It's looking like Horizon Forbidden West will be a sequel that builds upon what the first game achieved and improves the experience with lots of small (and large) tweaks. Horizon Zero Dawn was a fantastic first attempt at an open world action RPG from Guerrilla Games, but the second game seems to be making some much needed changes for the better.
IGN talks about some of these enhancements in the above new video, following their hands-on preview. It's well worth a watch if you're interested in hearing about some Forbidden West gameplay details, but we'll go through some of our favourites here.
One that sticks out to us is that you no longer appear to have a cap on your inventory — kind of. Aloy will only be able to carry around a certain amount of materials and equipment, as per the original. However, any surplus items you pick up will be sent to a stash, which can be accessed in any settlements or towns you discover. In the case of healing items, you can replenish Aloy's supply by holding Up on the D-pad, meaning you shouldn't be left wanting for a top-up.
The Focus has also had some overhauls made. You can scan your surroundings with R3, and any climbable surfaces will be highlighted with holograms, which is far better than having every handhold painted bright yellow. Additionally, while analysing a Machine, you can cycle through all its removable parts using the D-pad, instead of having to carefully hover over the creature with the right stick. You'll also be able to keep parts you need highlighted — another very nice touch.
As well as all that, it looks like you'll be spending much more time in settlements. In addition to picking up side quests, you'll be able to play a board game called Machine Strike, shop at vendors for various items and gear, access your stash, upgrade weapons and armour at work benches, and improve your combat skills in melee pits. Towns in Horizon Zero Dawn looked cool, but were pretty hollow — it seems they'll be far more engaging here.
For more, check out the video, but what do you think of these new details? Are you excited to play Horizon Forbidden West when it lands in a few weeks? Crouch in the tall grass of the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 26
Sounds like feb 18th can’t come quick enough!
Well, I really hope this is a 'Worth The Wait' game cause I'm dying to play it!
So glad to hear they’ve improved the inventory system. In the first one I think I ran out of space about half way through the game.
So hyped for this game, and I have avoided pretty much every trailer and video on it, to stay completely fresh.
Sounds great to me.
I'm skipping most of the media stuff on this game now, but the glimpses I'm seeing are very exciting.
It'll be a busy few months leading in to summer:
Heh I am a bit cynical about the minigame as those can be downright annoying for me at times. But aside from that, this is looking awesome.
Got an email from currys today, offering 15% discount for HFW - code ALOY15 at checkout, if anyone’s interested.
But does she have a bed...
And the game's just gone gold too
Good move having Focus highlight ledges. That’s one of my pet peeves in games with climbing as it really breaks the immersion. The new Tomb Raider games were particularly bad for it with their painted boards in locations supposedly not inhabited for centuries.
I'm VERY much looking forward to it. That said, Elden Ring is a week later and it is probably my most anticipated game of the last ten years. So yeah, I'll dabble a bit with it until Elden Ring drops. Then it'll be on hiatus for a long while. but it will definitely be the game I'm jumping back into first.
This game looks bonkers. It looks like they learned from the best parts of the Witcher and BoTW. Just being able to climb parts of the world that look climable is a huge improvement over the original game. Also like how some RPGs are adding lore friendly mini-games. GWENT was so much fun, hopefully this one is too.
Oh thank god, I had zero inventory space for about 90% of Zero Dawn.
I'm a collector-holic! Admitting that is apparently that's the first step on the road to recovery, but even so, I expect my stashes to be mainly filled with wood! I cannot help myself; if something can be picked up, I hate to walk past it, even if my inventory is already maxed out with that item. I never did find a trader that bought wood either, which was a pain. I now look forward to picking up everything in sight. I think I have a problem, truth me told...
I'm buying this, and I'm buying Elden Ring and then no more big games for me for rest of the year.
Well maybe GT7 then too... oh and GoW Ragnarok!!!
Not sure I want to be scanning for handholds all the time. Improved settlements was maybe my biggest "request" for the sequel, though.
@dschons know the feeling. From here until march it looks to be way too packed, games that I usually would have called must buys are going to have to wait a while, elden ring and arceus will be my choices so stuff like this, sifu and Kirby will have to unfortunately wait.
I haven't even finished nobody saves the world yet... I really hope God of war, hollow Knight and Splatoon are further away than I thought to buy me a bit of time!
@Shepherd_Tallon Hey there friend.
Nice list you got there. Mine is a little short though:
Gotta save money for Dad of Boy 2 and Breath of The Wild 2.....
Maybe Final Fantasy XVI??? Really want to see more of it.
And there´s a chance for Dead Space Remake as well.
This year is going to be crazy. My poor wallet.....
Cheers, stay safe and have a good one
@Fiendish-Beaver Hey there friend.
You and me both. If there is something I love the most in a game besides combat and story moments is gathering and collecting EVERYTHING I see. Just can´t help it. I had so many bamboo and yew wood in GoT and ridge wood in HZD that I didn´t know what to do with it. And kept seeing the famous words: "Inventory is full". But I always have fun doing it.
Blame the devs for creating these amazing worlds full of stuff for us to find. And ask for more while your at it 😉
Cheers, stay safe and have a good one
@RaZieLDaNtE Ah very nice.
TBH I won't be getting Gran Turismo. Stranger in Paradise and Babylon's fall will be bought on sale at some point. The rest are all Day 1 for me though.
Like you, I need to keep the pennies for the end of the year.
Breath of the Wild II is hopefully going to be a Christmas morning game for me, and if PSVR 2 is out by Christmas too I don't know if I'll be able to skip it.
At this rate I'm hoping FF XVI is a 2023 title...
Have fun!!!
How about a 33rd impressive detail: this game has COLORS.
There is not a beast, a person or man made object in there that doesn't have a dash of something colorful that stands out. Buildings exteriors and interiors, walls, roofs, furniture, fences, people's tattoos, general clothing, weapons, armors, helms, boots, every enemy type there is, Aloy herself... hell, even the fighting pit arena... everything has a bit of something colorful on it.
And above it all: it never feels overdone, cartoonish, too much.
It's just "food" for the eyes, cheerful, bright and alive... quite a joy to behold.
Well done!
3 more weeks to go now, can't wait!
@Shepherd_Tallon March is also packed on the Nintendo side of things...
Project Triangle Strategy (Octopath dev) - March 04
Chocobo GP (Racing game) - March 10
Kirby and the Forgotten Land - March 25
@KidBoruto I completely forgot about Chocobo GP.
Good shout!
Jesus. March really is a mess of releases.
@Shepherd_Tallon PSVR2 might be interesting, but I need to be convinced about it.
As for FFXVI, it just might be delayed for 2023, since we haven´t seen anything else besides the only gameplay trailer they´ve shown and that I have watched quite a few times 😜
Breath of the Wild 2 is in the same position.
We need a proper Nintendo Direct for that I guess.
Will probably get Stranger of Paradise on sale.
Cheers, stay safe and all the best
@KidBoruto Hi there friend
I completely forgot that Project Triangle Strategy releases on the same day as GT7...... I might have to put PTS on hold.
I still have Metroid Dread to finish and Monster hunter Stories 2 Wings of Ruin to play that I got on Black Friday last year.
So many games, so little time. The backlog is kinda big 😜
Cheers, stay safe and have a good one
@Shepherd_Tallon I had forgotten about it as well, so no worries!
Meanwhile Xbox has zero March releases outside of multiplatform.
@RaZieLDaNtE Backlogs are a double edged sword. We'll never run out of games to play, but we'll also never be able to play everything before we die.
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