Horizon Forbidden West Details Aloy's New Abilities and Tools

By Rollin Bishop

Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerrilla Games has shared a number of new details about Aloy's abilities, tools, and traversal options in the upcoming sequel for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 18, 2022. Notably, it seems like there will simply be far more options than in Horizon Zero Dawn, and the PlayStation 5's DualSense controller will see significant use for those folks that decide to play on PS5 rather than PS4.

"Building upon the foundation of Horizon Zero Dawn, we have added a number of new ways to move through the world," shares David McMullen, Lead Systems Designer at Guerrilla, in the PlayStation blog post. "Aloy can climb freely on and across huge sections of rocky terrain; even more machine types can be used as mounts; grapple points can be found throughout the environment which allows agile vertical traversal; swimming underwater has opened up a whole new aspect of exploration; and gliding with the Shieldwing provides the ultimate view of the beautiful world of Horizon Forbidden West – not to mention a quick way down from great heights!"

"The DualSense wireless controller is heavily featured throughout our mechanics," adds McMullen. "From the scrape of rubble as you push a crate, to the sensation of an unravelling winch as you use the Pullcaster — with the increased adaptive trigger tension as you pull! We've also added extra tactile dimensions to increase both the gameplay value and the feeling of being part of the world Aloy is moving around in; these can be subtle as the sensation of grass brushing around you to indicate you are entering stealth grass, or the pop of the adaptive trigger as you reach maximum draw with a bow. We even use the absence of adaptive tension to help communicate when you're out of ammo."

The PlayStation blog post also highlights two specific aforementioned tools that Aloy has at her disposal in the sequel, the Pullcaster and the Shieldwing. The Pullcaster is a wrist-mounted device that allows for grappling and winching, letting Aloy traverse in new ways or manipulate objects. The Shieldwing, on the other hand, is essentially a glider, a tool that should be familiar to most players that have any experience with modern video games.

As noted above, Horizon Forbidden West is officially set to launch for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 18, 2022. Despite initially announcing that the upgrade from PS4 to PS5 would require payment, PlayStation ultimately reversed course on that decision and it will be a free upgrade path instead. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming video game sequel right here.

What do you think about Aloy's new tools in Horizon Forbidden West? Are you looking forward to playing it when it releases early next year? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!

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