Summary
- The Horizon series has a history with cloning, from Aloy’s origins to the Far Zeniths’ misuse of the technology.
- Horizon 3 may deepen the cloning plot, with Aloy potentially cloning herself or others to fight Nemesis.
- Aloy’s team may grapple with the ethical dilemmas surrounding the possible use of cloning to battle the looming threat.
Guerrilla Games’ Horizon established a bold new post-apocalyptic world and vision when the first title, Horizon Zero Dawn, released in 2017. The franchise has since become one of Sony’s premiere properties, and the 2022 sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, greatly expanded on the lore and story. While not as yet officially announced, a third Horizon title is all but assured, and is staged to conclude the current narrative in a major way.
As heroine Aloy and her allies reckon with preparing to combat the oncoming threat of the AI entity known as Nemesis, set up at the end of Forbidden West, they will likely need all the assistance and tools available to them. The stakes are higher than ever for the protagonists, and given the series’ emphasis on and use of cloning as a central plot point, the third entry could see this component taken even further as the core group considers their options.
A Horizon MMO was also previously planned, and though rumors claimed it was canceled, there has been no official word either way.
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Horizon 3 Might Bring the Series’ Cloning Angle Full Circle
Horizon’s Relationship and History With Cloning
The idea of cloning was present from the very beginning of Horizon‘s tale. In the thousand years following the destruction of Earth by Ted Faro’s rogue war robots, humanity has regressed to a tribal existence. Though a member of the Nora, Aloy’s very appearance was a mystery, as she was not born in the traditional sense.
Digging deeper in the ruins of the past, Aloy learns about her true nature and purpose, discovering that she is actually a clone of Dr. Elisabet Sobeck, the scientist who designed and put the Zero Dawn protocol into action when it was clear that the Faro Plague would overtake the planet. Sobeck’s GAIA system, intended to reboot Earth’s ecosystem, calculated that the best course of action would be to produce a clone of Sobeck, and thus Aloy was “born.”
Horizon Forbidden West then focused on the Far Zeniths, the surviving elites who fled Earth from the devastation, and were able to prolong their lives via advanced technology. The Zeniths had also cloned Elisabet, but this version, known as Beta, had a personality and demeanor that were far from Aloy’s confident and measured ones due to the Zenith’s mistreatment. After Aloy frees Beta from their control and fends off the Zeniths, they discover the existence of Nemesis, an AI clone/amalgamation composed of the digital consciousnesses of the Zeniths. The entity has gone mad, and was pursuing the Zeniths, with it now on a collision course with Earth bent on destroying humanity.
How Horizon 3 May Take Cloning to its Logical Conclusion
Seeing how cloning technology was responsible for Aloy, Beta, and the chain of events leading to the current Nemesis situation, Aloy and her allies might decide to take the next step in the third installment. With the weight of the fate of Earth once again on her shoulders, and her own place as a clone in a plan that has succeeded so far, Horizon 3 could see Aloy and her friends work together with GAIA’s restored functions, and potentially create copies of themselves to even the odds against Nemesis.
This decision could then have Aloy and her comrades wrestling with the morality of going down such a route. Even if it may in fact be the best chance to ensure victory against Nemesis, it’s a slippery slope and could be interpreted as fighting fire with fire, which may lead to unforeseen consequences. But resorting to cloning again might also be their last, desperate hope to save humanity from the biggest threat it has faced so far. Horizon 3 then has good reasons to take its use of cloning to another level, and explore its ethical and philosophical ramifications in the next installment.