Guerilla gave a new look at Horizon Forbidden West’s combat via a blog post published on Monday, showcasing the multiple ways in which Aloy can sneak, fight, and evade her enemies in the upcoming PlayStation exclusive. “For the team at Guerrilla, one of the goals for Horizon Forbidden West was to significantly evolve the combat design from Horizon Zero Dawn,” wrote Guerilla.
In the blog post, Guerilla shared multiple GIFs of gameplay, each depicting a different combat mechanic. One such snippet showcased Aloy starting an encounter with a large, amphibious machine on land, before attempting to retreat underwater, only to be followed by said machine. Lead AI programmer Arjen Beij stated that enemies being able to traverse multiple terrains is one way that they’ll feel more authentic in the upcoming title.
Guerilla showed off a good deal of melee combat as well. Stealth takedowns, combo attacks, and acrobatic maneuvers all look to be key parts of Aloy’s arsenal. Compared to the previous game, the combat looks to be a lot more fluid this time around, with Aloy seamlessly swapping between various tools in her moveset without skipping a beat.
The developer also unveiled a new enemy type to be introduced in Forbidden West: Regalla’s rebels. Guerilla stated that the sequel would contain a larger variety of human enemies, most of which will be fought in different ways. “The goal was to make human combat as deep and challenging as machine combat,” said gameplay animation director Richard Oud.
