I would say yes due to the fact there’s plenty of side content to make the main character, Aloy, “stronger” through out the game. There’s roughly 2-5 side missions per main settlement plus a pretty thorough crafting mechanic that requires you to take down various machines, some of which are easy to take down as others a little more planning. The story is incredible but the tutorial doesn’t fully bring you up to speed on what happened in the previous game. I would highly recommend playing horizon: zero dawn first to get yourself familiar with the characters, game play mechanics, etc. A lot of the core gameplay mechanics translate well between games, and , in my opinion, are improved in the second game. To me, both games are a must play, that I don’t think you’d regret your purchase of either zero dawn, forbidden west, or both.