Horizon Forbidden West fans brace for another Elden Ring situation as the RPG's PC release goes against Dragon's Dogma 2 and Rise of the Ronin
Aloy is facing some stiff competition for the spotlight when Horizon Forbidden West launches on PC later this year, and it's not the first time.
The sequel's PS5 version arrived on February 18, 2022, just one week before Elden Ring burst onto the scene, and thanks to the soulslike's captivating world and thrilling boss battles, it became the game on everyone's lips for, well, basically the rest of the year. What's more, the series' first entry, Horizon Zero Dawn, found itself in a similar situation when it was released within a stone's throw of 2017's biggest game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
As revealed yesterday by PlayStation, Horizon Forbidden West is set to make its debut on PC on March 21, and while it's not in competition with Link or any FromSoftware titles this time around, it's still got some pretty hefty action titles to contend with.
Chief among those is Dragon's Dogma 2, the action-RPG fans have been asking for for more than a decade. It's hot on the heels of Horizon Forbidden West, arriving just a day later on March 22. As a result, users over on the Dragon's Dogma subreddit feel Capcom's follow-up is now a shoo-in for Game of the Year 2024.
"How the hell, EVERY SINGLE TIME, they release a Horizon game at around the time a far more popular title comes out?" writes Laranthiel. "It HAS to be on purpose at this point." An equally bewildered Demigod978 says, "I don't really play Horizon, but damn, does somebody over at Sony really hate that series."
Also competing for fans' attention is Rise of the Ronin, Nioh developer Team Ninja's PS5 exclusive samurai-themed RPG, which also arrives on March 22. Rather amusingly, given how unlucky Horizon's been so far, fans are half expecting Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree to make an appearance then, too.
Whether you play it before or after March's other offerings is entirely your call, but Forbidden West is definitely worth your time. In our Horizon Forbidden West review of the PS5 version, we describe it as "a tweaked, enhanced, and confident sequel that exceeds expectations, delivering an open world full of compelling characters, an intriguing story, and yes, more super awesome robot dinosaurs."
See what else the year has in store with our guide to new games 2024.
