**WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR HORIZON: FORBIDDEN WEST. (And a few mild ones for Horizon: Zero Dawn.) PROCEED WITH CAUTION.**

 

I’m almost finished with my first playthrough of Horizon: Forbidden West. One of my favorite parts of the experience has been the sheer number of curious, inventive, science-minded female characters I’ve encountered in-game. I didn’t expect this!

Maybe I should have. After all, predecessor Horizon: Zero Dawn didn’t shy away from portraying women who value the pursuit of knowledge and innovation. Primary character Aloy, for one, refuses to allow the traditions of the Nora clan to deter her exploration of technology.

Side characters like Petra and Varga enthusiastically invent new tools and weapons. Then, of course, there’s the example of Elisabet Sobeck — inventor of a terraforming system that saved life on Earth from extinction.

But Horizon: Forbidden West is different in that it’s made innovative women a foundational part of the experience of the game. They feature prominently in the main narrative and many of the myriad side quests. 

Here are just a few of my favorites so far.

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Petra Forgewoman, wearing a brown kerchief pulling back dark hair, a sleeveless white shirt, and straps attaching spiked armor to her left shoulder.

Petra, via Horizon Wiki

Petra

I was so happy to see Petra — one of my favorite side-quest characters in Zero Dawn return in Horizon: Forbidden West! The Zero Dawn game and the Liberation graphic novel showcase Petra’s weapon-creation skills. Her Oseram cannons were integral to the defeat of the Mad Sun King, Jiran.

When she first meets Aloy, it’s just in time to test a new prototype version of the cannon. Petra is an inventor at her core, constantly iterating and refining her vision.  

This is why it’s interesting to see that innovative mindset on display in Forbidden West in another form. When Aloy and Petra reconnect at Chainscrape, Petra is preoccupied with building new cannons and making a better town. 

I love the evolution of Petra’s character and how it speaks to the many applications for a mind and life framed by the question, “How can I improve this?”

Two panels. On left is Boomer, wearing brown sleeveless top with leather detailing and a brown cap. On right is Delah, wearing an Oseram-style off-white cap, an off-white blousy shirt, and leather straps adorned with silver metal circles.

Boomer and Delah, via Horizon Wiki

Delah & Boomer

Oseram sisters Delah and Boomer are merchants in Chainscrape and inventors. They explain to Aloy that they were kicked out of their home in the Claim by their father. (Apparently, one of their weaponry experiments exploded, damaging some of his prized ale.) But being sent away didn’t damage the sisters’ drive to create. Their enthusiasm entices Aloy to procure materials for them. In return, they gift her with a powerful prototype weapon.

Delah and Boomer have refused to let opposition quell their dreams. As a result, one of their creations is now being carried by the famous “Savior of Meridian” (Aloy)! Who knows what’s next? 

The determination and faith in self exhibited by these sisters are the traits necessary to accomplish great things in science, technology and beyond. 

Features Silga. She wears a cylindrical cap with square detailing. Affixed to the bottom is a chain of linked circles that lay across her forehead. Her hair is hidden by the cap. She wears a white blouse with a leather apron-like overlay.

Silga, via Horizon Wiki

Silga

Silga, an Oseram tinkerer, was working on some machinery when she accidentally picked up an ancient radio signal. The message was garbled but enticing. When Aloy meets her, Silga is alone in the wilds, rigging machine parts in an attempt to hear the signal in its entirety. 

Silga is compelled by a desire for understanding and invents tools to accomplish her objectives. As a result, she develops the radio for Aloy’s time. This is how some of the most remarkable breakthroughs in science and tech happen! It’s about following what intrigues you and seeing what happens.

Zo wears an Utaru headdress of white metallic pieces and dark feathers that covers her hair. Her dress is dark, woven reeds. She wears white face paint in an Utaru design on her cheeks, forehead, and chin.

Zo, via Horizon Wiki

Zo

Zo is a fascinating character because I don’t think she would consider herself a science or tech person. She’s not naturally mechanically inclined or overtly interested in such things. Yet, she takes to the Focus very quickly, embracing it as a tool for knowledge.

On her own initiative, she works with Gaia. Gaia eventually teaches her how to re-set the machines the Utaru, Zo’s people, see as “gods.” When Zo affects this, she directly makes her people’s lives better.

I think Zo is the kind of person who, if she lived in our world, would start as an English or Art major, assuming there was no place for someone like her in tech or the more complex sciences. Then, she’d somehow find her way into coding. With that, she would fly. 

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Zo is proof that it doesn’t take innate mechanical or technological aptitude to achieve great things in the science and tech realms. It takes thoughtfulness and creativity, willingness to experiment and bold ideas. Most of all, it takes courage. Paving your path when the well-trod ones aren’t open to you is challenging but satisfying. I love seeing that represented here. 

Pentalla wears brightly colored red and yellow facepaint, accented with black designs, Tenakth-style. Similar paint or tattoos adorn her arms. Her hair is shaved, except for two pieces that spike on either side of the top of her head. Her clothes are brightly colored woven reeds.

Pentalla, via Horizon Wiki

Pentalla

Pentalla is a side character in Horizon: Forbidden West, and I’d love to see more of her! Her enthusiasm for creating new food dishes shines at her meeting with Aloy. She is an innovator and experimenter. Aloy enjoys a delicious meal thanks to her efforts. Pentalla shows that a scientist’s mindset has many applications.

A Quen boat is featured on the sparkling ocean. Its white sails are unfurled. A dragon-like head adorns it, and it has detailed carvings and green paint on the sides. A Quen sailor stands at the edge.

Quen ship, via Horizon Wiki

Harriem & Krista

Harriem and Krista are navigators. It’s their role to guide the great ships of their people, the Quen, across the ocean. They do this by employing devices called “gyrocompasses.” When Aloy meets them, they are deeply troubled that all of their gyrocompasses were lost or broken on the outgoing journey. Without them, there’s no way to return to their homeland.

When Aloy recovers one of the lost gyrocompasses, Harriem and Krista jump joyfully to the task of repairing it. In this, they prove themselves experts in mechanics and navigation — a skill combo that hasn’t, until now, been particularly needed in Horizon. It’s an exciting example of how circumstances breed new technology and accompanying skillsets.

Alva, a Quen woman, is featured. She wears a white dress adorned with green and red and white beads and circular plates of shell.

Alva, via Horizon Wiki

Alva

I love the character of Alva! She’s cheerful and fun and very quick with technology (she’s exceptionally gifted in that regard). But curiosity is her motivating factor: that and a desire for genuine understanding. Underneath Alva’s cheerful bubbliness is a rock-solid, serious dedication to unearthing knowledge. Her mind is elastic enough to absorb what she finds, even when it runs counter to something she previously thought was true. 

At one point, Alva admits to Aloy that she’s uncomfortable with the idea of returning to her people for fear they’ll take away her Focus (and, hence, her means of accessing the information she’s been researching since meeting Aloy.) She also fears their propensity for blocking access to information that doesn’t fit their narrative. 

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Alva is a quintessential scholar and scientist, the kind of person who expands not only her mind but whole bodies of knowledge. 

Aloy is featured, from chest up, before a green and blue background. She wears white metallic armor, has a blue cloth at her neck, and her red hair has red and blue beads in it.

Aloy, via Guerilla Games (c) 2021-22

Aloy

Then, of course, there’s Aloy herself. In Zero Dawn, her technological explorations were, at the base, a means of helping her uncover the lost history of her birth. But here, though she has a greater goal of ending the blight and restoring Gaia (and defeating the Zeniths), her fascination with technology and science on their own merits is on display.

I could fill an article with examples of this, but I think my favorite is Aloy’s instant bonding with Morlund in Las Vegas over creating the deep water tool. One scientist recognizes another!

Cover of video game Horizon: Forbidden West.

Horizon: Forbidden West is a game celebrating lives framed by science, creativity and intellectual curiosity, regardless of gender. That kind of representation in a game space is empowering. 

For me, it’s one more reason (of many) to love the Horizon games.

Have you played Horizon: Forbidden West yet? What characters have been your favorites and why? Share your franchise love in the comments!

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