Thanks to the fact that Guerrilla Games’Horizonuniverse is full of vibrant vistas and engaging characters, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the darker themes that can be found throughout the franchise. It’s important to remember though that Aloy’s adventures inHorizon Forbidden Westandits forbearerHorizon Zero Dawn, are set in a decidedly post-apocalyptic setting. When it comes to traditional sci-fi themes, it doesn’t really get much darker than the fact that the human race was virtually extinct in the studio’s universe for a significant period of time.
With the release ofHorizon Forbidden Weston PS4 and PS5, fans are once again exploring the remains of humanity’s golden age. Even though a thousand years have passed since the Faro Plague devastated the planet, the impact of the robot-apocalypse is still clear to see and hear. While datapads that offer heart-wrenching insight into that time have been a part of Guerrilla Games’ formula since the original game’s release, for Aloy’s sophomore adventure, the studio has pushed the boat out even further. When it comes to dark and tragic environmental storytelling, nothing inForbidden Westcompares to the 12 Black Box collectibles that litter the landscape.
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Horizon’s Tragic Universe
It can be argued that almost every corner of theHorizonuniverse is defined in some shape or form by the tragic end of humanity’s golden age. Thanks to rapid technological advancements, and the subsequent creation of self-replicating war machines, the human race was driven to the verge of extinction by the robotic singularity. While the Faro Plague as it was dubbed in-universe is a grim story within itself, the way in which the future of humanity was safeguarded is a dark tale as well. It’s only thanks to the sacrifice of soldiers and the planet’s remaining military, duringthe Operation: Enduring Victory campaign, that the terraforming Zero Dawn project was finished.
Due to these two events, most ofHorizon Zero DawnandForbidden West’s audio logstell bleak stories. Considering how there wasn’t a happy ending for the people that faced off against the Faro Plague, this isn’t particularly surprising. Guerrilla Games’ decision to tell this kind of environmental story is still a deliberate choice, though. After all, giving players an insight into how characters within the universe prepared to do battle against the machines is a great way to motivate them to do the same. While it’s fair to say that this ensures the Black Box collectibles aren’t strictly unique when it comes to their themes, for several reasons the way in which the studio has designed them is arguably far darker.
Forbidden West’s Black Boxes
Just like in the real-world, the people ofHorizon Forbidden Westuse the phrase Black Box to describe an airplane’s flight recorder. Every vehicle that takes to the sky has one, primarily so that if calamity strikes, the box will record the details of the event in an attempt to aid the people that eventually investigate the tragedy. What’s striking about this piece of equipment is the fact that it’s implementation in-game has allowed Guerrilla Games to shift the focus away from the soldiers typically featured in other collectibles. Most ofHorizon Forbidden West’s Black Boxes are subsequently defined by the fact that it’s the voices of non-combatant civilians that areheard by Aloy and the player.
While a couple ofHorizon Forbidden West’s Black Boxes do admittedly feature soldiers, most focus instead on the final moments of terrified civiliansattempting to flee the Faro Plague. Hearing their desperate voices can be a somber experience, as even the handful that feature happier moments all still end with references to the fact that no one could escape death for long. Perhaps the darkest of the 12, though, is one haunting message that doesn’t feature the voices of people trapped on a plane. Instead, the player hears an air traffic control person’s attempts to contact the craft. It’s only when the message ends that Aloy theorizes that the people on the plane couldn’t respond, as the robotic swarm had hacked its systems before depressurizing the cabin. Killing everyone on board in the process.
If the audio of the collectibles wasn’t enough, what makes the Black Boxes even darker is the fact that unlike real-world flight recorders, in theHorizonuniverse there was no one left to investigate them. In most circumstances, that responsibility and duty grimly falls to Aloy and the player controlling her. While other characters are aware of the Black Boxes, as evidenced by the Tenakth NPC that hands out rewards for their retrieval, none have insight into what they really represent. To make matters even more powerful, to uncover most of the collectibles players have to pick through the wreckage of each plane. In many ways, the Black Boxsites that litterHorizon Forbidden West’s landscapebecome grim crime scenes and graveyards with this context.
Horizon Forbidden Westis out now for PS4 and PS5.
