The Far Zenith, once thought to be a failed human survival mission, returned to Earth and became the main antagonists of Horizon Forbidden West. Previously mentioned only in a datapoint in Horizon Zero Dawn, the secretive society takes center stage as it attempts to reshape Earth as its members see fit in the newest Horizon game. Originally, the Far Zenith was described as a failure, with the first game detailing the explosion of their escape ship, the Odyssey, killing its crew and destroying its cargo. But, in the opening chapter of Horizon Forbidden West, it becomes clear that the mission was successful, and its members have returned to wreak havoc on the remains of planet Earth.
[Warning: major spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West follow.]
In Horizon Forbidden West, the Far Zenith are a collection of Old Ones, a term used to describe humans that lived during the 21st century and have (mostly) gone extinct. Where the Zero Dawn initiative from the first game was focused on terraforming and preserving the integrity of planet Earth, the Far Zenith group was more interested in leaving Earth behind and discovering a new home in a distant star system to inhabit instead. The group repurposed a defunct space ship, the Odyssey, and left Earth with its crew and an alpha build of the APOLLO subroutine, a crucial archive of all human knowledge and cultural information.
Playing Horizon Zero Dawn before Forbidden West provides a smokescreen to Far Zenith's interstellar journey. Contrary to the data presented in Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West reveals that the Odyssey actually managed to escape Earth, and that the Far Zenith found sanctuary in the Sirius star system. The members of Far Zenith were able to establish a colony within the system and create an AI storage system, called Nemesis. Nemesis was used to digitally store and preserve human and mechanical data, including human memories, emotions, and consciousness. However, as the experiment continued, complications developed with Nemesis, and it was locked away as a failure.
Far Zenith Returned To Earth After Their Sirius Colony Collapsed
Of all the returning characters in Horizon Forbidden West, the Far Zenith was probably the least likely given their place in the original game. However, they returned to Earth to reclaim it as their own after their imprisoned AI, Nemesis, went rogue and attempted to raze all human life from the Sirius colony. Fleeing the rogue AI, what was left of Far Zenith boarded the Odyssey once again, heading for Earth. In an effort to destroy the remaining humans, Nemesis sent the Extinction Signal to the GAIA Prime facility on Earth to corrupt HADES and inspire it to attempt to destroy all human life on the planet. This series of events explained what activated HADES in Horizon Zero Dawn.
Horizon Forbidden West improves on a lot that was missing from the previous game, from AI, to climbing mechanics, to Horizon Zero Dawn's melee combat. That said, the sequel's biggest improvement is its storytelling, and the twisted, tragic journey of the Far Zenith inject a hefty dose of lore, action, and drama, making the story more thrilling. The plight of the Far Zenith's return to Earth is just one of many stories that make Horizon Forbidden West one of the more interesting games of 2022.