I dropped Horizon: Forbidden West after a good 30ish hours because it had the misfortune of releasing right before Elden Ring...so I finally picked it back up and can't put it down again. It's such a colossal improvement over the first game (which I enjoyed thoroughly, to the point of a platinum), cashing in on what you'd hope to see from any sequel. The visuals are just ridiculous. Graphical fidelity has always been a strength of Guerilla's and they were just straight up flexing with this one.
The combat is deeper, with extensive skill trees and plenty of opportunity to plan and execute your attack on a bandit camp or hunt on a boss monster. The cosmetic customization is good, the weapon selection is diverse and satisfying, and there's just an overwhelming amount of shit to do (almost to a fault). And don't get me STARTED on Machine Strike. Reviewers crapped on it, but that minigame is fun as hell. Not quite Queen's Blood-caliber, but it's close.
Unfortunately, the game's biggest flaw remains from the first game. The story is convoluted, bloated and, worst of all, boring. As invested as I've been in world itself, it's a shame that that the storytelling and characters have done little to captivate. The game as a whole is good enough to invest a ton of time into, but it's clear as to why the series hasn't gone down as an all-timer. Still, if you're a fan of open-world action adventure games...it doesn't get much better.