I’ve completed the main quest of Horizon Forbidden West. It was a great journey, with a memorable story, fun characters, although no-one stands out in particular, they were all very reliable, sane and rather friendly. The music and graphics were great! I enjoyed watching the world and walking, climbing, running, riding, swimming, gliding and flying around in it. The quests were cool. Some of the fetch quests feel in-character, as you are a hunter. Same as with The Witcher, in which you can hunt monters because that’s what you do.

I enjoyed most of the combat, but not all. Some fights I found too difficult and I had to lower the difficulty two or three times. Once with the giant turtle like machine that kept on throwing things on me, shooting me or jumping on top of me. I’m just not very good in combat heavy games. The final part with all the Specters was also too much for me. Those things suck! They reminded me of the Corruptors of the first game. I hated those too. And the final boss was also too difficult for me. I tried it like five-six times before giving up. I’m not good at staying calm and using all the means I have at my disposal.

I found the elemental combat too confusing. I don’t understand why not all bows can’t fire all types of elemental arrows. I also can’t remember all the combos. I realize once again, how much I like simple combat like in Skyrim and Breath of the Wild. This is too much like God of War, too much a fighting game.
But a lot of the other battles were really satisfying. Engaging a group of machines at once was fun. First taking out the sentries and then charging in to kill the rest. Sliding and running about shooting and hacking them. Also rebel camps were great. The rebels were not just all filler, but by finishing some of the camps you get to learn more about the story.

I’ve put 40 hours into to the game and completed about two thirds to three quarters of the quests, I didn’t do any of the arena quests and about half of the collecting gear quests. Although I liked the cauldrons, I didn’t do all of them.

I didn’t do the expansion to the first game and I don’t think that I’ll do the expansion to this game either, as I surmised it’s even more combat heavy than the main game.

I’m curious to see if there will be a third game. The story needs another installment, based on the ending. But I wonder what new elements they can introduce though and in what area it will take place. I wonder if it can get any better. I probably will play it, if it’s more of the same, but it will be nice if there’s a fresh take on the formula. I mean, we’ve seen the cauldrons by now, we’ve seen the Tallnecks, we’ve seen abandoned and crumbling buildings. What’s next? A space ship? Will that feel like an Horizon game? Will another region on Earth feel fresh enough? So many questions.