What Horizon Zero Dawn's Villain Is Doing In Forbidden West
There's a chance Horizon Zero Dawn's villain can return in Horizon Forbidden West. The recent PlayStation 5 showcase revealed a plethora of exciting titles to look forward to, and among them Guerrilla Games gave fans their first glimpse of the highly anticipated Horizon Zero Dawn sequel, Horizon Forbidden West. This direct continuation of the 2017 game follows the adventures of Aloy as she traverses into the uncharted territory of the Western United States.
Horizon Zero Dawn's vague and open-ended finale left many speculating that a sequel was on the horizon. With the uncertainty surrounded the game's post-credits scene, it's likely that the events of the first game will directly tie into the second. The "red-blight" is still shrouded in mystery and with a seemingly new variant depicted in the latest Horizon Forbidden West trailer, players may need to prepare to face some old foes in the upcoming title.
[Warning: Horizon Zero Dawn spoilers ahead]
Throughout Horizon Zero Dawn's story, Aloy learns of the Old World and the technological remnants left behind by humanity over 1,000 years ago. Mankind faced its end with the Faro Plague, an event in which an army of self sustaining, militarized machines "glitched" and proceeded to neutralize all life on Earth. Seeing that the extermination of humanity was coming near, Project Zero Dawn was created. This project, governed by the AI GAIA, was developed as a means to terraform and transform Earth until it could once again sustain life. In the advent that GAIA was unsuccessful, the subordinate function HADES is tasked with reverting the planet back to its lifeless, sterile state in order to provide GAIA with a blank canvas to try again.
Approximately 1,000 years after GAIA's activation, a signal of unknown origin was transmitted to the GAIA Prime facility. In turn, HADES became a powerful AI itself and turned against GAIA in an attempt to reverse the successful terraforming efforts on Earth. The cult group Eclipse and their leader, Sylens, sympathized with HADES' plans for a mass extinction-level event, aiding the AI in its mission. Horizon Zero Dawn ends with Aloy stopping the Eclipse and stabbing HADES' core with her lance, destroying the AI. However, a post-credit scene reveals that HADES survived Aloy's attack before being imprisoned by Sylens in a mysterious, cylindrical container. A dialogue exchange reveals that Sylens plans to interrogate HADES and garner more information about the Old World and those who (or what) sent the signal which awoke the AI in the first place.
Given the mystery still lingering around HADES and the Old World, it's likely this character will be returning to Horizon Forbidden West. There's speculation that Sylens may be directly involved in the rise of the new "red-blight" depicted in the games' trailer. Given his knowledge of Old World technology and capture of HADES, he could be using the AI to affect the nature of the blight. The trailer does show a new biological threat spreading across the West, quite different from the machine oriented "red-blight" depicted in the first game. Sylens may have found a means of reactivating HADES destructive protocol in order to to create another Faro Plague.
So far, little more than hints can be glimpsed about Horizon Forbidden West's latest trailer, but it's clear that old foes will likely have something to do with the game's plot. Guerrilla Games has not provided any information about how far after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn the sequel takes place, meaning that Sylens may have had years to interrogate HADES and gain unfathomable power. No matter what, it's clear Aloy will likely be facing threats on a scale she has never seen before.
Horizon Forbidden West is slated to release exclusively for PS5 in 2021.