Horizon Forbidden West devs explain why they didn't show one specific character
Ben McCaw breaks down why one character got left off-screen
Horizon Forbidden West's narrative director has revealed why the game never actually shows a certain character. Be warned: there are spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West immediately following this lovely picture of Aloy!
Speaking to Kotaku, Horizon Forbidden West narrative director Ben McCaw revealed why Guerrilla opted not to show reincarnated CEO Ted Faro. McCaw stated that both himself and game director Mathijs de Jonge felt that they shouldn't show Faro for two reasons: firstly, "it's not a horror game," as McCaw puts it, and secondly, whatever the player imagines is probably scarier than what the game could show.
"It’s what’s lurking in the shadows that’s way, way scarier—the image that your mind conjures up—than the cheesy Hollywood rubber suit that you show," McCaw said of the decision not to show Faro in all his, erm, glory. "We didn’t want to do that. We wanted it to be in the player’s mind."
As things stand, the player is merely left to their own devices to imagine what the once-leader of Zero Dawn now looks like. When side character Ceo encounters what's left of Faro, all we hear is a bone-chilling roar, followed by Ceo scampering away with his tail between his legs.
Perhaps we'll never get to see what Faro actually looks like, over a thousand years after the collapse of civilization. For what it's worth though, McCaw describes what's left of the villain as a "human cancer, a massive cancerous growth," adding that he personally imagines the character as a "sort of a cancer on humanity."
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.