Guerrilla Games had struck quite an extensive fan base with their latest IP, Horizon Zero Dawn. When the game launched, plenty of players were eager to dive into the storyline featuring Aloy. Set in the distant future, Aloy was one of the few humans left living in a more primitive state. Instead of humankind being the dominant species for the world, large machines roam freely. Little is known about the metal world within the game, but today we are privy to some new details.
Horizon Forbidden West is the next mainline installment to the franchise. Aloy is on a brand new adventure. In this game, a plague has struck the world, infecting all living things across the lands. To save humanity and nature, Aloy is forced into traveling west to find the source of this plague. With a new adventure set ahead of her, we can expect new factions and even machines. Today, developers from Guerrilla Games, including Community Lead Bo de Vries, offered some unique insight. In an official PlayStation Blog post, the development studio talked about creating these machines.
“We’re expanding this catalog further with Horizon Forbidden West. For example, we knew we wanted a slightly bigger flying machine than the Glinthawk, which resulted in the Sunwing – but it needed a place and a role in the world. We studied various flying reptiles and primitive birds for inspiration, and came up with the concept of their wings collecting solar energy during sunny weather. This in turn created an interesting gameplay dynamic: Sunwings will be vulnerable when they are harvesting solar power, but are also more alert to potential predators when they are idle.”
The goal at first for these machine creations was to come up with how they were helpful back when humankind ruled. These machines were used in various tasks such as purifing water or collect energy. For instance, one of the new machines Aloy will come across is the Sunwing, which has the power of flight. Initially, humans sent off these machines to collect solar energy with their wings. Likewise, there’s the Tremortusk which was modeled to be a bit like a giant war elephant. Combat was the main focus for this elephant which ultimately was created to more or less keep humanity in check.
“The Tremortusk is based on a mammoth with a nod to the historic and cinematic examples of the great war elephants. It has many different attacks and a body covered in various guns. Apart from using its tusks to attack up close, it also has different elemental weapons it can use. The one we see in the trailer is controlled by a rebel faction of the Tenakth, but you can also find them wandering the wilds.”
Of course, there are quite a few other new machines you’ll come across throughout the game. As a result, Aloy will have to be more agile and carefully think about what machines to take on. Players could plot out their attacks, escape plans, or simply keep at a distance. We know that some machines could very well lead Aloy to some resources. Currently, Horizon Forbidden West will hit the marketplace on February 18, 2022, exclusively for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 platforms.
