Horizon Forbidden Westtakes place hundreds of years in the future. There is a lot of lost technology in the world and no one seems to really understand it. Aloy is trying, which is one of the central themes of this game’s plot. She has knowledge of the “ancient ones” and is trying to recruit people to show them the old ways through Focuses and Gaia.
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BecauseHorizon Forbidden Westdraws heavily from the past, there are references to pop culture, intentional and not, in the world. It’s easy to see how these memes were created based on that knowledge. There will be spoilers ahead for some aspects of the game.
8Vault Girl
Horizon Forbidden Westis full of vaults, and the first game was as well. It’s hard not to liken this series toFalloutsince that made the idea of highly unique bomb shelters popular. It would be pretty amazing if one of the side quests inHorizon Forbidden Westled to aFallout-inspired vault with a member of the Brotherhood of Steel standing guard.
Imagine what a power suit and a Gatling gun would do in this world againstthe robotic beasts.
7Punished Kotallo
Kotallo loses his arm early on in the game. Most characters in that resulting incident don’t come back in the story. It was a surprise to see Kotallo return in any form let alone become a member of the team. Despite him losing an arm, Kotallo is still a mighty warrior, although how he does it may be a bit hard to believe.
It would be cool if Kotallo could get a cyborg replacement in the sequel or through DLC. It would be even cooler if he could get the Snake’s arm, as shown in this meme, fromMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
6Future Boy Conan
The title is a pun on an old anime as well as the fact that this meme highlights Conan O’Brien in the future. This image is fromDeath Strandingwhich also uses holograms albeit slightly differently thanHorizon Forbidden West.Death Strandingcollaborated withHorizon Zero Dawn, so it would make sense to see an Easter Egg in the sequel as well.
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Unfortunately, Conan is not truly inHorizon Forbidden West, even though holograms fit into this game. He would be perfect in a world full of weird cave people who areafraid of robots.
5Aloy Is A Planeteer
Gaia is a key component to the plot ofHorizon Forbidden West. Aloy needs to find this AI to regenerate Earth. Therefore, technically, this would make Aloy a Planeteer from theCaptain Planetcartoon. Think about it – that series was about saving the world through environmental causes. Their guide was a mystic named Gaia who looks and sounds a little like Gaia in this game.
It’s hard to imagine someone on staff wasn’t inspired byCaptain Planetwhen cooking up Gaia’s design. Since Aloy has red hair, it would be fun to assume she is an ancestor of the fire-wielding Planeteer, Wheeler.
4The Kilika Beasts Return
Players shouldmake it to Plainsongabout a third of the way intoHorizon Forbidden West. The village’s structure as well as the color choices on the outfits are reminiscent of designs fromFinal Fantasy 10. The Kilika Beasts were one of the Blitzball teams in the game. That’s where the joke comes into play.
Aloy is a character that doesn’t show much emotion throughout most of the adventure other than annoyance and anger. It is funny then to see her get excited in thismeme about Blitzball.
3Gotta Override ‘Em All
Horizon Forbidden Westand thePokemonseries have a bit in common. Aloy can’t capture the robotic beasts of her world and use them to battle. However, she can hack into one at a timeand ride them. Mounts are essential to getting around.
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AsHorizon Forbidden Westis full of Easter Eggs from other games, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a Poke Ball-like object thrown in as a wink. It would be interesting to see a more monster-catching mechanic thrown into the sequel. Maybe that would be going too far intoPokemonterritory.
2Attack Of The Clones
Hades was a big part of the first game. In the sequel, the mad AI returns but only for a brief few scenes. One of them is in the beginning wherein Aloy must check out one of its towers. The very top looks like something out ofStar Wars. That is why the Darth Vader hologram works well for this meme.
Aloy is also a clone, making it more fitting for the Empire to be behind everything. As there are space beings introduced later,the Far Zeniths, who is to say they’re also not agents of the Empire?
1Horizon: Forbidden T-Pose
Horizon Forbidden Westis relatively glitch-free. The performance is solid as far as the frame rate and loads go, and the game looks stunning too. In fact, the visuals are one ofits best features. However,Horizon Forbidden Westdoes have some late-game issues.
One of them involves glitching out during the last phase of boss fights. This T-Pose was triggered when Photo Mode was activated during Eric’s boss fight. Afterward, Aloy went into that awkward position. It was and still is, very odd to see.
Horizon Forbidden Westwas released on July 28, 2025 and is available onPS4andPS5.
