The Horizon Forbidden West ending is quite the bombshell, as you'd hope from a story like Aloy's latest. Here we'll explore the biggest plot points, how they'll no doubt tie into an inevitable sequel.
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00:00So at the end of Horizon Forbidden West there is a lot of complicated story reveals thrown
00:12at you and a big cliffhanger setting up the next game that I don't really explain.
00:16We're going to break down all of these without all the mumbo jumbo and explain what the ending
00:20means for the next game in the series.
00:23Now obviously I'm going to be dropping huge spoilers all over the place so unless you
00:27want to know exactly how the game ends and see some of the final cinematic, go away now.
00:32I mean, you really shouldn't be here unless you've finished the game already and just
00:36want some clarification.
00:37Okay, so now I'm assuming the only ones watching this are either suckers for spoilers
00:43or you've finished the game.
00:44Everybody ready?
00:45Let's do this.
00:47So with that shot in the back all the zeniths are gone, bar double crossing Tilda herself
00:52that is.
00:53It's always felt like she's hiding some of her real objectives and it all comes out
00:57here.
00:58I see you've been busy and you've been lying.
01:02Turns out Tilda wasn't just friends with Elisabeth Sobeck, Aloy's genetic source material,
01:07but instead the pair were lovers.
01:09I loved Elisabeth more than you could ever know.
01:14But that didn't stop Tilda from leaving Elisabeth Sobeck when the zenith escaped Earth and clearly
01:19she's regretted it ever since.
01:20So once she discovered that Aloy existed and is essentially her perfect version of Elisabeth
01:25Sobeck, she plans to take Gaia for herself and take Aloy against her wishes to start
01:31a new perfect planet somewhere that's safe.
01:33Which is why we must flee to a random planet circling a random star somewhere it can never
01:39find us.
01:40With Gaia, so you can build yourself a new world.
01:45Aloy politely refuses by killing Tilda.
01:48See instead of running away, Aloy wants to stay and protect her friends, the planet and
01:53all life on Earth from what the zeniths were running away from, the big bad nemesis.
01:58This pulsing red foe is a database come to life, a failed experiment left abandoned by
02:02the zeniths as they tried to find a way to upload their minds into any form to achieve
02:07more than just physical immortality.
02:10So Nemesis is made up of failed copies of the zeniths' consciousness filled with hopes,
02:14dreams, fears and knowledge, which it then used against them.
02:18It had everything it needed from our memories, security protocols, system specs, override
02:24codes.
02:25It wasn't a natural disaster that destroyed the zeniths' colony on Sirius, but instead
02:29it was Nemesis, who became sentient and looked to seek revenge for being locked away in its
02:33own prison.
02:34Imagine being trapped alone for decades with only the twisted echoes of megalomaniacs for
02:40company.
02:41It hates us for abandoning it to that prison.
02:44Ah, nothing like a crazy digital version of your society chasing you across the universe.
02:49Talk about abandonment issues.
02:51Anyway, the zeniths never planned to stay on Earth.
02:54It was a pit stop onto another world where they could properly hide from Nemesis, basically
02:58like a gas station.
03:00But anyway, Nemesis was one step ahead of them, attempting to destroy Earth before they
03:05even got there.
03:06It was even Nemesis that sent the extinction signal from the first game that woke Hades.
03:11Unfortunately, despite the fact that you've taken out all of the zeniths, Nemesis is still
03:15on its way, and according to Tilda, it cannot be stopped.
03:19Mm-mm.
03:20Earth is finished, Aloy.
03:24Nemesis will scour it of life to deny its creators a viable home.
03:29Just as you're starting to feel like a proper little tribe of your own in the base, the
03:33ending does somewhat tear the team apart.
03:35As Aloy informs them of Nemesis' impending arrival, four of your companions head out
03:40into the world to spread the word and start to prepare for the attack.
03:43Meanwhile, Beta remains at the base with Aloy and a surprise new ally, Silence.
03:48The on-again-off-again part of the crew initially plans to get in the zeniths' rocket and head
03:52into space completely solo, but eventually decides to stay and help fight Nemesis.
03:57Thus, he's now a fixture in the base with Beta and Aloy.
04:00So those are the major beats of Horizon Forbidden West's ending, and with Nemesis literally
04:05hurtling towards Earth, we know exactly what the next game will be focused on.
04:08I'm assuming it's Aloy learning how to code and debug an insane sentient society.
04:13Or just another great open-world monster game.
04:15Either's good for me.