Horizon 3 Should Give An Unsuspecting Character An Overdue…

With the events of Horizon Forbidden West in mind, one character in particular could be in line for a redemption arc instead of being reduced to the role of secondary antagonist for a third game in a row. While Horizon Zero Dawn's main story had primarily focused on HADES as the first rogue AI of many in the series, HEPHAESTUS had always been operating in the background as the second AI running amok as it produced dangerous machines. Yet even after Aloy's first encounter with HEPHAESTUS during Zero Dawn's Frozen Wilds DLC, the rogue AI would continue to play an antagonistic role in Horizon Forbidden West.

However, despite the recapture of HEPHAESTUS being one of the driving goals early in Forbidden West, the shift in focus toward the Far Zenith as the primary antagonist ultimately leaves the rogue AI free to return yet again in a third Horizon game. But Guerrilla Games may want to avoid rehashing this same approach to HEPHAESTUS for the third time in a row, especially after Forbidden West established why capturing the rogue AI continues to be virtually impossible. Moreover, with Forbidden West teasing Nemesis as the next game's main villain, flipping the script with HEPHAESTUS might benefit the character's return in Horizon 3.

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By Josh Cotts

Horizon 3 Can't Just Rinse and Repeat HEPHAESTUS' Subplot Again

As the subordinate function responsible for designing and building the various machines GAIA needs to terraform Earth, HEPHAESTUS is arguably one of Horizon's most dangerous AIs, like HADES, that turned rogue before Zero Dawn. But while its ever-increasing production of dangerous machines across the Horizon series has made it a consistent threat, HEPHAESTUS has equally been vital to the games' story, as outlined in Forbidden West, where both Aloy and Far Zenith recognized the AI's innate potential. However, despite being a villain in both games so far, Horizon 3 is already at risk of HEPHAESTUS playing the same, overused role as a background villain.

Though HEPHAESTUS was ultimately captured during the events of Forbidden West, Aloy was forced to free the AI from Far Zenith's control to gain the upper hand against them during the game's climactic conclusion. Coupled with dialogue between Aloy and Sylens hinting that HEPHAESTUS will escape and potentially become more powerful due to data from APOLLO, Forbidden West all but confirms that HEPHAESTUS will return in Horizon 3 and needs to be recaptured again. But while this would allow Guerrilla Games to justify adding new animal-inspired machines to Horizon 3, it leaves some key questions hanging over the HEPHAESTUS subplot.

Horizon Forbidden West Set Specific Limits For Horizon 3's HEPHAESTUS

The biggest and potentially most important of these questions is how Horizon 3 will adapt to the limitations Forbidden West set up as part of its attempt to capture HEPHAESTUS. As revealed during Forbidden West's main quest "GEMINI," HEPHAESTUS does not want to rejoin GAIA and so requires a Cauldron with two compatible cores for the two AIs to directly connect and prevent the former from escaping back into the network. While Forbidden West likely only included these limits to convey just how important and difficult capturing the AI would be, it has inadvertently left Horizon 3's version of HEPHAESTUS in an even more challenging position.

Redeeming HEPHAESTUS Could Be Key To Horizon 3's Story

However, instead of Horizon 3 reusing the same HEPHAESTUS subplot without breaking these limitations for a second time, the game could attempt something different should Nemesis ultimately become its main antagonist. Rather than try to recapture HEPHAESTUS for a second time, Horizon 3 could give the character a redemption arc with Aloy attempting to reason with it as she did with GAIA's other subordinate functions. By either joining forces against the shared enemy or curing the AI of its derangement, Horizon 3 could use HEPHAESTUS' redemption to foreshadow the same resolution where Nemesis is absolved of the suffering Far Zenith put it through.

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