


“Our team reviews each and every report of abuse (including but not limited to racist, sexist, homophobic, insults to other users, etc) and if violations occur, the reviews are removed,” Metacritic wrote in a statement to Eurogamer. In the meantime, Metacritic points to what the current system is doing right. It has not announced any specific changes. Metacritic’s parent company Fandom has called out many of these reviews for being “abusive and disrespectful.” Keep in mind, this instance involves a small voluntary event that only appears as an option for certain players if they pursue prior flirtatious dialogue choices.įandom says that Metacritic “is a place of belonging for all fans” and that it takes “online trust and safety very seriously.” To that end, company reps say they are “currently evolving our processes and tools” surrounding reviews and content moderation. Still, early reviews note that Horizon Forbidden West is a solid improvement over Horizon Zero Dawn in virtually every way, with the enhanced facial animations helping to make the game’s characters feel all the more real.The dedicated Burning Shores page was slammed with negative user reviews, which is an all-too common practice nowadays. Also, at times it could feel like Horizon Forbidden West has too much side content, leaving some players feeling overwhelmed. Melee combat still feels cumbersome, and there are still a few minor technical graphical issues like pop-up or stuck animations despite the heavier processing power of the PlayStation 5. Not every note about the game has been positive, despite Horizon Forbidden West's Metacritic score, as critics note that the early chapters can be bogged down by exposition regarding the events of Zero Dawn. Horizon Forbidden West sometimes packs in so much that it gets in its own way, but the many well-drawn characters populating its quests keep it compelling. And while Guerrilla said that Horizon Forbidden West isn't being held back by being a cross-gen game, it will be exciting to see what the studio can do when building a Horizon adventure from the ground-up for PS5. It's more of the same from Zero Dawn in a lot of ways, but with significant improvements across the board to create a generally superior experience. Horizon Forbidden West is a step above its fellow open world games because it goes out of its way to ensure that everything is worth doing, not just the main story. If you’re willing to take your time and explore the ruins of a fallen society, where every other corner is teeming with machines that you’ll need to be at the top of your game to destroy, then Horizon Forbidden West becomes an incredible game set in a world that we wanted to return to many hours after the credits rolled. Much like the original, it stands head and shoulders above many other open-world adventure games because of its meticulous approach to the “world” part this isn’t a scattering of differentiated environments with bland faceless NPCs and checklists to drain, but an exciting ecosystem to explore featuring dozens of excellently voiced, well-observed characters to interact with.Ī triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature and character design, and a captivating open world, Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5. In short, Horizon: Forbidden West is a lock-the-doors sci-fi epic packed to the brim with fascinating characters and countless pleasures that will take players many hours to completely devour.
