Despite Horizon Forbidden West having no firm release date yet, details have been coming thick and fast in the wake of the 14-minute preview Sony showed off last week. Most of the focus (that’s a pun, I’ll explain why later) has been on the combat and traversal. That’s to be expected - combat and traversal are basically Horizon’s thing. Aloy is an agile fighter able to scale practically any surface, and following on from Zero Dawn’s enjoyable but linear and choreographed climbing mechanics, Forbidden West’s less restrictive approach to exploration is welcome. Any leftover attention has been spent on Aloy’s face, because of course it has.
One thing that has slipped through the cracks though is Erend’s Focus - see, I told you it was a pun. The Focus is the device Aloy uses in the first game to highlight machines, see footsteps, view recorded messages, and listen to Sylens. She finds it in an old cave as a child, and slowly discovers how to use it. However, she’s not the only one with a Focus - she learns of how it works when a visitor to the Nora camp sports one. Sylens also has one, but they’re still very rare. They’re not even an expensive rarity either, worn only by the rich and the rulers - Focuses are just scarce. They’re a remnant of the Old World, and as a result, only those brave or stupid enough to go exploring in abandoned places will find one.
Now, brave or stupid are both fitting enough descriptions of Erend - he’s clever, but also headstrong and reckless enough that stupid behaviour is not beyond him. However, he was brave and stupid long before he met Aloy, and did not wear a Focus throughout Zero Dawn. Depending on how early in the game that 14-minute preview was set, he may have picked one up in the gap between games, or may have found one in Forbidden West itself. Whatever the explanation, Aloy is almost certain to be involved - but because of Aloy’s connection to the Focus, the how kind of answers itself. While she doesn’t carry spare Focuses around in her pocket, her link to the Old World, knowledge of the machines, and expertise with her own Focus means she offers a natural explanation. The real interest doesn’t sit with how he got his Focus - but why he has one at all.
In the trailer, we see Erend and Aloy use their Focuses to view an interactive map, one which hinted at the different locations we might get to adventure to across Forbidden West, or possibly beyond. He then says “You always said there was a storm coming,” which on one hand is a nice callback to Zero Dawn, but on the other, is one of the cheesiest, most overused fantasy lines ever. Perhaps the callback is deliberate though.
I sincerely doubt that Erend just has a Focus so he can see maps and talk to Aloy even when she’s not nearby. Focuses are a fascinating part of Horizon lore, and for Erend to just use his like a mobile phone would be a huge letdown. While giving him a Focus does open up the game somewhat, it has potential for a much greater impact in the narrative itself.
Erend is the only character aside from Aloy and Sylens to be confirmed to return in Forbidden West. Aloy is a no-brainer, and Sylens is a villain (kind of, but let’s not get into all that now), meaning Erend is Aloy’s only ally that we know of. He might be her only Zero Dawn ally in the game at all, and that’s why his Focus and the callback to the original trailer is so important. One of Aloy’s defining characteristics is that she is a loner. She lived the majority of her life as an outcast, with only Rost, her adoptive father, by her side. As she earns the right to join her birth tribe, Rost is killed - meanwhile, she is immediately sent on a quest by herself. In gaining acceptance into the tribe, Aloy is more alone than ever.
While she meets several friends throughout Zero Dawn, Erend is the only one who gets particularly close to her. That he has a Focus too hints that their relationship is about to become more intertwined than ever, and that for once, Aloy will have to learn to rely on other people and work together in order to survive. A storm is coming, but with Erend by her side, Aloy just might endure it.
