Horizon Should Tick One Box in Its Minecraft-Like Expansion

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Horizon Should Tick One Box in Its Minecraft-Like Expansion

As a die-hard Horizon fan who has traversed the post-apocalyptic world of Aloy countless times, I can’t help but feel a surge of excitement when contemplating the potential of a Horizon dungeon-crawler game. The blend of Guerrilla Games’ intricate storytelling, captivating setting, and the addictive nature of dungeon-crawlers could result in an unparalleled gaming experience.

Over the course of the Horizon franchise, the post-apocalyptic world filled with machines has branched out into various gaming genres from its initial action RPG origins. In 2020, Horizon made a move into tabletop gaming with Steamforged Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game. By 2023, the first official spin-off video game of Horizon was released as the virtual reality game Horizon Call of the Mountain. In winter 2024, Lego will introduce a Horizon game called LEGO Horizon Adventures. With this in mind, Guerrilla Games might want to explore creating a dungeon-crawler spin-off game similar to games like Minecraft Dungeons.

What the Gameplay and Setting of a Hypothetical Horizon Dungeon-Crawler Could Look Like

Dungeon-crawler games, as the name suggests, are focused on individual or groups of players raiding labyrinth-like dungeons to loot treasure, solve puzzles, and defeat bosses. Typically, these games are played from a top-down or third-person perspective, such as Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo series, but a few are played in first-person, such as Legend of Grimrock. Dungeon-crawlers are typically set in fantasy worlds, often allowing for players to select classes to play and design their character around, including paladins, rogues, and more. While Horizon is set in a science fiction-focused world, it still has great potential to be adapted into the dungeon-crawling genre.

In the setting of Horizon, there are intricate dungeons interwoven within its universe, which consist of cauldrons – colossal underground factories – and ancient ruins of a bygone era. Cauldrons are where mechanical creatures resembling animals are manufactured and deployed to maintain the environment. Aloy frequently encounters and battles boss machines nestled deep within these cauldrons, overcoming them being the key to controlling more machines. Similarly, scattered throughout the Horizon world are old-world ruins, riddled with treacherous paths and often inhabited by hostile groups such as bandits, soldiers, or machines. These locations are rich in valuable items, ranging from weapon and armor enhancements to audio and text logs.

Potential Classes in a Horizon Dungeon Crawler

In a hypothetical scenario where Guerrilla expands the Horizon universe into a dungeon crawler, similar to Minecraft Dungeons and Diablo, it would enable gamers to assume roles of various tribes seen in Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West within the game. For instance, with the Utaru being skilled in farming and healing, players could adopt the role of a healer by choosing Utaru as their tribe. Similarly, given Oseram’s expertise in blacksmithing, hammer usage, and helpful nature towards others, players could opt for the paladin class by joining the Oseram tribe.

In my journey through the captivating world of Horizon, I’ve come across seven main tribes thus far, with the exception of the rebellious factions. These include the Banuk, Carja, Nora, Oseram, Quen, Tenakth, and Utaru.

The Story of a Horizon Dungeon Crawler

In the narrative, a Horizon dungeon-crawler could unfold following the occurrences of Forbidden West, with the primary goal being to track down the renegade AI, Hephaestus. Originally, Hephaestus was a subsidiary of the GAIA AI, developed for Project Zero Dawn to manufacture machines that would aid in restoring the planet’s landscapes, oceans, and atmosphere. However, by the time of Forbidden West, Hephaestus had been corrupted by Nemesis and Hades, leading it to produce more aggressive machines. It was briefly captured but managed to break free from a Far Zenith facility again.

The story of a theoretical Horizon dungeon-crawler could then have Aloy recruit a small group of people from various tribes to look for HEPHAESTUS in unexplored cauldrons. Further, HEPHAESTUS’ Far Zenith upgrades could allow for more varied machines for players to fight against and allow for more unique bosses. There is no such installment in development at this time, but it would seem like a fruitful blueprint for Guerrilla to consider while Horizon continues to branch out.

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2024-08-23 03:05