Bristlebacks are a new machine type, akin to Chargers, that have acid canisters on their backs.A new type called the Burrower is a Watcher-level threat, but with a few new moves, including the ability to, well, burrow, as well as send reverberating blasts that disrupt Aloy (and the player’s) view for a brief moment.Potions and other consumables return, and Aloy will be able to purchase from various sellers - Cooks for skill-boosting food, Herbalists for potions, Hunters for weapons, and Stitchers for outfits.Outfits can also be upgraded, and can provide stat boosts to specific skills in Aloy’s skill trees.Aloy can now upgrade equipment at workbenches in the environment, and still use “Create Job” functions to track down specific parts for needed upgrades.Valor Surges will be unlocked by choosing specific abilities surrounding a Surge on any given skill tree. These include Warrior, Trapper, Hunter, Survivor, Infiltrator, Machine Master. Players can now invest in six different skill trees with the points they earn.

Two new elemental options for attacks include Acid and Plasma.

A cool new explosive weapon, the javelin thrower, is one of the first you’ll come across, while a later one, the Shredder Gauntlet, offers another new twist on combat. Others will be obtained through sidequests.

Speaking of equipment, Aloy will gain some new and returning weapons and items through the main quest, such as the trusty tripcaster, like the one in Zero Dawn, early in her adventure.

But also now with these new underwater sections in the game, there was a new form of exploration, new things to explore and just a whole new kind of like geometry there.' But all of these tools are important because they are in service to how Forbidden West’s world is built.Īs Horizon Forbidden West narrative director Ben McCaw said, 'One of the things [in HFW} is there's just a lot more verticality to this world, from the tallest mountain or skyscraper all the way down to the ground.

We won’t spoil how, but Aloy will acquire the Shieldwing early in the game during a story quest, so don’t worry about missing out on your sky-soaring dreams.

So if you happen to be gliding by a cliff and realize there’s a spot a little above you, you can easily get to it.

You can Pullcast out of a glide using the new Shieldwing.

It’s used like a double jump would - hit “X” again in the air to employ it. This new bit of Aloy’s equipment loadout can pull her from much further away to grasp onto a ledge. Some of the points the Focus will find are what you’ll use the Pullcaster for. You can use your Focus to temporarily highlight climbable portions of the environment.Not every single inch of every surface is climbable, but a much larger amount of is, making traversal so much smoother in the sequel. Climbing is much more free and open in Forbidden West than it was in Zero Dawn.Some of these are confirmation of things the developers have said before now that we've actually gotten to play, some are more specific explanations of new ideas for the sequel, and others are brand new details that have us quite excited by Guerrilla's refinement of its open world. 18 for PS4 and PS5, let’s dig into all the amazing details we discovered about Horizon Forbidden West, and why they should have you just as excited as we are. Aloy’s world is brought to life in much more vivid detail, with improved animation, new machines, an evolved combat system, and so much more. After four hours of hands-on with Horizon Forbidden West, we feel like we’ve only scratched the surface, but still found an incredible amount of detail in Guerrilla Games’ sequel.

Horizon zero dawn 2 ign