Horizon Forbidden West PC

Horizon Forbidden West PC is officially sold as Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition, a third-person open-world action RPG developed by Guerrilla and Nixxes Software. The PC package combines Aloy's main adventure with the Burning Shores story expansion, making it the complete storefront edition rather than a separate PC rebrand of the base game.

Machine Hunting In A Third-Person Open World

Horizon Forbidden West builds its combat around studying machines before attacking them. Aloy's Focus scanning reveals weaknesses, detachable components, elemental vulnerabilities, and useful machine behavior. The strongest encounters reward preparation rather than simply emptying arrows into a large health bar.

Combat mixes bows, elemental ammunition, explosive weapons, traps, spear attacks, and situational tools. Removing armor plates or weapon components can change an encounter immediately, while salvaged parts feed into weapon upgrades, outfit improvements, ammunition crafting, and pouch expansion.

The perspective stays firmly in third-person, supporting both ranged precision and close-quarters movement. Aloy can use stealth, high grass, environmental cover, traps, and direct melee attacks, so players can approach human camps and machines with different levels of preparation.

Traversal, Exploration, And Environmental Puzzles

The Forbidden West is designed around varied traversal rather than a flat map filled only with combat arenas. Aloy's Pullcaster helps her reach ledges and manipulate objects, while the Shieldwing allows controlled gliding from elevated locations. A Diving Mask opens underwater areas without a breath timer, adding submerged ruins and hidden routes to the exploration loop.

Climbing surfaces are highlighted through the Focus, but traversal remains partly puzzle-driven. Ruins, caves, Cauldrons, settlements, and relic sites often combine platforming with movable objects, firegleam, energy cells, underwater navigation, and environmental switches.

Exploration also has a strong machine-riding component. Aloy can override selected machines and use them for ground travel or aerial movement, changing how players cross the world and reach locations that are difficult to access on foot.

Builds, Skills, And Combat Choices

Progression is organized through multiple skill trees built around different play styles, including hunter, warrior, survivor, infiltrator, machine master, and trap-focused approaches. Unlocking skills changes how Aloy handles particular weapon types and combat situations instead of functioning only as a linear list of statistical upgrades.

The defining combat additions include Valor Surges, powerful abilities charged during fights and activated at the right moment. They can strengthen ranged attacks, improve survivability, enhance stealth, or support specific builds. Weapon techniques also give individual weapon categories additional moves, making the loadout more important than a single universal attack pattern.

Gear management matters because outfits and weapons support different bonuses, coils, weaves, elemental effects, and upgrade paths. Players who enjoy methodical equipment planning will get more from the game than players who want a purely cinematic action adventure with no inventory decisions.

What The Complete Edition Includes

The current PC product is a paid single-player package that includes the Horizon Forbidden West base game and the Burning Shores expansion. Burning Shores adds a separate volcanic region, new story content, characters, machines, equipment, and activities connected to Aloy's continuing journey.

Burning Shores is not available immediately from a new save. Players must complete the main story through the quest Singularity, after which the expansion can be started from the Base. This structure makes the add-on a post-campaign chapter rather than an independent starting scenario.

The Complete Edition also includes bonus in-game equipment, a resource pack, a special Machine Strike piece, and additional Photo Mode options. On Steam, linking a Steam account to PlayStation Network can unlock the Nora Legacy Outfit and Nora Legacy Spear; the link is associated with bonus content rather than multiplayer access.

Who Should Play Horizon Forbidden West?

This is a strong fit for PC players who want a long-form story-driven open world with tactical creature combat, extensive side content, equipment progression, and substantial environmental variety. It particularly suits players who enjoy identifying enemy weaknesses, collecting upgrade materials, and gradually turning difficult machine fights into controlled hunts.

The game is less suitable for anyone looking for co-op, competitive multiplayer, or a compact linear campaign. It is strictly single-player, and its world includes optional errands, rebel camps, Hunting Grounds, Cauldrons, salvage contracts, races, machine sites, and puzzle locations alongside the main quests.

Players who prefer grounded stealth and swordplay can also find useful points of comparison in third-person open-world adventures such as Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, although Horizon's machine-part targeting and ranged combat give it a very different identity.

PC Features And Input Support

The PC version supports mouse and keyboard controls with customizable bindings, alongside broad controller support through Steam Input. Compatible DualSense controllers can provide adaptive triggers and haptic feedback when connected in the required configuration.

Display options include 21:9 ultrawide, 32:9 super ultrawide, and 48:9 triple-monitor support. Players can also adjust field of view, image quality, motion blur, film grain, bloom, vignette, lens effects, and other visual settings rather than being locked to a small group of presets.

The PC feature set also includes modern image technologies such as DLSS 3, DLAA, NVIDIA Reflex, AMD FSR, and Intel XeSS. Steam players receive achievements, cloud saves, HDR support, and Family Sharing. Epic Games Store listings provide achievements, cloud saves, controller support, and single-player functionality.

The storefront lists interface and subtitle support across 25 languages, with full voice audio available in a smaller selection. English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and other major localization options are represented, while some languages are subtitle and interface only.

Related PC Adventures

Horizon Forbidden West shares its cinematic third-person structure and progression-driven combat with mythology-focused action adventures like God of War Ragnarök, but replaces tightly staged realm exploration with a larger open world and machine ecology.

For another Sony-published PC action game built around traversal, exploration, and a highly responsive third-person viewpoint, urban superhero sandboxes such as Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered offer a contrasting movement system and a more compact combat loop.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition FAQ

What is the current PC name for Horizon Forbidden West?

The official PC storefront product is Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition. “Horizon Forbidden West PC” remains a useful search phrase, but the Complete Edition name identifies the current package that includes the base game and Burning Shores.

Does the PC Complete Edition include Burning Shores?

Yes. Burning Shores is included in the Complete Edition alongside the main game. It becomes accessible after completing the main story through Singularity.

Is Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition multiplayer?

No. The PC edition is a single-player action RPG with no co-op campaign, split-screen mode, or competitive multiplayer mode.

Can I play with a mouse and keyboard?

Yes. The PC version supports customizable mouse and keyboard controls, Steam Input, and a broad range of compatible controllers. DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers require the appropriate wired setup.

Does it support ultrawide monitors?

Yes. The game supports 21:9 ultrawide, 32:9 super ultrawide, and 48:9 triple-monitor configurations, making it suitable for panoramic and multi-display setups.

Does Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition require PlayStation Network?

Steam players can link PlayStation Network to unlock the Nora Legacy Outfit and Nora Legacy Spear. The verified storefront information presents this as an optional bonus-content link, not as a multiplayer requirement.