Why Horizon 3’s Enemy Roster May Be Unlike Anything That Came Before

In Guerrilla Games’ upcoming sequel to Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon 3, Aloy will face a threat unlike any encountered before with the alien artificial intelligence known as Nemesis. First introduced at the very end of Horizon Forbidden West, Nemesis was created as a failed experiment of the Far Zenith humans on the faraway planet Sirius in an attempt to achieve digital transcendence. However, Nemesis soon became spiteful of its isolation and taunting by the minds of the Far Zenith, going on to take control of Sirius and hunting down survivors back to Earth. With Nemesis expected to invade Earth in Horizon 3, it may introduce a whole new enemy type to the series: humanoid machines.

Zero Dawn, Forbidden West’s Villains Present Horizon 3’s NEMESIS With a Fork in the Road

Guerrilla Games has a major choice to make with Forbidden West’s villainous Nemesis in their upcoming Horizon 3 compared to past antagonists

The Many Enemy Types of Horizon Explained

The majority of Horizon games have two sets of enemies: hostile human tribesmen and gigantic machines. Within these two sets of hostiles, a wide variety of enemy types can be encountered in Horizon games. In Horizon Zero Dawn, three types of human enemies are typically encountered including Bandits, Eclipse, Shadow Carja, and Oseram mercenaries. Most of these enemies use bows, swords, or axes, but a few can be encountered equipped with Deathbringer heavy machine guns. Horizon Forbidden West somewhat expanded human enemies with Regalla’s Rebels utilizing Clawstriders, Tremortusks, and energy shields, but most humans can still be easily dispatched with headshots or quick spear swipes.

Animalistic and ancient machines are the deadliest enemies encountered in most Horizon games. While smaller machines such as Burrowers, Chargers, and Watchers can be easily eliminated with one arrow shot, most machines will require players to use a variety of weapons and abilities to take them down. For example, Slitherfangs, Slaughterspines, Stormbirds, Thunderjaws, and Tremortusks often serve as mini bosses that can quickly defeat the player if not careful or unprepared. Similarly, ancient machines such as Corruptos and Deathbringers are some of the most lethal and volatile seen in the entire franchise, having been originally responsible for the extinction of life 1,000 years ago through the Faro Plague. However, Aloy could soon find herself facing off against a deadly mixture of man and machine.

Far Zenith’s Otherworldly Arsenal and Machines

In Horizon Forbidden West, Guerrilla introduced a completely new third enemy set with the debut of the Far Zenith. A seemingly immortal consortium of the 21st century’s smartest and wealthiest individuals, the Far Zenith abandoned Earth during the Faro Plague and created an advanced technological society on the planet Sirius for 1,000 years. Here they developed advanced nanotechnology used to instantly construct structures, machines, powerful energy shields, and weapons such as the railgun-like Specter Gauntlet. Only three Far Zenith machines are encountered in Horizon Forbidden West, including Defense Drones, Specters, and Specter Prime, but the Far Zenith themselves are exceptionally deadly on their own, with one Far Zenith being able to easily wipe out a squad of Regalla’s Rebels alone.

Only one Specter Prime can be encountered in Horizon Forbidden West, in contrast to the multiple Defense Drones and Specters that can be fought in the game.

The Potential of Humanoid Machines in Horizon 3

When Aloy and Beta first discover Nemesis’ existence, they describe Nemesis’ incoming vector as a swarm of machines. Based on the fact that Nemesis gained control of the Far Zenith’s technology and machines on Sirius, it’s likely the AI will bring Sirius’ entire army of machines, presumably made up of mostly Defense Drones and Specters, to Earth. However, given that Nemesis is built from the emotions, memories, and prejudices of the Far Zenith, the AI may have developed its own machine designs during its journey to Earth. With most Far Zenith seeing themselves as the peak of humanity, it’s possible many of these new machines could be made in their image, potentially to Nemesis’ own amusement at seeing the Zenith eliminated by artificial reflections of themselves.

The Far Zenith had already experimented with humanoid machines before with Specter Prime, so there is precedent for Nemesis to develop more humanoid machines similar to Specter Prime. Nemesis’ humanoid machines don’t necessarily have to be as large as Specter Prime and could instead be slightly larger than the average human, similar to Halo’s Prometheans. These humanoid machines could even provide a more difficult alternative to traditional human enemies. Despite improvements made in Horizon Forbidden West, human enemies are still very easy to dispatch, but the introduction of humanoid machines could rectify this issue while still using a human silhouette. They could additionally blend the best mechanics of Horizon’s human foes with those of animalistic, ancient, and alien machines.

Potential Gameplay of Horizon 3’s Humanoid Machines

Nemesis’ humanoid machines could be varied, just as hostile human tribesmen were in Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. The basic humanoid machine could be designed primarily for melee combat by often charging at Aloy and requiring her to use deadly spear skills to take them out. Another humanoid machine type could use all the Far Zenith’s equipment, such as strong energy shields, Specter Gauntlets, and hover abilities. To better counteract these machines, Sylens could develop a smaller, rechargeable version of his device used to disable the Far Zenith shields at the end of Forbidden West. This device could help Aloy eliminate most of Nemesis’ machines while still allowing them to be viable threats.