Horizon Forbidden West new Gameplay

On the 27th of this month, Sony showed a new, 14 minutes long,  gameplay trailer of Horizon Forbidden West running on the PS5. The highly anticipated game is the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn and one of the highlights of the PS5 lineup, even if the game is also comming to the PS4 and possible PC in the future, given the original is also on Steam.

The gameplay felt very scripted, for the most part. But this is not uncommon on these types of presentations. Particuarly in AAA titles. Scripted or not, we had the chance to see the UI, the visuals and the vision the developers at Guerrilla Games have for the game.

In the trailer, many of the features we were anticipating based on the original reveal were expanted upon. Including the ability to freely move underwater and explore submerged ruins, a more free style climbing mechanic and the the ability to ride machines after hacking them.

A somewhat funny moment on the trailer was when Aloy deployed her new parachute like device to slow down her landing. While the feature is more then likely inspired by Breath of the Wild, that doesn't diminish its value, and I hope it is put to good use.

I was a little disappointed on the climb mechanics they came up with though. It is certaily better, faster and more flexible than the one on first game, but we are still relying on fixed climbing spots like we see in so many other games. While games like BOTW and Monster Hunter Rise took it a step further and let us climb almost anything at any point.

That said, the most interesting part of the trailer has to be the new combat sytem. Not only it is more dynamic than the previous title, but it also gives the player much more options, allowing for a more tactical approach to fighting. And of course, the ability to upgrade all of your weapons individually is always nice, as it gives meaning to actually engaging in combat.

Do we have a release date?

We don't. And that has to be the most disappoiting part of the entire presentation. Speculations say it could release this year, but we don't have any official word on the matter. One way or the other, I can't wait to try it out when it releases on the PS4 and PS5. The original Zero Dawn is one of my favorite open world games and I'm sure this one will be up on the list as well. 

You can check the trailer by yourself on Playstation's official Youtube channel.