HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST: LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION!

 

HORIZON FORBIDDEN WEST: LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION:

Language

Introduction

Read this review of Horizon Forbidden West in the Financial Times (should be non-paywalled but you can read the text of article here if needed). Answer the following questions:

Why does Guerrilla Games have 'a serious case of bad timing'? 

2017 open-world role-playing game Horizon Zero Dawn than it was overshadowed by Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which launched a week later and turned out to be an all-time gaming great. Now just as it delivers an excellent sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, another phenomenon arrives on its heels to suck away all the oxygen, Elden Ring. Poor Guerrilla, a team of superb developers with a serious case of bad timing. 

What is the narrative for the original game Horizon Zero Dawn? 

The games take place a thousand years after rampaging machines have wiped out most of humanity. Survivors have clustered into tribal communities who view relics of technology as objects of either suspicion or religious reverence. The dramas of warring clans are narrated alongside the tale of how our world came to ruin.

How is the central character Aloy described? 

Guerrilla struck gold with flame-haired heroine Aloy, who balances grit and tenderness as one of the most memorable new characters of its console generation. 

What is the narrative and setting for the sequel Horizon Forbidden West?

Where the first game stretched across a terraformed Colorado, Forbidden West beckons players to Nevada and California with a new threat to humanity that, naturally, only you can resolve. The previous game revolved around the mysteries of Aloy’s identity, which were neatly wrapped up by its conclusion. The new game’s story is more diffuse, yet it smartly explores themes of climate catastrophe and the hubris of big tech with a nuanced script and brilliant voice acting that includes appearances by actors Angela Bassett and Carrie-Anne Moss.

What does the review say about animation and graphics?

Forbidden West is the first truly eye-popping flex of the PS5’s muscles, with graphics so beautiful that I have often found myself halting the adventure just to gawp at the landscape, whether dust clouds careening across the desert or forest leaves quivering in the breeze. The robot enemies are ingenious works of biomechanical clockwork, shaped like snakes, hippos, ferrets, rams and pterodactyls, with electric cables for sinew and gleaming steel for ligaments. Most impressive are the character models.

What do we learn about the gameplay and activities in Horizon Forbidden West? 

Forbidden West’s gameplay offers robust, satisfying combat beneath its good looks. Aloy’s movement feels ultra-fluid as she deftly transitions between sliding, climbing and making use of new tools such as a grappling hook and paraglider. Each fight with a robot enemy is tense and exciting, demanding that players think like a hunter by analysing opponents’ behaviours, deploying traps and elemental attacks to gain the upper hand. Minor irritations from Zero Dawn have been resolved, allowing you to make better use of stealth and melee weapons or manage resources more easily. 

Close textual analysis

Watch the trailer for Horizon Forbidden West:

Answer the following questions:

How is narrative, character and setting introduced in the trailer?

• Alloy is riding on an animal 
• islands
• forests 
• birds eye view

How is the game's open world/sandbox genre shown in the trailer? 

By showing Alloy exploring the different atmospheres for example the ocean and the hidden tombs.

What representations can you find in the trailer? 

• Female (Alloy) : strong fighter, can do anything, independent  
• antagonist = evil

AQA recommends watching the following gameplay trailer in their CSP booklet:

Watch the gameplay video and answer the following questions:

How does the game use media language to communicate ideas about narrative and genre?

Media language such as the setting which is shown to be an "open world", shows the genre of the game. The view on Alloy shows the narrative

What representations of people, places, or groups can you find in the gameplay video?

A strong female protagonist that is independent and capable of fighting

What audience pleasures are suggested by this gameplay trailer?

Diversion

Narrative and genre

Read this excellent Den of Geek article that addresses elements of narrative and genre. You can find the article text here if the link is blocked. Answer the following questions: 

Read the opening to the article. How can we apply Steve Neale's genre theory to Horizon Forbidden West?

Neale suggests that genres are instances of repetition and difference. This can be applied to Forbidden West and Zero Dawn as even after five years and the introduction of a new generation of console hardware both games feel surprisingly similar to each other.

How many copies did the Horizon Zero Dawn sell and why did this influence the design of the sequel?

Horizon Zero Dawn has reportedly now sold over 20 million copies, it’s not like this series really needed to change all that much to reach a significantly wider audience. Given the current shortage of next-gen consoles and development complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s also not like Guerrilla Games was in a position to make this a true PS5 exclusive built from the ground up to take advantage of that hardware. From a business standpoint, it makes all the sense in the world that Forbidden West sticks fairly close to its predecessor in terms of most of its basic design decisions.

How does the article criticise the story in Horizon Forbidden West? 

“More story” doesn’t necessarily translate to “better story,” though. Much like Zero Dawn, Forbidden West’s greatest narrative strengths are the quality of its world and mythology.

The problem is that Forbidden West spends a bit too much time letting a small army of side characters spout what sometimes feels like an endless amount of exposition. There are fantastic side characters and sidequests in this game, but Forbidden West’s reliance on extended dialog sequences starts to wear you down relatively early into this massive adventure

What do we learn about the gameplay? 

Forbidden West thanks to the intelligent additions of an expanded “stash” system that eliminates so much of the frustration of needing to constantly gather and manage resources.

Meanwhile, Aloy’s new traps and significantly more useful spear skills mean that there are more times when you feel truly free to approach the game’s combat and hunting sequences the way you want to approach them. There’s often still a “best” way to do things, but that way isn’t always so obvious that it makes every other way to approach a situation feel pointless.

What is the article's overall summary of the game?

Games like Forbidden West and Ghost of Tsushima belong to this new breed of open-world titles that don’t necessarily revolutionize the genre but rather find ways to make the entire concept feel fresh again by using that genre’s conventions to support ambitious artistic ideas that would crumble under their own weight if they weren’t supported by such a tested structure. Forbidden West sometimes sticks to a beaten path, but it goes further than so many other games in this genre and manages to plant a new signpost that I can only hope Guerrilla Games and other developers aspire to reach and surpass in the future. 

Representations

Read this fascinating Polygon feature on why Horizon Forbidden West isn't post-racial and answer the following questions: 

How does Horizon Forbidden West use narrative to create a fully diverse cast of characters?

It’s a clever narrative move to let the developers pack the game with people of all skin colors, a fact that has been routinely lauded as progressive by some critics and gamers.

What is orientalism? 

Orientalism is a type of racism in which “the West” — generally understood as Europe and North America — projects savagery and beauty onto “the East,” or the Orient. 

How does the article suggest orientalism applies to Horizon Forbidden West?

Orientalism is embedded at the core of Forbidden West’s narrative of exploring exotic lands. Protagonist Aloy’s Orient is the “Forbidden West” itself: the present-day southwestern U.S. and California, filled as they are with foreign tribes, religions, and customs. In this morass, Aloy is both an explorer and a (white) savior.  

Who is the player encouraged to identify with in the game and how does this influence how representations are constructed?  

Supposed to identity with Aloy, and support her mission to save the planet. 

Finally, what did the writer of the article (an Asian American) feel when playing the game?

The writer ended up role playing different kinds of cultural violence, including Orientalism, which founds and fuels a lot of the racism the writer experienced as an Asian American. 

Focusing on Aloy and the representation of women in videogames, read this Forbes feature on the topic. Answer the following questions:

What is the debate regarding Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West? 

Guerilla Games went out of its way to make Aloy a more “normal” heroine, not looking like “a Victoria Secret model.” And yet this has sparked a debate about whether Aloy is actually “hot” or not, which I find is sort of missing the point entirely. It reminds me of that now-somewhat-cringey “Is Hilary Swank hot?” Office episode, and really isn’t the conversation we should be having in the first place.

What examples are provided of other female characters and representations in videogames?

Lara Croft, star of Tomb Raider, has been the poster child for this entire issue in gaming, and again, shows that this is a complicated issue. While it’s true that Croft’s original design was sexualized in a way to appeal to young men, it’s also true that she’s a part of gaming history and a great female protagonist in her own right.

What are the issues facing the videogame industry in terms of gender?  

The industry has massive, massive problems with retaining women employees and treating them well within gamedev. And there have indeed been female characters created entirely within a male gaze. And this debate is not doing anything to solve the real issues these companies face (PlayStation itself is currently facing gender discrimination claims, which the article doesn’t mention).