It has been 2 years since the release of Horizon Forbidden West and it is still one of the most gorgeous games ever made. Everywhere you look, it’s a sight to behold. From environmental density to enemy design and character models, the Horizon games are more than a step ahead of most in the industry. The sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn was an impressive technical showcase of what the PS5 could do while at the same time, being a fun open world to play around in. I won’t be talking about how great the game is, we’ve already done that (and yes, it’s a high recommendation out of us), what I will say is how much this is a crowning achievement in terms of PC ports. No one else does it like Nixxes Software as they make Guerilla’s PS5 exclusive feel right at home with the Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition PC release.
As someone who primarily grew up around consoles, I can admit that gaming on PC is objectively the superior experience. Better visuals, performance, and mod support are just a handful of the things you can get. But that comes with a caveat. In order for a game to run well on a system that doesn’t have a fixed set of hardware and can vastly differ from one household to another, the developers have to put in the extra work for optimization.
PC gamers have had far too many horror stories when it comes to unfinished, unpolished, and outright broken releases on the platform. A lot of which comes from high profile AAA titles that you wouldn’t expect given the caliber of the studios that work on them. It’s a heartbreaking thing to realize as a consumer knowing that your hardware is more than capable to run anything but the game itself doesn’t take proper advantage of. Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on PC flips that narrative and shows exactly how to do a PC port.
In full control
I booted up the game thinking that I was going to be plugging in a DualSense controller because I don’t really play a lot of these third-person action game with a mouse and keyboard. But I figured, why not? Let’s give it a shot. And it became one of the most prominent things that surprised me the most about the PC version.
Aloy primarily uses a bow, a weapon that’s all about precision and quick reaction. While the combat played beautifully on the PS5, it is a title originally developed with a controller in mind, it feels so much more accurate with a mouse. With the strong emphasis the game places on enemy weak points, hitting your shots exactly where you need them to be is a critical thing in Forbidden West.
Aside from better aiming, I also found it to be a pleasant surprise that movement in the PC version of Forbidden West feels great and easy to handle. Aloy is a nimble character that constantly has to outmaneuver and outsmart her opponents. She also traverses around the open world but running, climbing, jumping, and swimming. You could say she’s capable of running an extreme marathon. Movement controls with a keyboard feels very natural with the PC version. It took some time to get used to, but the level design of the first few hours of the game does a great job at making sure you are eased into the mechanics. By the time you are fighting mechanized kaijus that are the size of a skyscrapper, you’ll be in a comfortable flow.
But if you still prefer to use a controller, an Xbox one works perfectly fine but if you chose to use a DualSense, the PC version carries over the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers functionality from the PS5 version which is always a plus.
The one very minor issue with this version is the fact that while the game controls translate naturally on mouse and keyboard, the UI doesn’t. It still looks like it favors a controller especially when it comes to the quick inventory of your throwables and gear. There are also certain prompts that require you to press and hold a key. It’s not a noticeable bother but it is there for the critical observers.
One of the best PC releases in recent memory
The world of Forbidden West is jaw-droppingly stunning to look at. I cannot emphasize just how impressive this game looked back then on the PS5 and now that I’m playing it on PC? It’s a whole new fresh look at one of the most beautiful worlds ever created in gaming. While the base game can be completed at around 30 or so hours, I practically doubled that playtime with the amount of moments I spent just taking in the visual feast that is the game itself.
Horizon Forbidden West on PC plays like an absolute dream. Running this game on my AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with a 4070 GPU build, I had no issues in terms of performance or technical stability. Not a single game-breaking bug happened, visual issues, or even frame drops. With all settings set at high, I was able to get a very stable 180-200+ fps. And I’ve heard from a number of online chatter as well that even if you have a mid-range build, the game can still produce an impressive 80-90 fps.
And if you’re still not satisfied with the frames you’re seeing, the game has the ever-so-impressive NVIDIA DLSS 3 upscaling and frame generation. Whether it be the Quality or Performance setting, there was never a point where I felt like the game had to compromise so much to achieve stable performance. However, I will say that it is probably best to turn off motion blur to zero. Even at its lowest value, it still gave me a fair amount of visual nausea given the number of moving things on screen whether it be Aloy herself, the enemies, or the dense and colorful foliage of the environments.
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition PC Review Final Verdict – 9.5/10
Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition on PC should act as the ultimate example of what is expected out of a PC release. Buttery smooth performance, incredible levels of optimization, and a natural translation of controls to an entirely different input method makes this a must-have for anyone who is an existing fan of the Horizon games, those who are remotely interesting in the franchise, or those who just wants to see what PC gaming is capable of.
It’s an already incredible sequel bundled together with the fantastic Burning Shores expansion. There’s virtually no reason why you shouldn’t give it a go. This is the definitive way to experience Horizon Forbidden West.
This review was made using a game code for the PC provided by the publisher.