Early into the marketing for Guerrilla Games' Horizon Forbidden West, one major focus was how much more capable Aloy was of exploring her environment. Its predecessor Horizon Zero Dawn featured a solid open world, but one with fairly restrictive exploration. Forbidden West promised new means of traversal like swimming off the coast of San Francisco's post-apocalyptic ruins and flying atop Pterodactyl-styled machines called Sunwings. Most notably, Forbidden West seemed to take cues from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by offering Aloy a glider.
Breath of the Wild was a groundbreaking game, garnering mass acclaim upon release in 2017 and inspiring titles like miHoYo's Genshin Impact. Aloy's Shieldwing glider is a clear example of Nintendo's achievements leading to innovation at other studios, serving a very similar role to Link's paraglider that allows him to escape Hyrule's Great Plateau. However, Horizon Forbidden West could have also included its own take on Revali's Gale, a popular Breath of the Wild skill that synergizes well with Link's paraglider.
Revali's Gale in Breath of the Wild
After leaving the aforementioned Great Plateau, Breath of the Wild players can theoretically run straight to Hyrule Castle and battle Calamity Ganon. This freedom is part of the reason for its acclaim, though a traditional playthrough sees Link visit Kakariko Village to begin his quest of freeing all four Divine Beasts. These quests bring Link to the homes of Hyrule's major races; the Zora, Goron, Rito, and Gerudo; and ultimately the Divine Beasts strike the final boss to cut its health in half.
However, one of the main beats underlying each Divine Beast is Link setting the souls of his former comrades to rest. Each of Hyrule's races elected a Champion; Mipha, Daruk, Revali, and Urbosa respectively; with the responsibility of piloting the Divine Beasts and protecting Princess Zelda. All are killed fending off the Calamity in Breath of the Wild's war 100 years prior to the game, but Link receives their blessings by completing each story objective.
The Champion's blessings are straightforward and recharge over time: Mipha's Grace is an instant revival with extra hearts, Daruk's Protection creates an impenetrable shield, Revali's Gale summons updrafts for Link to ascend, and Urbosa's Fury strikes the surrounding area with lightning. Revali's Gale has the most impact on traversing Hyrule, as Link can use it to immediately scale a wall or reach an extra-high vantage in order to glide over obstacles.
Aloy's Expanded Arsenal in Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West's opening tutorial sees the redheaded Nora take her ally Varl through the ruins of an old-world spacecraft launch site run by the organization Far Zenith. During this mission she builds a new traversal tool called the Pullcaster that acts similar to a grappling hook; letting Aloy zip to ledges and pull apart debris from afar. This is just the first tool in her expanded arsenal, with the rest being disseminated over time.
Once she reaches Tenakth territory in the titular Forbidden West, Aloy is tasked with recovering three subfunctions of the terraforming AI GAIA that were scattered following the original GAIA's destruction. Players are given the freedom to choose between recovering AETHER from a museum centered on aeronautic soldiers, DEMETER from a botanical research facility, or POSEIDON from a water reclamation system in Las Vegas; in any order they choose.
However, players would be smart to visit DEMETER or POSEIDON first, as these quests grant Aloy the ability to open Metal Flower blockades and swim indefinitely. AETHER's quest forwards the story of Regalla's rebellion and helps Aloy bond with her new companion Kotallo, yet its only tangible reward akin to those traversal tools is access to the Arena side-activity. Horizon Forbidden West's metroidvania elements aren't perfect, but Metal Flowers and sunken locales are essential for those looking to explore the Forbidden West in its entirety.
The Shieldwing is an earlier acquisition, coming to Aloy after she defeats Regalla's champion Grudda upon leaving Carja territory near the start of her adventure. It's less useful for crossing horizontal distance than Breath of the Wild's paraglider, with Aloy having a more acute downward arc better fit for safely descending. It would have a lot more use cases if Aloy could manipulate her vertical height using a skill similar to Revali's Gale, as her current means of air travel comes far too late.
Why Horizon Forbidden West's Flying Doesn't Help Shieldwing Utility
One could argue Horizon Forbidden West's marketing was deceptive in some ways, having less of a focus on the tropical San Francisco coastline than pre-release materials suggested. Aloy also doesn't get the ability to fly Sunwings until the end of the main story, unlocking this override just in time to stop Regalla by riding "The Wings of the Ten." That's not to say Sunwing flight isn't useful, but there's a good chance players have explored much of the Forbidden West before they earn the right to travel by air.
Because the ability comes so late, and because Sunwings are able to ascend and descend at will, the Shieldwing never becomes much more than a tool to descend from high places. Adding something that emulates Revali's Gale earlier in the story would have made it a better middle-ground between climbing up sheer cliffs and freely flying across the ruins of the west coast. Guerrilla could have considered something like a rudimentary jetpack used by the Ten that Aloy picks up in Memorial Grove during AETHER's quest, one with a limited charge that only allows for some vertical height.
Using this technology would fit remnants of the advanced Old Ones. However, the easiest argument against a Revali's Gale-style tool is it might trivialize tasks like climbing Tallnecks or catching survey drones, which otherwise rely on players finding a good vantage to jump from. Yet this idea would help Horizon capture another high-point from Breath of the Wild: its freedom to tackle the same task in multiple ways should players use their own ingenuity or find certain items early. Adding a new way to gain immediate vertical height during the mid-game would also synergize well with Sunwing flights later on. It could open up faster take-offs with airborne machines, and make it easier to clear certain obstacles.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.