History VideoGame / HorizonForbiddenWest

* FlamingMeteor: Downplayed; at one point of the announcement trailer, Sylens watches a group of burning red meteors fall towards the Earth in the distance. [[spoiler:This is actually {{Foreshadowing}} about the threat that comes from the stars that he's preparing for-- first Far Zenith, then Nemesis]].
* FlightIsTheFinalPower: Gaining the [[spoiler:Sunwing override]] is near the end of the game, and is instrumental in the penultimate main story mission where Aloy [[spoiler:decisively thwarts Regalla's final assault on the Memorial Grove by air-bombing them with a Horus EMP bomb dropped via Sunwing.]] The Tenakth have an impossible spiritual aspiration to "Fly on the Wings of the Ten", and Aloy's achievement of this cements her place in Tenakth legend much as her defeating the Buried Shadow (aka HADES) has for the Carja, or becoming Anointed has for the Nora. From then on this is reflected on Aloy's new mouthful of a title, "She Who Flies on the Wings of the Ten."
* ForeignCultureFetish: Morlund is obsessed with the ancient light shows of old Las Vegas. His grandfather had managed to find an intact hologram while delving and used it to put together a theatric light show, and now Morlund's dream is to reclaim the secrets of the city to once again dazzle the world. By the time Aloy has finished helping him, [[spoiler:the lights of the city have been turned back on, and Morlund is well on his way to making Hidden Ember into a tourist attraction just as famous as Vegas]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Aloy asks Bohai and the Ceo about why they're so obsessed with getting into Thebes when they already have the data they were after, Bohai explains in an awkward stilted manner while casting nervous glances at the Ceo. We later learn that the Ceo considers himself the reincarnation of Ted Faro, and that the obsession is part of his mania.

** The Shieldwing is this for many players of ''Zero Dawn'' because it lets you safely descend from practically anywhere, or break Aloy's fall. This helps getting down from high places such as towers and cliffs, something every player wished they could do in The Jewel's jungle cliffs in the first game (it also means less conspicuous yellow ziplines that fulfill the same task). [[spoiler:It becomes a de facto necessity once the [[FlightIsTheFinalPower Sunwing Mount Override]] is acquired for dismount landings from any flight altitude above skirting the ground]].

* AbusivePrecursors: [[spoiler:The main antagonists are revealed to be the members of Far Zenith, who were mentioned in the previous game as a group of the world's wealthiest individuals who [[TheElitesJumpShip fled]] an increasingly unstable 21st-century Earth in an interstellar spaceship prior to the outbreak of the Faro Plague. Having perfected the immortality technology that was already in development at the time, they are over a thousand years old and essentially the last living Old Ones, with the SufficientlyAdvancedAlien technology to match. Being a group of immortal megalomaniacs, they also slaughter the new Earth's indigenous people without a second thought in pursuit of their goals.]]

** [[BaldOfEvil Gerard Bieri]] and [[TheChessmaster Tilda van der Meer]] act as the game's main antagonists in the form of a BigBadDuumvirate, who both want GAIA for their own reasons, with Gerard wanting it to remake Earth to his image for the Zeniths' comfort and [[spoiler:with Tilda also using it to kidnap Aloy in her twisted plans for companionship by forcing her to betray her TrueCompanions and leave Earth to Nemesis.]] They are revealed to be set up as a duumvirate [[spoiler:as shown in "Dagger In My Boot" datapoint by Walter Londra since Tilda is the one who played a hand of Gerard and the Zeniths visiting Earth.]]

** [[BaldOfEvil Gerard Bieri]] and [[TheChessmaster Tilda van der Meer]] act as the game's main antagonists in the form of a BigBadDuumvirate, who both want GAIA for their own reasons, with Gerard wanting it to remake Earth to his image for the Zeniths' comfort and [[spoiler:with Tilda also using it to kidnap Aloy in her twisted plans for companionship by forcing her to betray her TrueCompanions and leave Earth to Nemesis.]]
** On the other side of the conflict there's Regalla, HEPHAESTUS and the Ceo. Regalla wants to wage war against the Carja, Ceo and the Quen want to mine data and attempt to locate GAIA's routines, while routinely targetting outsiders (whom they call "barbarians") and HEPHAESTUS attempting to upgrade the machines to make them much worse and more dangerous for humans.

* BigBadEnsemble: The game has ''five'' {{Big Bad}}s acting autonomously that Aloy has to face, in contrast to HADES in ''Zero Dawn'' and HEPHAESTUS in ''The Frozen Wilds''. [[BaldOfEvil Gerard Bieri]] and [[TheChessmaster Tilda van der Meer]] act as the game's main antagonists in the form of a BigBadDuumvirate, who both want GAIA for their own reasons, with Gerard wanting it to remake Earth to his image for the Zeniths' comfort and [[spoiler:with Tilda also using it to kidnap Aloy in her twisted plans for companionship by forcing her to betray her TrueCompanions and leave Earth to Nemesis.]] On the other side of the conflict there's Regalla, HEPHAESTUS and the Ceo. Regalla wants to wage war against the Carja, Ceo and the Quen want to mine data and attempt to locate GAIA's routines, while routinely targetting outsiders (whom they call "barbarians") and HEPHAESTUS attempting to upgrade the machines to make them much worse and more dangerous for humans.

** Originals and Forgeries. [[spoiler:Aloy and Beta are both clones of Elisabet Sobeck and they both struggle with CloningBlues in regards to living up to her legacy]]. When Aloy's allies discover the truth behind her birth, they briefly marvel at their similarities, but otherwise acknowledge that they are their own individual people regardless of genetics. Far Zenith on the other hand sees them as nothing more than xerox copies [[spoiler:of Elisabet, with Tilda seeing Beta as an "inferior copy" and Aloy a better {{replacement|goldfish}}]]. [[spoiler:At the end, it's revealed that the true threat to Earth is Nemesis, a "failed" digitized copy of Far Zenith's collective minds that festered into a DigitalAbomination who turned against its creators.]] This theme is best illustrated in two of the paintings in Tilda's art collection; ''Woman Reading a Letter'' by Johannes Vermeer and ''Woman Reading Music'' by Han van Meegeren. The latter was made as a forgery to Vermeer that gained acclaim in the artists's lifetime, while the original was not acknowledged until after Vermeer died in obscurity. Tilda claims that its deception inspired her to create software that helped identify forgeries.

* AIBreaker: Aloy getting into a location where a highly aggressive machine like an Apex Thunderjaw or Tremortusk can't reach her (such as a high cliff) seems to confuse them. Whereas most machines will retreat if they can't get to Aloy, these two tend to mostly flail randomly, firing their weapons in random directions in apparent frustration. (Note that this absolutely does not work on Shellsnappers.)

** Fast travel can now only be initiated from a campfire, and the Golden Fast Travel Pack is gone.

** "[[HeroicResolve When it looks impossible, look deeper, and fight like you can win]]." A word of advice from Rost, Aloy's father figure, she falls back upon it when confronting problems like the Far Zeniths, who seem so powerful that they're unstoppable.

* PuppyLove: Aloy's growing attraction to [[spoiler:Seyka]] comes across like an awkward schoolgirl crush. Which, given that Aloy is an undersocialized teenager, is probably a fairly accurate description.

A DLC expansion called ''Burning Shores'' was released on April 19, 2023, exclusively for the [=PlayStation=] 5 version. The announcement trailer can be seen [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ShJuY6Zl2Aw here.]] A complete edition including the DLC was released for the [=PlayStation=] 5 on October 6, 2023 and is scheduled for release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in early 2024.

A DLC expansion called ''Burning Shores'' was released on April 19, 2023, exclusively for the [=PlayStation=] 5 version. The announcement trailer can be seen [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ShJuY6Zl2Aw here.]] A complete edition including the DLC was released for the PS5 on October 6, 2023 and is scheduled for release on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} in early 2024.

A DLC expansion called ''Burning Shores'' was released on April 19, 2023, exclusively for the [=PlayStation=] 5 version. The announcement trailer can be seen [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=ShJuY6Zl2Aw here.]]

*** The one Tenakth character in the first game is a Carja fugitive who is portrayed as not only utterly ruthless, but also allegedly drinks the blood of those she kills. As you progress through this game, several Tenakth characters go out of their way to dismiss this blood-drinking claim. Collectible lore establishes that blooddrinking is an archaic ritual that was banned decades ago, and was done with a reverence lost in trasnlation.

*** The one Tenakth character in the first game is a Carja fugitive who is portrayed as not only utterly ruthless, but also allegedly drinks the blood of those she kills. As you progress through this game, several Tenakth characters go out of their way to dismiss this blood-drinking claim as a slanderous rumor against them and not a legitimate part of their culture.

* OneNationUnderCopyright: The Quen appear to have something like this based on various characters' descriptions. In addition to the House of the Quen Emperor, the Quen also model their society on their limited knowledge of their ancestors, meaning there are a number of powerful organizations known as the Boards that also have a great deal of influence throughout the Great Delta, presumably having been based on the boards of {{MegaCorp}}s like Faro Automated Solutions, which they revere like religious icons[[note]]This is not very dissimilar from the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaibatsu Zaibatsus]] of UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan, which were a number of {{MegaCorp}}s that exuded powerful influence of the Japanese Economy. This fits with how [[FantasyCounterpartCulture the Great Delta is presumably somewhere in Asia]][[/note]].

* StateSec: Compliance Officers are the eyes and ears of the Imperial House, and they crack down hard on dissent. Everyone in Fleet's End is worried about upsetting them, and a Quen tells an anecdote of how her brother reported their mother to Compliance.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Gerard and Tilda. Both want to take GAIA and leave Earth at the hands of Nemesis, though it borders to TeethClenchedTeamwork due to them having very different goals on leaving Earth to Nemesis. [[spoiler:Gerard wants to steal it to remake Earth in his image, while Tilda wants to take Aloy and do the same thing with Gerard by forcing her to betray her own allies.]] However, it is clear that Tilda is the one who spearheaded this plan in the first place [[spoiler:after Nemesis' attack and Gerard was the one who led the Zeniths to Earth to take the working GAIA and her runaway functions.]] Both of them are equally important for Aloy to stop, [[spoiler:albeit it was [[FinalBoss Tilda]] that Aloy needs to defeat at the end.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: Gerard and Tilda. While Gerard is the one who leads the Zeniths to visit Earth and steal a copy of GAIA and its functions to escape from Nemesis and leaving the planet to its mercy, Tilda is the one who spearheaded the said plan in the first place, in order to reach Aloy and defect to the Zeniths. Both of them are equally important for Aloy to stop, [[spoiler:albeit it was [[FinalBoss Tilda]] that Aloy needs to defeat at the end.]]

* LyingToProtectYourFeelings: After finding Gildun's looking glass, Aloy has the option to let him continue to believe that his partner helped protect it after Gildun fell overboard instead of making him realize that his partner pushed Gildun overboard to steal it for himself.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: To explain the presence of Tenakth and Oseram weapons for sale at Fleet's End, a note mentions that some scouts stumbled upon a camp with weapons they noticed were from different tribes, and brought them back to the quartermaster. It's possible to find these camps out in the wild, further integrating them into the gameplay. The Tenakth camp is Northeast of Heaven's Rest being used by Devotees after Aloy destroys Londra's cult, with a note explaining that the former Carja Ritakka led an expedition to the Burning Shores to see if it could be colonized for the Clan Lands, only to conclude that the islands were choked with too many dangerous machines, making any colonization attempt a waste of resources. The Oseram camp is on the beach opposite Cauldron THETA and belonged to a group of [[RougeAnglesOfSatin grammatically challenged]] delvers who unearthed a mother lode of Brimshine and all killed each other trying to claim it for themselves.

* InfinityMinusOneSword: The Specter Gauntlet is an incredibly lethal weapon that fires [[MacrossMissileMassacre homing explosives]] and [[ArmorPiercingAttack railgun blasts]] with relatively cheap ammo, and can be easily acquired through the ''Burning Shores'' main quest by defeating Zeth. Its only major downsides compared to Legendary bows are that it can't equip weapon coils and that it's a Loud weapon like most explosive weaponry, which means that firing it automatically alerts all enemies in the area regardless of whether or not they could see the attack.

* LaResistance: Thea and Rokomo are part of a group of internal rebels within the Quen Empire seeking to undermine Compliance and the Boards. According to them, back in the Great Delta there are high-profile members of society who have joined the group and been imprisoned rather than killed, since Compliance doesn't want to make martyrs out of them.

* MonumentalDamage: The Horus was in the middle of destroying the Hollywood sign when MINERVA deactivated it, so it inevitable finishes the job after Londra wakes it back up.

* PutOnABus: If Aloy visits the location where her companions went at the end of the vanilla game, they will no longer be there. Each of them left a message for Aloy telling her that they are off rallying others to prepare the fight against [[spoiler:Nemesis]]. Alva however makes a short cameo as Aloy sets up communication between her and Seyka in order for their respective group to be reunited. Sylens will still be around until the end of the DLC before leaving himself, trying to check in on the companies that Londra mentions in his Focus that could help them in the future. At the end of the DLC, only Beta and GAIA are left at the Base.

* SchmuckBait: At several points in the Burning Shores, you can find an ancient safe in the middle of the road with legendary loot inside. [[spoiler:Looting it will immediately spawn in three machines that converge and attack you.]]

* ContrastingSequelSetting: The setting of the DLC, the Burning Shores, is a heavy contrast to its predecessor DLC's setting, the Frozen Wilds. The Frozen Wilds takes place in the Cut, the Banuk lands that were formed from what was once Montana and Wyoming, located north of the Nora Sacred Lands where it is often covered in permafrost and snows a lot, where only a few of the Old World buildings can be seen. The Burning Shores takes place in the namesake area, where it is virtually remote and unoccupied by any tribe except for the other half of the Quen fleet, and it is formed from what was once Los Angeles, where it is now a volcanic archipelago with a tropical climate and littered with the ruins of Old World buildings. While the Frozen Wilds is connected to ''Horizon Zero Dawn's'' main map, the Burning Shores is separated from the main map of ''Horizon Forbidden West''.

* ContrastingSequelSetting: The setting of the DLC, the Burning Shores, is a heavy contrast to its predecessor DLC's setting, the Frozen Wilds. The Frozen Wilds takes place in the Cut, the Banuk lands that were formed from what was once Montana and Wyoming, located north of the Nora Sacred Lands where it is often covered in permafrost and snows a lot, where only a few of the Old World buildings can be seen. The Burning Shores takes place in the namesake area, where it is virtually remote and unoccupied by any tribe except for the other half of the Quen fleet, and it is formed from what was once Los Angeles, where it is now a volcanic archipelago with a tropical climate and littered with the ruins of Old World buildings. While the Frozen Wilds is connected to ''Horizon Zero Dawn's''main map, the Burning Shores is separated from the main map of ''Horizon Forbidden West''.