Horizon Forbidden West has moved to the increasingly crowded February 2022, and Sony is rolling out new details and reveals about Aloy’s next journey along the way. In a new PlayStation Blog post, the developers at Guerrilla talk more in-depth about designing this new suite of monster-machines and Aloy’s improved abilities to keep up with them.
First off, the studio had to expand the roster of beast-like machines roaming the world, which involved planning what role they might play in the environment and why they would be find in this new westward area. As one example, the studio said it wanted to make a bigger flying creature than the Glinthawk, so they made the new Sunwing. The new machines will also exhibit a broader range of behaviors. For example, the Sunwing will be less alert while it’s harvesting solar energy, but much sharper when in rest. Guerrilla says another machine kicks up a lot of dust while digging, which can serve as cover.
The most attention-catching is the new Tremortusk, a mechanized mammoth that combines war elephants and siege towers. They’re heavily armored and heavily armed, and while we’ve already seen them used by enemy factions, they’ll also freely wander the world as well. In context of the world, Tremortusks were built to help protect the other machines so they could do their own work.
“Unique behaviors like these become the basis and are then expanded on when we define the machines’ roles in the world,” Asset Art Lead Maxim Fleury said. “We always want to make sure the machines are connected, and that they serve a greater purpose; so the whole machine (eco-)system is in harmony–just like in the real world.”
The team also expanded Aloy’s abilities to match the machines. She’s more mobile to keep up with the creatures, and the studio wants to put more emphasis on surveying and planning out an approach before taking on an encounter. In addition to overriding creatures to use as mounts, you can also shift their natural behavior to be more offensive or defensive, or tag along as they hunt for resources to find a stash you may be after.
Horizon Forbidden West is coming February 18, 2022. Sony is offering a free upgrade from PS4 to PS5, which effectively undercuts any reason to get the more expensive PS5 version. For more details, check out our Horizon Forbidden West preorder guide.
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Source: Gamespot
