Adventures in Horizon Forbidden West's Side Quests: Part 1

I've become fascinated with the art of the side quest ever since listening to John Ingold's presentation at GDC in which he offered the encounter approach to open-world storytelling. I got addicted to Horizon Zero Dawn the moment I arrived at the in-game ruins of my alma mater at the U.S. Air Force Academy. It hit me like watching Charlton Heston discover the Statue of Liberty at the end of the original Planet of the Apes. After that, I was totally sucked into the task of finding out what had happened. I was more interested in exploring the world of HZD and completing any side quest that would reveal its secrets than I was in finishing the main storyline. Knowing I had high hopes for similar entertainment value in the sequel and that I'd be investing a lot of time into it, I decided to at least get some academic value out of it. So, after watching Narrative Director John Gonzalez's interview with Noclip and Leszek Szczepanski's talk on Building Non-Linear Narratives in HZD, I set out to play the game and... take notes on the side. 

As of this writing, I've only just left "The Daunt," which is the first region of the world map after the tutorial level and opening story elements. The area had a total of seven side quests. For clarity's sake, while the game menu has categories for "errands," "jobs," "challenges," and as-yet-undiscovered mission profiles, I refer to any task that sends you off to do anything for any reason a side quest. 

I found it notable that Guerilla's narrative team created a major challenge for themselves with the way they opened the game. Aloy is literally in a race against time to save the world. So intent is she on this task that she repeatedly takes extraordinary risks in gameplay, deliberately abandons friends during cinematics, and expresses a level of impatience that is palpably out of character during cut scenes. It's a masterful reintroduction to a character who has grown and matured since the last game, and not entirely in positive ways. All of this sets an unmistakable tone for the game's storylines with high drama. The problem is that the gravity of the situation is so tremendous that it's almost unimaginable that Aloy would stray off the main quest path. 

Their solutions are, with few exceptions, superb. Relying on Aloy's selflessness and compassion, she is excused from her life-or-death mission to engage in other life-or-death circumstances. A quick rundown: 

Side Quest #1: "Deep Trouble"

The closest side quest to your entry point. It's a very straightforward intro to the world, with a meaningful backstory that builds on issues within the Daunt. An explosion in a mine has caused a flood, leaving two miners trapped. Aloy goes in and finds the miners. To free them, she must blow some charges to let the water out. Aloy sneaks by or defeats several machines to get to the charges, blows them, and frees the miners. She gets some physical rewards and a bit of backstory about the miners' situation. It informs later side stories down the trail. All in all, the gameplay is fun and the tidbits of information telling you Aloy can expect complications are juicy. 

Side Quest #2: "A Dash of Courage"

Aloy arrives at the town of Chainscrape. There are plenty of quests here. I picked this one as the second because it's the one exception to an otherwise excellent array of side quests, and for that reason I just want to get it out of the way and go back to good stuff. 

The cook in the tavern is being bullied by what passes for the local mafia. He asks Aloy to get him a few cooking ingredients and a special piece of scrap metal so he can cook her a meal. Aloy agrees and goes to a machine area, whereupon she fights the machines and retrieves the scrap. The cook prepares a tasty dish for her and she gets a free food item to boost health and abilities. 

I get it that food is a new mechanic in Forbidden West and it needed to be introduced at some point, but this whole quest just didn't fit. It's not believable that Aloy would break from her primary mission to help a cook. And the cutscene of the cook actually preparing the meal breaks from the tone and feel of the game. Just in terms of story, Aloy needed a more compelling reason to go on the quest. 

Since Aloy needs to help the locals prepare for peace talks with hostile tribes in order to gain safe passage through the forbidden west, I would have tied the cook's purpose to preparing a banquet for the meeting. As it stands, this one stood out as the most non sequitur storyline.

Side Quest #3 "The Bristlebacks"

The business at the mine is a valuable foreshadowing of internecine troubles in the town. The local mafia boss who maintains he's "just an honest businessman" is trying to squeeze the appointed mayor for land concessions. It looks like he might get them after a group of extremely dangerous machines unexpectedly infest the Daunt. Aloy agrees to kill the machines. Along the way, she discovers that the machines likely got into the Daunt through a mineshaft that was illegally blasted. It looks like the mafia boss got greedy, bored too deep into the mine, and let the machines in by accident. That can't be made certain until Aloy finds the other end of the tunnel, but the tunnel isn't accessible.

At this point, the quest goes on hold! I've never seen that before, and it's a neat trick. It really demonstrates how committed Guerilla is to the game's story. "Sorry, gratifying your desire for XP and loot must be delayed so that this plot can develop a little more." The underlying thesis, and I think it's one that games are too often afraid to assert, is that the story is a reward of its own that has value equal to or greater than loot or even player advancement. 

I don't begrudge Horizon's narrative team for that. As I continue to move forward with both the main storyline and the side quests, I find they constantly vindicate themselves by delivering on those story beats. Good things come to those who wait.