Amid all the hype for Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut finally coming to PC in May, nearly four years since its launch on PS4, it’s easy to forget that Horizon Forbidden West is also coming to the platform. Launching on March 21st for Steam and the Epic Games Store, the acclaimed sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn sees Aloy returning and venturing to the mysterious Forbidden West to help restore the planet’s biosphere.
The open-world action RPG has sold over 8.4 million units as of April 2023. Here are 15 things that PC players should know before picking it up later this month.
Setting
The Forbidden West is more than just a fancy name for a dangerous region – it’s also full of new locations for players to explore. Chief among these are the ruins of San Francisco, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the scenic coasts. Of course, there are still sprawling deserts, extensive forests and valleys, with new traversal options like the Pullcaster and Shieldwing also allowing for exploring the environments in brand-new ways.
Aloy will need all the help she can get to unlock the region’s mysteries and even combat a new threat.
Combat
If you’re familiar with Zero Dawn’s combat, then Forbidden West shouldn’t be too new. Aloy still relies on bows, Tripcasters, Blastslings and more to combat foes (with overriding Machines also an option). New weapon types include the Spike Thrower, Shredder Gauntlet and Boltblaster, not to mention several new heavy weapons wielded by destroying Machine parts. Melee combat has also been revamped with new combos and finishers. There is a lot of firepower to unleash, and you’ll need it against some of the new threats.
New Machines
The Forbidden West is home to some vicious new Machines, ranging from the nimble Clamberjaw to the velociraptor-esque Clawstrider. The Shellsnapper is a tanky yet quick enemy; the Slitherfang towers above and unleashes lightning; and the Tremortusk…well, good luck with the Tremortusk. Each has different strategies for effectively taking them down, and you’ll need to use all the tools at your disposal to succeed.
Skill Trees
Horizon Forbidden West revamps the previous game’s Skills, presenting them in six distinct Skill Trees: Hunter, Infiltrator, Machine Master, Survivor, Trapper and Warrior. You can go all in on melee damage, extend the amount of time a Machine is overridden or unlock new skills, like firing three arrows at a time. It lets you lean into a particular playstyle and make it your own.
Valor Surges
Each Skill Tree also has a dedicated Valor Surge, a new Ultimate-like ability to turn the tide in battle briefly. It’s activated by building up the Valor Surge bar with each knockdown, weak spot hit, stealth kill and more. Some examples include Overshield, which provides a shield for Aloy that absorbs damage and prevents knockback, even exploding at higher levels when it depletes. Then there’s Powershots, which causes your next few arrows to deal more damage and restore Concentration for techniques.
Side Quests and Open-World Activities
While opinions may be mixed on the overall side quest quality in Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West steps up things significantly. Each side quest offers incredible animation work for its NPCs and is more involved, even if the steps include hunting down Machines for parts or scaling locations. There are also Rebel Camps and Outposts to liberate, Tallnecks to unlock, Hunting Grounds to clear, The Arena and much more to partake in when you’re not searching for Black Boxes or hunting Survey Drones. It even includes Machine Strike, a tactics mini-game to play against NPCs.
Burning Shores
Burning Shores offers a new region to explore – Los Angeles – with new Machines, bosses and side quests to take on. Working with the Quen at Fleet’s End and newcomer Seyka, Aloy must hunt down a person of interest and prevent whatever they may be planning (which has something to do with the giant Horus Titan). With extensive cloudscapes to explore and new characters to interact with, it’s a strong continuation of Aloy’s journey.
Ultra-wide Monitor Support
As for the PC version of Forbidden West Complete Edition, it includes the usual support for Ultra-wide displays. You can use a 21:9 Ultra-wide or 32:9 Super Ultra-wide, but that’s not all. It even supports 48:9 resolutions for those who prefer to game on a triple-monitor setup.
Mouse and Keyboard Support
Given all the precise aiming required in the Horizon series, especially in Forbidden West, mouse and keyboard support is essential. That’s confirmed for the PC port, and you can fully customize the key bindings.
DualSense Support
Of course, if you prefer to stick with the DualSense, it’s also an option. Plug it in via USB-C, and you can take advantage of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers like on the PS5. Other controllers are supported as well, with Steam Input allowing you to configure them as necessary.
System Requirements
In terms of hardware requirements on PC, every configuration will need Windows 10 64-bit (version 1909 or higher) at 16 GB of RAM. You also need an SSD with 150 GB of free installation space. To play at 720p/30 FPS and Low quality, an Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1300X with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 4GB or AMD Radeon RX 5500XT 4GB will be necessary.
For 1080p/60 FPS and Medium quality, a Core i5-8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 with a GeForce RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 5700 is required. Finally, for 1440p/60 FPS or 4K/30 FPS on High quality, you’ll need an Intel Core i7-9700 or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X with a GeForce RTX 3070 or Radeon RX 6800.
4K Requirements
Now for the ultimate question – can your setup run the game at 4K resolution and 60 FPS at Very High settings? Well, yes, provided it has an Intel Core i7-11700 or an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 or Radeon RX 7900XT and 16 GB of RAM to go with the 150 GB free space on the SSD. That’s all you need.
Upscaling Options, DirectStorage and More
For those falling just short of the best hardware, there is support for upscaling technologies like Nvidia DLSS 3, AMD Fidelity FX Super Resolution and Intel XeSS. DirectStorage is also supported for faster loading times, and for those who want even better image quality, Nvidia DLAA is available.
Graphical Options
While the full range of graphical options hasn’t been outlined, the developer has confirmed that you can adjust the level of detail, texture quality, shadows, water, terrain, and even change the field of view, motion blur and film grain with sliders. There are other effects like lens flare, bloom, vignette and radial blur to turn on or off per your preferences.
Playtime
Considering how much larger it is in scale and the amount of content compared to Horizon Zero Dawn, it’s probably no surprise that Forbidden West will take about 90 hours for completionists on average (per HowLongToBeat.com). If you’re only interested in the story, it’s about 28 hours, which goes up to 63 hours or so with the side quests. Burning Shores on its own adds another 7 hours or so of story content, and coupled with everything else, it can take 16 to 17 hours of a completionist ruin. Overall, the Complete Edition offers well over 100 hours of gameplay, especially for $59.99.