Horizon Forbidden West Now Includes Tribute To Lance Reddick
Horizon Forbidden West just added a Lance Reddick memorial that players can visit in the game.
Lance Reddick, an actor best known for his role in The Wire, John Wick, and countless voice acting jobs in various media, died in March from ischemic heart disease. His most notable works in gaming include Destiny 2 and Horizon Forbidden West, with the developer of the latter paying tributes to the late actor in the Forbidden West’s latest DLC by creating an in-game memorial for the late actor.
As reported by VGC, Guerilla Games, the developers of the Horizon series, has added its own tribute to Lance Reddick in the form of a memorial that players can visit in Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores DLC—an expansion pack which launched in April.
Guerilla also wrote a tweet stating that the developers have created a memorial to commemorate the profound impact Lance Reddick had on the team, thanking him for everything he brought to the game and the character he portrayed within the game’s narrative.
Reddick played Sylens in the Horizon series, a recurring antagonist first introduced in 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn and returning in 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West. Sylens was the founder of the militaristic cult Eclipse and the mercenary faction Sons of Prometheus, as well as a wandering scholar and archeologist obsessed with the technological powers left behind by the Old Ones.
The performance was fully captured, so gamers had the pleasure of seeing both Reddick’s face and hearing his voice in action and he would’ve undoubtedly returned in the next Horizon sequel.
The untimely passing of Lance Reddick now poses a question of what will happen to Sylens and how the character will be handled in future Horizon releases. Unlike for some other projects, including the upcoming Ballerina and Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, Reddick hasn’t recorded any material for the future Horizon game, leaving Guerilla with two options.
Either cast a new voice actor for the role while animating Lance’s face or end the story differently. In either case, Reddick’s passing is a massive loss for the Horizon franchise, its players, and the whole entertainment industry.
Apart from Horizon, Lance Reddick also played a massive role in the Destiny franchise by portraying Commander Zavala for more than a decade now. Rare have been the seasons without Reddick doing some voicework for the role, despite the fact that Destiny developers and publishers are recasting Hollywood starts for various roles.
In fact, according to Lance himself, he would portray the role of Zavala for Destiny indefinitely; he even actively played Destiny 2, with his official profile tracking his in-game activity the day before he died.
However, things seem a bit better for Destiny 2 since Lance Reddick’s character is still involved with the narrative, and Bungie—previously bought by Sony—is still using pre-recorded lines.
But his untimely passing is bound to make an impact on the further narrative course of Destiny 2, with Bungie facing similar problems Guerilla Games is facing right now—recasting the roles or finding another satisfying conclusion to respective narratives while also maintaining the memory of Lance Reddick.
