Finished Horizon: Forbidden West now (including Burning Shores), and I had some rambling thoughts. Spoilers below.
While I did enjoy the game, I don't think I rate it as highly as Zero Dawn. I think they went too big with the narrative escalation, and lost out on the small moments and side characters that endeared me to the original (the original's side missions weren't much on variety - go here and kill machines - but the quest givers were what sold it. That got lost a bit in the sequel). Still some instances of it, like the Tenakth lowlander with dementia or the Oseram Vegas boys, but overall it wasn't as fulfilling.
In terms of the main story, trying to balance the Tenakth civil war with the Zenith threat with restoring GAIA didn't always work, because those were three very different goals that they were trying to juggle simultaneously.
Despite her rebels being the brunt of the human enemies in the game, Regalla was dealt with extremely quickly when she showed up (which wasn't often). It wasn't super satisfying to be the incidental saviour of the Tenakth when on the way to something bigger.
Sylens' appearance percentage ranks in the low single-digits and mostly seemed to comprise of contrivances to stop Aloy from killing him. Not sure the writers were all united in where they wanted his storyline to go or end.
The Zenith, especially Walter and Tilda, are so creepy. Not in the horror sense, but in the sense that they are creeps. So is Ted Faro, so is the Ceo. All of them are creeps of the highest order. Doing the Thebes mission had my skin crawling the entire time (why did he put Aloy in Sobeck garb for a ceremony if not with some intent to keep her as a trophy girl later?), and then it got worse with little miss Dutch wife-wifery Tilda trying to forcibly convert BOTH of Elisabet's daughters into their mother, and then Walter came along and busted out the mindwipes (RIP Nova, you deserved better).
It's clearly a commentary on current events, as the Zeniths and Ted Faro are essentially Epstein's islanders on crack. If they had the tech to do what the Zeniths were doing then they would be doing what the Zeniths were doing. They clearly believe themselves above consequences for their actions, just like those in the Epstein files.
Remember earlier when I said that it didn't feel like they gave us as many memorable characters this time around? The early game is especially gonna feel like that, especially if you do all the Daunt sidquests and errands before moving on.
It takes a while to actually get into the titular 'Forbidden West' (I was over ten hours in before I left Barren Light), and for some reason you'll run into Varl, Erend AND Petra, despite them being miles away from there in the previous game. It seemed kinda fanservice-y and made me think that they weren't confident enough in HFW as its own game to not rely on HZD's setup.
It did lessen the further I got into the game, but didn't diminish entirely (Talanah and Nil).
Still, I did end up liking the new companions in the Base Team. Zo, Kotallo, and Alva were all fun additions (even if they brought in Zo as another black character and then killed off Varl), but having one representative of the different western tribes did work out well, and I enjoyed their interactions with Aloy.
Giving everyone a focus was a good choice, as it really helped out Aloy's personal storyline about coming out of her self-imposed isolation.
Aloy and Beta's relationship was one of the high points of the game, as Beta served to force Aloy by proxy to ask herself the questions she'd been avoiding.
Aloy gets angry with Beta in the beginning because she's holding herself back from basically screaming "Why aren't you Elisabet Sobeck?!", and it takes her a while (and prodding from Varl about Rost) to realise she's also holding back from asking HERSELF that question.
When she finally does, she (unlike Tilda) realises that the answer to that question is "You're not, and neither am I. You're you, I'm me, and Elisabet was Elisabet. We don't need to be her, and I don't want either of us to be."
This hits Aloy like a ton of bricks, makes her realise she's been diminishing both her and Beta's personhood (despite hating when Sylens or others do that to her), and is finally able to call Beta what she is: her little sister.
Aloy then proceeds to go full protective-big-sister mode for the rest of the game, but not to the extent where she stops asking Beta to do anything either. She doesn't talk down to Beta and demand she do nothing but stay safe at Base. She in-fact does the opposite and starts treating her as a beloved and respected member of her team/family, complete with involvement and tasks.
It's cool to see Aloy, with her terrible social skills, not fall into the trap of taking all the responsibility onto her own shoulders by accepting the responsibility of being Beta's big sister. That's good nuance and subtle character growth.
I'm not wild about many things for the Zenith threat, tbh. The reveal that Nemesis sent the extinction signal rather than the Zeniths themselves felt kinda weak. They had already been established as terrible people, and it was still ultimately their fault, but putting Nemesis in as a middleman between the Zeniths and Earth's destruction (while they were running scared from it) felt like giving them an out they didn't need.
The Zeniths in general seem to shift the series away from 'fantasy world as a consequence of sci-fi mistakes from the past' to full sci-fi with fantasy dressing.
Similar to my Regalla point above, it just elevates the story too much beyond the people. The first game had you taking on just HADES (and a little bit of HEPHAESTUS in the DLC), and by the end of Forbidden West GAIA is complete of everything sans HEPHAESTUS (and even that was only because they Base Team willingly released it again).
They even got APOLLO back, despite its deletion being a big part of the tragic reveal of the first game. Retcon-ing this makes me think that the series is losing its underlying theme of acceptance in the world you have and trying to save it rather than simply recreating the old one, mistakes and all.
APOLLO should've stayed deleted. It being back ruins the overall idea of humanity figuring things all out again on their own, and maybe doing it better this time around. I didn't like the angle on this one.
Shorter than the Frozen Wilds, but not without its charms.
Alva get closure about the other half of her fleet, which is nice, as did Seyka.
Speaking of those two - before I started Burning Shores, I was shipping Aloy and Alva. I think they fell into an easy dynamic quite quickly, playing off each other well. Alva, while not the super-fighter Aloy is, was much more open to the ideas and viewpoints that Aloy brought with her, and they were fast friends and protective of each other from pretty much the first moment. Alva's relentless optimism when away from the Quen helped, too. As did her pre-existing discomfort with her society's restrictions even before meeting Aloy. She jumped at the chance to interact with Aloy, and I think Aloy appreciated that the sole preconception Alva had about her (being a barbarian) was dismissed almost instantly. Aloy also picks up on the fact that Alva only ever uses Aloy's connection to Elisabet Sobeck as a bit to get the other Quen to back off. She's always treating Aloy as Aloy otherwise.
Too bad she reveals she already has a girl back home, torpedo-ing my ship.
Seyka, rather than being just Alva 2.0, instead acts more towards Aloy like Aloy did towards Erend in the first game. She's a little bit dismissive and cocksure of herself, thinking of Aloy as a tagalong. Aloy, for her part, is pretty much just amused by this, but gets into the unofficial competition by showing off her skills and her toys (glider and pullcaster) to subtly flex on Seyka (even is Seyka does score major points with her cool motorcycle boat - Aloy likes vehicles and mounts, that's been true since the first game).
While they don't get as much time (since Burning Shores plays out like an action movie in a sense) as Aloy's other relationships have to develop, I think the steps are there.
Seyka starts out with swagger that Aloy is happy to match, which makes them both realise that the other has some moves they can respect - this evolves into playful competition - which evolves into playful banter about being outcasts - which evolves into playful flirting banter (Aloy's a half-second away from asking the classic gay yearning question "your tribe/family sucks. Want me to kill them for you?") - which evolves into both sides thinking "oh, maybe I'm actually not kidding with this" (they both felt the spark from moment one) - which evolves into some awkwardness but also the realisation that they want to be around each other and treating each other as equal partners - which evolves into them having a great first date of flying a metal pteradon to kill a titan (amazing boss fight, btw) and its immortal groomer pilot together.
And then they kiss and tragically have to part ways for now as they each recognise the other can't give up their whole life for them right now, too much to do, but definite mutual desire to circle back the moment they can.
So yeah, still a good game, tried a bit too hard with the escalation of stakes and lost some heart in the process, and Aloy got a girlfriend.
I certainly don't regret picking it up.
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