An Unlikely Genre Could Be Perfect For a Horizon Spin-Off…

Summary

Horizon has potential for strategy spin-off games due to rich lore and the successful mini-game Machine Strike.
Aloy and friends could be leaders with unique abilities in the spin-off, offering diverse tactics and gameplay mechanics.
The world of Horizon offers varied ecosystems for potential maps, adding depth and strategy to a new genre exploration.

The Horizon franchise has a vast potential for spin-off games thanks to its rich lore and world. Considering that many popular franchises dip into other genres, such as The Witcher’s card game Gwent titles or Persona 5’s spin-offs. It certainly makes all too much sense for Guerrilla to dip into other genres for a potential Horizon spin-off.

Indeed, Horizon already has ties to one niche that would benefit a spin-off immensely: the strategy genre. Horizon is known for its open-world action-adventure experiences, and yet a full-blown strategy game could be right up Guerrilla's alley.

A Horizon Strategy Spin-Off Could Take Inspiration From Machine Strike

The Strategy Genre Has Lots of Potential For the Horizon Franchise

Although it sounds unlikely for the Horizon franchise, the strategy genre offers lots of potential. With Horizon encouraging players to take a tactical approach to battle by strategically placing traps or by scouting their surroundings, a strategy spin-off could potentially sit right at home within the franchise.

A strategy spin-off for Horizon could easily bring in a new audience, as well as offer new ways to view the world of Horizon. In fact, there is already a successful blueprint within Horizon Forbidden West that Guerrilla Games could use to kickstart this spin-off—the mini-game Machine Strike.

Horizon’s Machine Strike Has Proven To Be An Intriguing Strategy Game

When Horizon Forbidden West was released, players were introduced to Horizon's Machine Strike, a strategic mini-game in which players had the aim of defeating all their opponents’ pieces or being the first to reach a score of seven. An interesting feature of this game was that the board was set up with terrain tiles and each type of terrain tile gave either advantages or disadvantages to units.

Maybe Guerrilla could take inspiration from Machine Strike and create a Horizon strategy game that follows similar rules, but with some added twists to make it stand out. It could also take and expand on a certain feature of the mini-game to have the units be machines and allow players to take command of them on a battlefield.

Fun Features That Could Be Explored In a Horizon Strategy Spin-Off

Aloy and Her Friends as Leaders With Unique Abilities

A potentially interesting feature that would keep the spin-off focusing on Aloy’s story is to have leaders/unit commanders be Aloy and her friends, such as Sylens, Kotallo, Alva, and so on. Perhaps the enemy leaders could be her foes or the subordinates of the game’s antagonist. There could be different missions and different leaders for those missions, or players could choose who they want to play when starting the next mission.

Each leader could have their own unique abilities and advantages. Maybe each leader could use their tribe as their unique ability. For example, if playing as Horizon Forbidden West's Zo, players could heal their units by calling on the Utaru for aid. If playing as Alva, players could learn more about the weaknesses of enemy units by calling on the Quen and using their knowledge to their advantage.

The World of Horizon Has Plenty of Fun Potential Maps

Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West are full of a variety of ecosystems, and if the spin-off follows in the footsteps of Machine Strike, then there is a lot of potential for maps with different terrains from deserts, snowy forests, and grasslands to tropical jungles and much more. All these ecosystems could inspire interesting and unique maps.

Perhaps some maps have small outposts, such as Chainscape from Horizon Forbidden West, or a small campsite for players to refresh or heal their units if they have enough points, which they can obtain by defeating enemy opponents. There is so much more potential for a Horizon strategy spin-off, and whether Guerrilla will someday develop one is uncertain. But if it does, it will likely be a great addition to the Horizon franchise and one that would give it space from how limiting its ordinary action-adventure scope may be.

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