By: Bryce L. Jackson

Guerrilla Games has an absolute treat for us in this sequel.

Sony’s State of play for Horizon Forbidden West was shown off in a 20-minute live stream that featured new environments, new machines, and new combat skills. That, amongst a ton of smaller additional details, was on full display. And honestly, it’s mindblowing.

Combat and Movement Improvements

Aloy has new gadgets, an expanded variety of projectile weapons with new special ammo types like adhesive sling grenades, explosive javelins, and close-quarter melee abilities. It was said that Aloy will even have a workbench to upgrade and modify her weapons. Along with combat mechanics that look more fluid that may promise an expansion of the RPG mechanics. For example, Aloy was fighting the brute Tenakth, showing off her being a skilled fighter and there was a dodge combo that may be her "RPG upgrades”.

Aloy’s traversal is much improved with less obvious climbing routes using Aloy’s burst focus. It scans walls for options to wall climb rather than bake it into the environment, helping smooth out the immersion while making traversal feel more dynamic. Along with her new grapple tool “Pullcaster” and “Shieldwing” glider gives players vertical options. Aloy even has a diving mask, which opens up deep-sea diving exploration.

Enemies

Our new enemies are the Tenakth, a tribe of merciless raiders that have the ability to tame machines, as Aloy can. This State of Play featured two machines: the velociraptor type, “Clawstrider” and the massive “Tremortusks” mammoth machines. And I promise you, there’s a Ness Machine.

There was no release date given but Sony and Guerrilla Games say that development is still on track, which may still keep within a 2021 release.