Horizon Forbidden West Makes More Sense If You Played Frozen Wilds
Significant parts of Horizon Zero Dawn's DLC not only connect to Horizon Forbidden West'snarrative but seemingly affect the central development of Aloy, the game's main protagonist. Titled The Frozen Wilds, the DLC opened up a section of Zero Dawn's map, allowing players to enter an area called The Cut in Banuk territory, a tribe of nomadic hunters native to the region. The DLC's story centered around Aloy stopping the source of hunter-killer machines explicitly designed to kill humans by the AI Hephaestus. The DLC not only added new features and gameplay mechanics, but it also added some backstory for characters and expanded the narrative of Zero Dawn.
[Warning: possible spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West below.]
Despite the DLC map not being too big, comparable to the first section of Horizon Zero Dawn, it brought a significant amount of content new content from machines that return in Horizon Forbidden West to weapons like the Forgefire, which was essentially a prehistoric flamethrower. Moreover, despite its size, the region was much denser and more mountainous than Zero Dawn's other locations, offering a nice change of pace to the gameplay. The DLC also brought new worldbuilding opportunities to the series with the Banuk providing a unique insight into the tribe's culture, relations to the other tribes previously introduced in Zero Dawn, and even the source of their religion and beliefs.
Related: God of War Ragnarök Must Avoid Horizon Forbidden West's Biggest Problem
Although The Frozen Wilds' fit within Horizon Zero Dawn's narrative, its inclusion within Horizon Forbidden West could be considered jarring and confusing. While Zero Dawn ties back into Horizon Forbidden West, the DLC averages about eight to 15 hours
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