Horizon Forbidden West is drawing closer to its February 18 launch, and it looks set to have a greater range of machines to battle than the first game.
That’s because the Horizon Forbidden West Piggyback strategy guide, as spotted by Push Square, recently became available for pre-order. The guide has noted that the game will feature more than 40 machines. These include the Bristleback, Burrowers, Clamberjaws and Slitherfangs we’ve seen the the trailers thus far. Comparatively, Horizon Zero Dawn had just 26 metal creatures to take on.
This is all promising stuff, as the combat against the machines in Horizon Zero Dawn was one of its best parts.
In Zero Dawn, player character Aloy would scan a machine to identify its strengths and weaknesses, and then attempt to expose those weak points by shooting off dangerous parts. She could then exploit vulnerable components or elemental weaknesses. On top of this, different machines had varied behaviors and attack patterns, making them both challenging and fun to fight.
On top of this, the strategy guide hints at a wider range of quests and locations to explore in the game. The guide is 650 pages long, which is a pretty solid indicator that Horizon Forbidden West won’t be a small or constrained game.
Of course, size doesn't always matter when it comes to games; quality is more important than quantity. We hope that developer Guerrilla Games ensures the extra content fuels the development of Aloy as a character. Ideally, the optional content will shed more light on the game’s story and lore, rather than just add more items to collect.
Horizon Forbidden West is set to be the first big PS5 exclusive of 2022. As such, we have high hopes for it, particularly after the success of Deathloop and Returnal from last year.
If a bright, post-post-apocalyptic world isn’t to your taste, then Elden Ring is coming out this month as well. That one offers an open world steeped in dark fantasy and savage combat.
