Guerrilla Details Horizon Forbidden West’s New Abilities

Developer Guerrilla Games posted a new developer blog that details some of protagonist Aloy’s new abilities in the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West. Many of the elements were teased in previous gameplay footage, including free climbing, more mounts, grapple points, underwater swimming, and the Shieldwing.

In Horizon Forbidden West, Aloy is now able to climb up various parts part of the terrain, such as rocky surfaces. She can also pull herself on top of any object with enough room. She has the Pullcaster, a wrist-mounted device with two main functions. The first is a grapple with which she can quickly ascend the environment as well as launch herself to a higher edge, fire their bow in mid-air, glide, and more. The second function is a winch, letting her manipulate objects such as pulling a chest from a ledge or opening up a vent. Meanwhile, the Shieldwing is a gliding tool that lets Aloy quickly and safely descend from high up.

Aloy also has new combat abilities and tools, with players able to upgrade weapons and outfits at the workbench and a redesigned skill tree. A new skill is the Resonator Blast, which lets players charge up a spear through melee hits before placing that energy on enemies and hitting it with a projectile for a large explosion. The game also includes twelve Valor Surges, special charged attacks representing specific approaches to combat.

Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn and follows Aloy as she travels to the remains of the western United States to investigate a red blight that is wreaking havoc on the environment and weather. The game will be released for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on February 18, 2022.