Developers/publisher SIE (Guerrilla Games)

Format PS4, PS5 (tested)

Release Out now

There cannot be many games that aged almost as instantly as Horizon Zero Dawn. Here was a handsomely realised open-world adventure, with a vibrant, expansive and well-realised setting and an absorbing story that married grand stakes with a journey of personal discovery. And this accomplished piece of work had the added surprise factor of coming from a developer previously known for a series of largely grey firstperson shooters: the guys behind Killzone made this? If not exactly the pinnacle of its form, it didn’t seem too far off. Then, three days later, Breath Of The Wild arrived and upended expectations of what this genre could be. Rich in mechanical invention and atmosphere, understanding the value of space and silence to let the player figure out their own solutions to its puzzles, it immediately made most of its peers look dated. By dint of sheer proximity, Zero Dawn was the obvious point of comparison, which did Guerrilla’s game – despite its state-of-the-art visuals – few favours.

Some of that criticism was perhaps unfair: this wasn’t necessarily the wrong way to make an open-world game, but simply a different one. Even so, it is quite startling how little Forbidden West has evolved the formula five years on. It enters a world in which we’ve since had several games in a similar vein from its own publisher alone. Again, it has been assembled with no little skill, its makers’ technical proficiency evident throughout. Yet the surprise factor is almost entirely absent. In fact, the biggest surprise is quite how unsurprising it all is.

Still, if you’re seeking a showcase for your new console, look no further. Forbidden West is, as you’d expect, frequently spectacular, its world offering the kind of views that will have you wearing out your Share button. From arid valleys to leafy jungles, sunset battles across sweeping plains to swims in the most vibrant blue-green waters you’ve ever seen, this place is as beautiful as it is vast. Its inhabitants are richly detailed and extraordinarily well-animated. The way protagonist Aloy’s hair moves is mesmeric, and the face paints on the various tribespeople really do seem to have been applied by brush and hand. Even the visibility-reducing brick-red clouds of dust whipped up by a sudden squall make for a striking backdrop as we race to the next waypoint, while we spend a good ten minutes simply running back and forth through a patch of untouched snow, watching the powder shift underfoot.