Do you need to play Horizon Zero Dawn to understand Horizon Forbidden West?
It’s not required, but you might miss out on some stuff.
Jon Yelenic 
Screenshot by Gamepur
Horizon Forbidden West follows up the story of its predecessor, Zero Dawn, and also features many of the same characters from the first game. While the connection between the two titles is clear, it’s possible one might be inclined to jump right into Forbidden West, even if they haven’t played the first game, given the sequel’s refined gameplay. If you’re in that crowd, don’t worry about being too lost if you decide to skip over Zero Dawn; you don’t have to play it to understand Forbidden West.
It seems developer Guerilla might have expected that players would either skip Zero Dawn, or forget certain parts of its story, so it included a brief video recapping the last game’s story in Forbidden West. This video will play upon launching the game for the first time, and it can also be viewed by visiting the ”Extras” menu, which is only accessible via the main menu. The recap is narrated by Sylens, an important character from Zero Dawn who also plays a pretty key role in Forbidden West.
The recap does a good job of walking you through Zero Dawn’s main story beats. It should give you a good idea of who Aloy is, and what she’s trying to do in Forbidden West. However, it won’t necessarily fill you in on a lot of the returning characters you’ll encounter throughout the game. Many supporting characters from Zero Dawn make a return here, and without the prior context of who they are, you might find yourself confused if Aloy fondly greets someone you happen to view as a stranger.
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