It turns out that the sawmill in Horizon Forbidden West is completely functional, and quite the technical masterpiece.
Ever since its release, Horizon Forbidden West players have been captivated by the worldbuilding of the game. One thing that draws a lot of attention is the sawmill at Barren Light, showcased in a short video by Reddit player u/emerging_frog. This sawmill is a testimony of the care and attention to detail the developers went through to enhance the players’ experience as they move through the world.
A cool fact is that the sawmill is powered by water, or hydro technology. Logs come up from a lumberjack town in the Daunt near Chainscrape ironically called Last Log. They chop the logs and transport them using the river to the cities nearby. At the sawmill, workers pick out the logs and place them on a trellis that then takes them for sawing cranked manually by another worker. This all adds to Horizon’s amazing worldbuilding, although what might seem trivial, fans cannot help but praise the effort into making each area so immersive and every NPC so inclusive and individual.
The sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn makes the worldbuilding even better. One of the ways they accomplished this was by making every side quest count. Aloy is able to make decisions that can leave quite an impact on the tribes and their politics, it is no longer just gathering this and tracking that. Guerrilla Games has perfected side quests that have helped turn the virtual world of Horizon into the truly immersive experience it is now.
A running gag amongst the community is Aloy’s interaction with the world around her, from people (to whom she displays almost comic displeasure sometimes) to animals. This is probably why the community gets excited when a player posts about Aloy making a cute friend while flying.
