Guerilla Goes In-depth About the New Systems in Horizon Forbidden West

In an official PlayStation blog post, Guerilla discusses all of the new things that will be coming to Horizon Forbidden West.

The developers begin by detailing what will be changing in the exploration aspect of the game. With new mechanics that will allow Aloy to traverse more land in both vertical and horizontal forms, with new machines that she will be able to mount, and a new grappling hook mechanic to reach new heights.

The main goal is for players to be able to outsmart the developers themselves, using the environment as a new tool for their battles against the machines.

The combat is also getting revamped in Horizon Forbidden West, with new skills that will be able to be slotted on weapons and armour, and new skills that will be able to synergise with each other. Guerilla's Lead Combat Designer, Dennis Zopfi, also mentioned that there was a desire to encourage switching between melee and ranged combat, with some of the skills built around encouraging this mechanic.

Another added mechanic that will be added is mixed battles. With factions that also have machines on their side, Aloy will face all-new battles against a mix of machines and humans - something that didn't happen too often in the main game. These battles will have the player choosing which one to defeat first, adding a completely new strategical point to the game.

At the end of the blog post, the developers explain that their main focus for Horizon Forbidden West is to allow more player choice describing several of the other mechanics that will be added.

Horizon Forbidden West is set to release on the 18th of February for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5