Guerrilla Games has drip-fed some more information on the upcoming Horizon: Forbidden West, this time focusing on Aloy’s robotic foes.
In the latest developer update from the PlayStation Blog, the studio confirmed that some machines from Horizon: Zero Dawn will return in the sequel. These include the Watcher, ready to alert others if they spot Aloy and the water-land double threat of Snapmaw. Principal Machine Designer Blake Politeski talks a little about what went into some of these foes creations.
“In the first game we had to create the foundation so we started small by defining different roles. The Watcher is like a security camera, the Ravager is an enforcer, and so forth. Once those base roles were decided, we could really build on that by mixing in robot designs, unique abilities and features, and of course cool weapons and attacks.”
Of course, there’ll also be some new foes, two of which we got to meet in the trailer back in May (below). There’s the quick and agile Clawstrider, and the huge almost-literal walking tank of the Tremortusk. As art lead Maxim Fleury describes: “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.”
Not every machine will be hostile, however. Aloy’s ability to Override specific machines and ride them as a handy mount. You’ll also be able to potentially find stashes by following some of these machines when they’re searching for a resource.
There’s plenty more insight to read in the blog for yourself. Horizon: Forbidden West launches on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 18, 2022.
