The Art Of Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West has been out long enough now that the game’s artists are free to post their work on sites like ArtStation, so tonight we’re going to be taking a look at all kinds of stuff that went into the game’s creation.

As usual when we take a look at big game roundups like this, I won’t be posting everything from everyone involved in the game’s development, because I can only fit so many images on this website before it breaks. What I will be doing, though, is providing a handy cross-section of pieces that will give you an insight into the creation of Forbidden West’s visual identity.

Here’s Ari’s review of the game from back in February, if you haven’t played it or would just like a quick recap:

Setting aside the high-minded sci-fi hijinks, Horizon Forbidden West is at its core about the extent to which characters will go to find faith and meaning. In her newfound “saviour” status — again, still weird — Aloy finds herself fielding many of these evidence-free assertions. People go on and on about “land gods” and “diviners” and “legacies” and blah blah blah. At every turn, Aloy reacts to these whims with curled-lip bemusement. They claim to see god. Aloy knows the truth; she literally sees it.

By the end of the game, I found myself reacting to Horizon Forbidden West itself with a similar curled-lip bemusement.

And if you’d like to step further back in time, or just missed it the first time around when I posted it in 2017, you can head here for a similar roundup of Horizon Zero Dawn’s art.

The art below is in no particular order, and includes pieces from both Guerrilla’s own internal team and contracted artists as well. You’ll find links to each artist’s portfolio in their names.

Felix Riga van den Bergh

Miguel Martinez

Lloyd Allan

Erik van Helvoirt

Glenn van Driel

Ilya Golitsyn

Oscar Römer

Niek Schlosser

Choro Choi

Lisa Plokker

Tom Kolbeek

Patrick van Rooijen

Tom Delboo

Richard Oud