Horizon Forbidden West main screen and map leaked days before release

We know that PlayStation fans will find it extremely hard to contain their excitement, with only nine days to go until the Horizon sequel will officially be launched.

And if there’s anything Zero Dawn taught us graphics-wise, is that Forbidden West will be an even bigger masterpiece than the first.

At least, that’s what everyone hopes, ahead of the release. And, if you also dreamed of catching a glimpse of the new game before everyone else, here’s your chance.

We get our first look at the Forbidden West map

Yes, the title is a PlayStation exclusive, so if you are used to gaming on any other platform, such as PC, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch, you will have to wait, or buy a PlayStation.

We know that the title will eventually become available for PC players, but it will take some time before that happens, probably one or two years.

We saw it happen with countless titles before, among which are God of War, Days Gone, Forbidden West’s prequel, Zero Dawn, and probably Ghost of Tsushima next.

A first leak, spotted by Reddit users, showed us a glimpse of what the home screen for this latest game will look like, and we even get to hear some of the ambient music.

How big is the Forbidden West map?

Now, we get a taste of how massive the world for this sequel will actually be. The map itself is pretty vast and is surely very diverse in terms of scenery, as the first game has taught us.

But how big is it really? Well, according to PowerPyx’s estimates, the Horizon Forbidden West map is 24 kilometers squared, which certainly should keep us busy for a while.

Yes, it would take a long time to simply walk from one side to the other, so make sure you find a mechanical beast to tame for this long journey.

Game Director Mathijs De Jonge tells us that the setting for the game will take Aloy from Utah, USA all the way to the Pacific Coast in the West.

If you want to gauge how big this map could be in the game, the rough real-life distance between Utah and San Francisco is 906 miles.

The maps from the two games are roughly the same size. Fans and some experts actually predict this one to be slightly bigger than the first, however.

Besides the video leak, there’s a Twitter post that shows us a picture of Aloy, with better rendering, and closer to what she’s going to look like when the game will be launched.

We’re talking improved lighting and improved quality since we saw the first game trailer back in 2020, and it looks really really good.

All these improvements are mainly visible when you compare the two games. It’s pleasing to see just how far game developers have managed to improve since last time.

There are still a lot of speculations about what neat features developers will add to Forbidden West. A recent Reddit post, that got deleted in the meantime, hinted at the main character being able to fly.

Needless to say, this would make the game insanely interactive and you got a pretty strong contender for Game of The Year right there.

Now that you’ve had a quick look at what is to come, we’re sure that your enthusiasm skyrocketed and you are now much more impatient than before.

But, the good news is that we won’t have to wait that long until we can actually get to embark on another epic adventure, hopefully even better than the first.

What are your thoughts on this upcoming PS title? Share your opinions with us in the comments section below.