How Horizon Forbidden West's Ending Sets Up A Sequel
Matthew Harrington Horizon Forbidden West’s cliffhanger ending mirrors Zero Dawn’s conclusion and sets up a sequel as Aloy must face unparalleled impending threats.
The ending of Horizon Forbidden West leaves a couple of unanswered questions that indicate a sequel is on the way. Similar to the ending of its predecessor, Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West concludes on a cliffhanger, leaving players with the knowledge that an impending threat remains. While there could be a DLC like Frozen Wilds added in the future to answer these questions, the size of the threat left after Horizon Forbidden West's ending seems to set up a large-scale narrative for a third Horizon game.
[Warning: Major spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West are below.]
Set in a post-apocalyptic 31st century, Horizon Forbidden West continues the narrative from the first game. The story of Horizon Zero Dawn followed Aloy's journey from being a Nora outcast, discovering she's a genetic clone of 21st-century scientist Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, all the way to preventing rogue function-turned-AI HADES from eliminating all life from the planet. Horizon Forbidden West expands the world known to Aloy and increases the map size for players to explore, as Aloy ventures into the Forbidden West in search of a cure for a plague afflicting her homeland.
Horizon Forbidden West's ending ultimately indicates that Aloy's story is not yet finished, setting up for more Horizon content in the future. By the end of the game, Aloy has successfully vanquished the threat of the Far Zenith group returning to Earth to steal GAIA in order to colonize a new planet. Yet, impending threats persevere as Horizon Forbidden West concludes with a scene of Aloy's company planning how to prepare to defeat Nemesis.
Horizon Forbidden West's Ending Recap
The final act of Horizon Forbidden West commences with Aloy's successful challenge against the Tenakth rebel leader, Regalla; after which, Aloy takes the fight to the Far Zenith base. Under direction from the "good" Zenith, Tilda, they enter through a secret entrance and utilize Sylens' shield-destroying weapons to weaken the highly evolved Zenith. Inside the base, Beta (another clone of Elisabet Sobeck) infects the machine facilities with the troublesome function-turned-AI, HEPHAESTUS, which immediately releases an army of crazed machines to combat the Zenith's nanotech Specter machines.
After defeating the Specters, Horizon Forbidden West continues as Aloy and company slowly overcome the resistance from the Zenith. Aloy defeats Erik with Zo's help and rescues Beta from the facility, while Tilda defeats her fellow Zenith, Gerard. The group then infiltrates the facility to determine what Far Zenith is hiding, discovering the Zenith secret plot to steal GAIA for colonization purposes. The Zenith fled their planet as their experiments tampering with digital immortality backfired. The collective consciousness of Zeniths that sacrificed their already immortal status for this endeavor was abandoned and eventually festered into an AI entity called Nemesis. Nemesis escaped from its compound and wiped the Zenith homeworld in a matter of hours.
The final battle ensues as players must defeat Tilda to conclude Horizon Forbidden West's narrative. In a shocking twist, Tilda reveals her true nature to Aloy: She is wracked with guilt over abandoning Elisabet to die on Earth while she prospered with the Far Zenith, and wants to take Aloy on a new colony mission to clear her conscience. Of course, Aloy refuses and a battle follows as Aloy must face Tilda and her own unique machine, Specter Prime. With Far Zenith defeated, Aloy and company are left with the knowledge that Nemesis is headed for Earth with the goal of eliminating humanity. A touching moment ensues as Aloy embraces Beta as her sister, which mirrors Aloy's search for Elisabet's final resting place in Zero Dawn. The game concludes as the group disperses to seek aid from their allies.
HEPHAESTUS Is Released At The End Of Horizon Forbidden West
HEPHAESTUS was first introduced as the primary antagonist of Horizon Zero Dawn's Frozen Wilds DLC. Following the signal that disrupted GAIA (that was actually sent by Nemesis) and released her subfunctions, HEPHAESTUS evolved, like HADES. HEPHAESTUS was originally programmed to construct and deploy the terraforming eco-machines that would detoxify and rebuild the planet. However, following its evolution, HEPHAESTUS dwelt in Cauldrons across the country and began causing Horizon's animalistic machines to turn hostile in a phenomenon known as the Derangement, seeing humans as a threat.
In the final act of the game, HEPHAESTUS had to be released in order to affect Far Zenith's machine printing facilities and defeat the Zenith. Aloy had previously successfully contained HEPHAESTUS within the dual cores at the GEMINI Cauldron in Horizon Forbidden West, and following its release, HEPHAESTUS probably returned to a Cauldron to continue producing Deranged machines. Without HEPHAESTUS' terraforming capabilities, GAIA can only maintain the biosphere for a limited amount of time, perhaps a few months. So, as well as the impending threat of Nemesis, Horizon Forbidden West's ending leaves Aloy navigating a deteriorating planet with the only solution being to recapture the troublesome AI, and likely a flurry of new, aggressive animalistic robots.
A Third Horizon Game Could Focus On Defeating Nemesis
The plot of Horizon Forbidden West concludes as Aloy and her companions set out to seek help from their various allies regarding the biggest threat Earth is yet to see. The full timeline of Horizon events reveals that the Earth has faced devastating climate crises and has even seen an entire elimination of all life. However, the threat of Nemesis outweighs anything previously encountered as this entity is literally a conglomeration of immortal consciousnesses that has already wiped an entire planet. Nemesis possesses the collective knowledge of the Far Zenith group and is determined to eliminate all life on Earth. This entity is unlike anything that Aloy has faced before, and even the highly evolved Zenith all perished to it. Before her demise, Tilda revealed that Nemesis is already in the outer solar system, so the group is pressed for time to prepare any defenses.
So, Horizon Forbidden West's ending leaves Aloy not only facing the threat of a deteriorating planet and a free HEPHAESTUS likely creating the deadliest machines yet seen, but Aloy must also deal with an incredibly powerful, world-destroying AI hell-bent on wiping out the human race. A sequel to Horizon Forbidden West is definitely set up in the cliffhanger ending that mirrors the conclusion of the first game, with the remaining threat of HEPHAESTUS paralleling that of HADES following Horizon Zero Dawn. It is possible that an upcoming DLC for Horizon Forbidden West could likely deal with another upcoming threat, like HEPHAESTUS in Frozen Wilds, or potentially introduce new allies to help in the fight against Nemesis.
