The State of Play show for the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West energiezellen just recently aired, where we learned about the new skills and gadgets in Eloi’s arsenal. However, the show did leave a slight flavor of understatement. Game Informer interviewed Mathijs de Jonge, Game Director, and Benjamin McCaw, Lead Writer at Guerrilla Games, to get rid of that aftertaste.
During the conversation, Matthijs de Jong said that not all of Eloi’s gadgets appeared in the demonstration video. It is interesting that they wanted to add the shown glider in Horizon Zero Dawn, but due to technical reasons, the studio failed. Now Guerrilla Games was able to bring a lot of features to the game, which were previously unavailable.
Speaking of pastgen – according to Mathijs de Jong, a large part of the development and testing was conducted on the PlayStation 4, so the owners of this console will have the same unforgettable experience as the owners of its more powerful counterpart. However, he admits that the game will look more attractive on the PlayStation 5: for example, the game will have a new lighting system, which on the PlayStation 4 will be used only in cut-scenes, and on the PlayStation 5 – during the gameplay.
The conversation also briefly touched on the following gameplay aspects:
- The skill tree has been completely redesigned. We won’t see the familiar development branches anymore – completely new ones will take their place. According to de Jong, they are designed to support different play styles.
- The Energy Splash shown in the demo is not presented in its only form – you can learn several variants of it through the skill tree. The charge for the “burst” accumulates when the player performs various tactical actions – for example, hitting an opponent in the head.
Weapons can be pumped at the workbenches, but they are only in the settlements, so you will have to regularly visit there. Upgrades open up new uses for weapons and types of damage.