Horizon Forbidden West dev says Aloy will "have to prove herself all over again"

Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerrilla Games says that Aloy is “going to have to prove herself all over again” in the upcoming sequel.

Talking to GamingBible about both Horizon Zero Dawn and its upcoming sequel Horizon Forbidden West, narrative director at Guerrilla Ben McCaw explains how in the first game, Aloy went from being an outcast in the Nora tribe but goes on to "becoming the most important person in the world" to that same tribe.

However, the Forbidden West being new to Aloy, and since it's "controlled by different tribes with different motivations," that means "she’s going to have to prove herself all over again," McCaw reveals.

In contrast to Zero Dawn, which saw Aloy meeting several tribes during her journey, in Forbidden West, Aloy will focus on the Tenakth tribe. Not that this makes things any easier, as senior writer Anne Kitain explains in the same interview: "The Tenakth are three distinct clans, and they themselves have their own conflicts."

In fact, Guerrilla seems set on pushing Aloy to her limits in the sequel, as McCaw explains: "Because she grew up as an outcast, Aloy's someone who really hasn't ever learned all the tricks of the social world."

Due to this, McCaw continues, "that was new to her in the first game, and that education continues into the Forbidden West except under very, very stressful circumstances. She has to deal with old friends, new companions, new threats, new tribes. We really concentrated on putting her under a lot of pressure."

This interview follows the release of a new story trailer for Horizon Forbidden West which sets up Aloy’s biggest struggle yet. In the just over the three-minute video, we see more than we ever have about the upcoming sequel’s story - which has remained mainly under wraps since it was first announced.

Now feel the need to start - or even replay - the first Horizon game? Take a look at our Horizon Zero Dawn tips before you get started.

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After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.