Over theHorizonfranchise’s span of titles, the post-apocalyptic, machine-filled world has slowly delved into other game genres beyond its action RPG roots. In 2020,Horizonleaped into tabletop gaming with the debut of Steamforged Games’Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game. By 2023,Horizon’s first official spin-off video game was released in the form of the virtual realityHorizon Call of the Mountain. WithHorizonabout to jump into the realm ofLEGOvideo games in winter 2024 withLEGO Horizon Adventures, Guerrilla Games should consider developing a dungeon-crawlerHorizonspin-off game similar to games includingMinecraft 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’sDiabloseries, but a few are played in first-person, such asLegend 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. WhileHorizonis set in a science fiction-focused world, it still has great potential to be adapted into the dungeon-crawling genre.
In terms of setting,Horizonalready has complex, puzzle-filled dungeons incorporated into its world in the form of machine-originating cauldrons and old-world ruins.Cauldrons are massive underground facilitieswhere animal-like machines are made and released into the world to perform their landscape caretaking duties. Aloy often has to defeat boss machines located in the heart of cauldrons in order to unlock the ability to override more machines. Likewise, old-world ruins are found throughout the world ofHorizon,filled with difficult-to-traverse paths, and can often be filled with hostile bandits, soldiers, and machines. Both settings are filled with valuable loot, from weapon and armor upgrades to audio and text logs.
Potential Classes in a Horizon Dungeon Crawler
If Guerrilla were to go theMinecraft DungeonsandDiabloroute and include classes in a hypotheticalHorizondungeon crawler, this game could finally allow gamers to play as members of othertribes seen throughoutHorizon Zero DawnandForbidden Westin-game. For example, given the Utaru’s focus on farming and healing others, players could play as a member of the Utaru tribe to play as a healer class. Likewise, given Oseram’s focus on blacksmithing and utilizing hammers, as well as their overall helpful attitude towards others, players could play as members of the Oseram tribe to fulfill the paladin class.
Seven tribes, excluding rebel factions, have been encountered throughout theHorizonfranchise so far, including the Banuk, Carja, Nora, Oseram, Quen, Tenakth, and Utaru.
The Story of a Horizon Dungeon Crawler
In terms of story, aHorizondungeon-crawler could be set after the events ofForbidden Westwith the main objective being to locate the rogue A.I. HEPHAESTUS.HEPHAESTUS was a subfunction of the GAIA A.I.designed to create machines for Project Zero Dawn that would help heal the earth’s landscapes, oceans, and atmosphere. By the time ofForbidden West, HEPHAESTUS was corrupted by Nemesis and HADES and began producing more hostile machines. It was later briefly captured before it was released in the Far Zenith’s facility and escaped once more.
The story of a theoreticalHorizondungeon-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 whileHorizoncontinues to branch out.
