Horizon Forbidden West’s main character Aloy gets new abilities, and the world is ready.
Over on the PlayStation Blog, the team has detailed several traversal tools Aloy will have at her disposal. These include the grappling-hook like Pullcaster and the Shielding revealed in the previous gameplay trailer. Of course, these new tools provided a stuff challenge for the game’s level designers, who had to make sure the new environments had them in mind.
Aloy won’t need to look for tribal handholds anymore in the sequel, being able to free-climb more surfaces than before. A new high vault mechanic also lets her hoist up even higher. Combined with the Pullcaster as a grapple, it looks like you’ll be pulling off maneuvers that’d make Peter Parker jealous. As well as that, you’ll also be able to use the Pullcaster to pull things like chests or vent opening towards you. Combine it with the Shielding, and you’ve got a combo very similar to that seen in the Just Cause series.
More new features include the Workbench, allowing you to strengthen and upgrade weapons. This also includes being able to add new perks and mod slots as well as other customizations. There’s also a new mechanic called Valor Surge, with 12 in total representing a way to play the game. You’ll unlock them in the game’s skill tree with three levels available. The higher the level, the longer they’ll take to charge up – but the more powerful they’ll be.
There’s a heck of a lot more on Aloy’s abilities in Horizon Forbidden West covered in the blog. Horizon Forbidden West is scheduled to land on PlayStation 5 and PS4 on February 18, 2022.