Horizon Forbidden West Proves: Read is stupid

Horizon Forbidden West offers a fantastic post-apocalyptic world in which there is something exciting everywhere. However, in the design of the Open World, the PS5 hits nevertheless commits a well-known mistake.

• Horizon Forbidden West: World Building Between the Lines
• PS5-HIT shows well-known open-world weakness
• Skyrim, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect: Too much text in the game

A comment by Gregor Elsholz

The Open World of Horizon Forbidden West surrounds a scary beauty. A yearning echo of a arrogant and tragically failed civilization. A ghost of our own future. The ruins of humanity, which were recalled by nature and populated by mechanical high-tech animals, offer a unique atmosphere - but instead of reacting them on me, the game will constantly force me to read dry text messages.

Horizon Forbidden West: World Building Between the Lines

In Horizon Forbidden West, as in its predecessor Zero Dawn, data points are hidden everywhere, which report from the fight of long-lasted souls to make the world more livelier - but they usually occur in extremely minimalist text form ** and often stack themselves Also still in unmotivated data heaps on certain places.

These data points give the feeling as if I would read more, sometimes less interesting emails of people I would never meet. Of course, I learn something about her, but because they are only facial and voiceless stencils , I forget their experiences directly again - and thus the world will not be more alive for me for me.

In the video we show you everything you need about Horizon Forbidden West:

PS5-HIT shows well-known open-world weakness

Some of the data points in Horizon Forbidden West may even tell about exciting stories. But it is the way you want to submit these stories that in an interactive and visual medium does not appear attractive or temporary, although many other open-world games come precisely the same sin.

As if the PS5 game itself would be this opinion, Ironically, Horizon Forbidden West is showing an exemplary, as World Building is possible on a skilful way : The viewpoints offer players through holograms a painful nostalgic insight into the world of Ancestors and the records of audio data points and tickups are significantly more exciting and more immersive.

Skyrim, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect: Too much text in the game

Unfortunately, World Building is still much too often treated in text form in video games. Pretty much all the big names of Tomb Raider over Skyrim to Mass Effect have often used in recent years often EllenLange text messages in every imaginable form to convey background info with the wooden hammer - the medium of nature is suitable for a lot More for audiovisual telling.

In Horizon Forbidden West, I have now stopped opening the text data points. Instead, I let me tell myself the fate of the world through the stories that were important to developers guerrilla games important enough to map them or depict as holograms. All the emails, correspondence, diaries and other excuses for info dumps have been spilled for me at the end of the world - which gives the atmosphere of Horizon Forbidden West an even more mystical touch.