Since the release of both Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring in February, the debate over open-world design and hand-holding in video games has sparked new life. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild largely initiated this conversation by presenting a minimalistic HUD and map, allowing players to explore at their own pace in any order.
Although Horizon Forbidden West's open world was largely praised at launch for its gorgeous visuals and meaningful side content, it's let down by Aloy's persistent walkthrough comments. Many players feel that this constant hand-holding ruins the challenge of the game's combat and puzzles. While Aloy as a character is a PlayStation fan favorite, and her growth between the first and second games is evident, she can become infuriating when she explains how to approach an objective before the player has a chance to figure it out for themselves.
Though Horizon Forbidden West's combat can be tough, it leads to exciting battles as players choose the best way to approach each situation. To help, Aloy can scan each machine type to uncover its weak spots and elemental vulnerabilities. However, upon doing so, she'll often repeat these out loud to emphasize how a battle should be approached. While this could be a useful accessibility option, it comes across as hand-holding for those who want to get this information themselves. In the heat of battle, having Aloy walk the player through the best approach can certainly be annoying. Ultimately though, players can still approach combat however they like, and as battles can be very challenging, Aloy's hand-holding here is only a minor issue.
Aloy's persistent comments really become an issue during the game's puzzle sections. Again, having a hint option would be a welcome addition to aid with accessibility, but here, Aloy will often talk the player through a puzzle before they've even had five seconds to figure it out for themselves. For example, after standing on a floor switch, Aloy will say "I should look for something to hold this down," immediately followed by "I bet I can move that crate." The below image is yet another example of Aloy not allowing players the time to figure things out for themselves. These constant interjections take away the satisfaction of solving a difficult puzzle and become annoying as players feel the challenge is being ruined for them.
These complaints may seem minor -- and in truth they are, as the game is well worth playing overall -- but in comparison with other open-world games, the constant hand-holding is highly disappointing. For example, Elden Ring was a revelation in open-world design, taking Breath of the Wild's minimalistic HUD to another level. It allowed players to explore freely and rewarded those who did so brilliantly. Although many quests were difficult to complete without guides, the satisfaction players would get upon figuring out their next step was unparalleled. Of course, Horizon Forbidden West is a very different game from Elden Ring, and its world is still a delight to explore. However, Aloy's puzzle walkthroughs are a disappointing step backward as they take this satisfaction away from the player.
On the whole, Horizon Forbidden West still has many brilliant combat encounters and puzzle sections, and they shine the most when Aloy takes a back seat. Its gorgeous open world and varied combat system have been largely praised, and rightly so. However, it is let down by the hand-holding nature of Aloy's walkthrough comments. They're not enough to stop the game from being enjoyable, but they're annoying enough to take some satisfaction away from the player and prevent Horizon Forbidden West from reaching the heights of other open-world games.