fortunately, there is a loving albeit gruff man named Rost around to raise her and teach her how to hunt machines. Despite the rough experiences she has during her younger years, including being bullied by Nora children, Aloy never loses faith in herself and her abilities.
Her outcast upbringing does affect her, however. She learns how to be highly self-sufficient and rely on herself and her skills alone. This is usually not a bad thing, as she is competent enough to take on most of the enormous challenges that come her way. However, it does blind her to ways that friends and companions can help. Along the way, Aloy does end up making friends and trusting a select few people. This includes Erend Vanguardsman, Talanah the Carja huntress, andVarl, who is as loyal as can be.
Through these people, Aloy learns how important and helpful good friends can be. Nevertheless, it is not enough to entirely chip away at her independent nature. When Aloy is up against great dangers, she still insists on charging into the action alone, and she rarely wants or needs support. In the second mainline game in the franchise,Horizon Forbidden West,gamers witness Aloy still expressing this strong independence. However, she slowly begins to learn about the importance of teamwork and unity.
Aloy Learns the Value of Teamwork
InHorizon Forbidden West, Aloy is still independent, but she has learned to utilize her friends a lot more. They all meet up at the Base where she can have conversations with them,play Machine Strike, and plot future missions. Companions will also occasionally accompany her on quests. During these missions, her companions show their usefulness by helping her to take on big machines and dropping ammo to ensure she always has something to load her weapons with.
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Perhaps the greatest show of Aloy’s appreciation of teamwork is seen toward the end of the game when she storms the Far Zenith base. Instead of doing it alone, she is accompanied by an army of companions who are also willing to lay their lives on the line. Through this teamwork, she is able to take down the Far Zeniths and foil their plans, a feat she likely would have failed to accomplish on her own. The various tribes also learn the value of teamwork, as seen through therelationship between the Utaru and the Tenakth, as well as the Carja tribe’s continuing effort to establish diplomatic relations with all neighboring tribes.
Unfortunately, life on Earth is not safe just yet.Aloy discovers that Nemesis is on the way. It is an AI created by the Far Zeniths, and it has grown resentful of the human race. Now, its deepest desire is to wipe out any and all humans. To defeat this new threat, she will have to unite the various tribes, and she will have to rely on teamwork once again. The next mainline game can emphasize unity and teamwork by expanding on the companion mechanic.
The Next Horizon Game Should Feature a Dedicated Follower Mechanic
Horizon Forbidden Westdoes a good job of incorporating companions into quests and making them feel genuinely useful. However, future games can take the concept further through a dedicated follower mechanic.Before Aloy leaves the Base, she should be able to pick which companion she wants to bring into the wilderness. This mechanic only works if each of the companions is sufficiently varied and has unique strengths and weaknesses they bring to the table. Hence, players will have to think about which friend will be the best fit for each quest.
A dedicated follower mechanic would also allow players to learn more about their companions. As players mount a Charger with a friend and travel to their next objective, there will be the chance for light conversation, which is whenAloy’s friends may reveal more about themselves and their history. This would be a much more natural way to introduce exposition than visiting friends at the Base and triggering long cutscenes where players just watch two characters talk.
ThenextHorizongamehas great expectations to meet, asHorizon Forbidden Westis a great sequel that does a lot to improve on its predecessor. The inclusion of a dedicated follower mechanic could be the thing to make the next game stand out from prior titles. It would also be the perfect way to stress that although Aloy is quite capable of taking challenges on her own, nobody can take on all of life’s challenges by themselves. Sometimes, some help from friends is necessary.
Horizon Forbidden Westis available on PS4 and PS5.
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