In the wake of Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores DLC being released, Guerrilla has not so subtly hinted that a third game is already in the works.
It doesn’t seem like all that long ago that Horizon Forbidden West was released on PS4 and PS5. Aloy’s second outing on PlayStation was well received overall, so you’d think that a full-fledged sequel in the form of Horizon 3 had been planned for a while. Up until now developer Guerrilla had mostly kept quiet on the matter, placing its focus on spin-off efforts like PSVR 2’s Horizon: Call of the Mountain game. However, following the launch of Horizon Forbidden West’s DLC last week, upper management has strongly suggested that Aloy will get her trilogy.
The potential of Horizon 3’s existence came as a result of a post on the official Guerrilla Games website earlier this week. Its main aim was to announce the departure of long-time studio director and executive producer Angie Smets, but it also offered a cheeky hint at what’s to come next for the open-world franchise. “We have full confidence in our new leadership as they steer Guerrilla towards a bright future,” it reads, “expanding the world of Horizon with Aloy's next adventure, and our exciting online project”.
Aloy’s next adventure, you say? There’s little else that this could possibly refer to other than a true sequel to Horizon Forbidden West, despite neither PlayStation nor Guerrilla itself ever explicitly confirming its development. Horizon 3 had to have been thought of as a no-brainer internally, especially since (according to GamesIndustry.biz ) the sequel was the second biggest PS5 launch by way of boxed game sales in the UK, just behind launch title Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
As for the online project mentioned, we know that PlayStation has been in a phase of building up its suite of multiplayer-focussed studios as of late. Most recently the console maker purchased Firewalk Studios with the explicit intention of bolstering its efforts in the live-service game space, purchasing Bungie for $3.6 billion back in July of last year in a bid to keep up with Microsoft’s acquisition efforts. Guerrilla’s online Horizon game hasn’t yet been revealed, though there’s a chance it could arrive before this all-but-confirmed Horizon 3.
Far from forbidden
Although only now have we heard Guerrilla overtly make reference to Aloy’s next adventure, there’s no doubt in my mind that a Horizon 3 was already considered – probably during the making of Horizon Forbidden West, or even the original Horizon Zero Dawn. That first game launched on PS4 in 2017 as a breath of fresh air, finally letting one of PlayStation’s most talented first-party studios off the FPS leash with Killzone to create something truly unique.
I’ve not played Horizon Forbidden West’s new Burning Shores DLC yet, but it’s public knowledge that it further lays the groundwork for Horizon 3. As such, PlayStation would be silly to not give Aloy a third go around in this unabashedly cool-looking universe where nature has taken over and what remains of humanity shares the Earth with giant robot dinosaurs. Providing Guerrilla can keep finding cool ways to let players interact with this world, the third game in this trilogy could sell just as big as the second.
Horizon Forbidden West gifted Aloy with a whole new suite of fresh skills, the most celebrated being her ability to glide and fly around the map during the game’s later hours. I’m not sure how you can top this in Horizon 3, but then that’s something I wouldn’t have thought of back when playing the original Horizon Zero Dawn. My only hope is that Horizon 3 has been in active development since last year, as if Guerrilla is only now just getting started, I doubt we’ll see it launch before PS6 arrives.
