Sony’s latest State of Play livestream focused on upcoming PlayStation exclusive Horizon Forbidden West, the much-anticipated sequel to Guerrilla Games’ 2017 hit Horizon Zero Dawn. During the stream, fans got a look at 14 minutes of brand new gameplay, followed by a deep dive into some of the new gameplay features shown in the footage.
The first new addition to the game shown in the stream was the use of a smoke bomb in combat. Aloy, fighting with machines in close quarters while looking for her captured friend Erend, uses it to attempt an escape from the attacking pack of Clawstriders. With the machines in pursuit, she dives into some nearby water, giving us a first look at the underwater gameplay sections first revealed way back in June last year. Swimming around with the aid of the Diving Mask, Aloy must remain aware of potential threats in the water; there are still plenty of dangers to face while traversing the currents and corals.
Next up was a section featuring some combat with human enemies. Exiting the water, Aloy comes across raiders in the ruins. Dispatching one with a stealth attack, and another with a few swift strikes from her spear, she is left facing a heavily armoured foe, who is dispatched with the aid of an electricity surge from Aloy’s spear, another new ability.
Continuing on, Aloy uses a glider called the Shieldwing to descend to a beach, before quickly overriding a Clawstrider to ride towards the raiders holding Erend. However, before she can free her ally, a Tremortusk arrives. The elephant-like machine not only has serious firepower of its own, but also has raiders on its back to make it even more deadly. In a ferocious battle, Aloy uses a brand new spear launcher weapon, an adhesive slingshot grenade, and her range of arrows and bows, to take down the rampaging Tremortusk, after which a cutscene shows Aloy and Erend looking over a storm gathering in the distance.
Outside of all this new information about the game’s combat and traversal mechanics, Guerrilla Games did not announce a release date during the livestream. However, a closing image did confirm once again that Horizon Forbidden West is coming to both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
A PlayStation Blog post accompanying the State of Play has also been published, so fans eager to take a closer look at what exactly they saw during the gameplay may want to check this out. And, for those who want to watch the entire event, the video is below:
