When a game like Horizon Zero Dawn has such a tremendous sprawling map, it's crucial that the developer makes traversing it compelling, as rolling hills and cliffsides are prone to turn from captivating scenery to frustrating obstacles when players can't travel through them efficiently on foot. Luckily, Guerrilla Games put thought into that for Horizon: Zero Dawn. A lot of the in-game travel involves parkour elements where Aloy leaps from cliff to rope to foothold, and elements all around the setting encourage Aloy and the player to investigate the world as much as possible. The upcoming sequel Horizon Forbidden West is bound to encourage exploration in the same way.
However, Horizon Forbidden West doesn't just have to copy over the parkour elements from the first game. Ideally, Guerrilla Games will take a second look at the parkour system and look for ways to improve it. Forbidden West will see Aloy entering a whole new area with new biomes and new terrain to traverse, and it would make sense if she had to learn some new acrobatics to get through the forests, mountains, and fallen cityscapes of the Forbidden West. As satisfying as the mechanic was in the first game, there's plenty of room for improvements. The parkour should grow with Aloy.
Learning New Skills
Part of what makes Horizon Zero Dawn's parkour good is that it's intuitive, as not every action RPG asks the player to gain mastery over platforming. Thankfully, Guerrilla Games put in the work to streamline the parkour and make it fairly obvious how the player needs to climb. Ropes and footholds are frequently painted yellow, standing out against the wooden structures and stone environments that Aloy needs to get up and over. What's more, Aloy does a lot of the work for the player, leaping independently toward the next step in the climb as long as the player directs her to move towards it.
Even so, the parkour system isn't perfect. There are moments where Aloy isn't as responsive to climbing paths as she should be, and not every path is perfectly clear. On top of streamlining the basics of parkour, it would be great if Aloy got more options for surfaces to scale. For instance, it's surprising that as strong a climber as Aloy doesn't really climb trees. In some of the densely forested areas of the Forbidden West, leaping from branch to branch would be exciting and satisfying. The developer could introduce some new equipment to help Aloy reach new heights too.
The Benefits of Belaying
Improving the parkour system wouldn't just make an impact on navigation. Horizon Forbidden West could capitalize on more parkour options by letting it play into combat, so players who like to approach enemies stealthily would benefit from new attacks and techniques encouraging more leaping attacks and gaining a height advantage over opponents. Sniping with a bow would also be much more compelling if Aloy can find a perch on the fly, whether it's on a tree branch or a collapsing concrete windowsill. Considering how many enemies have ranged attacks too, giving Aloy the high ground should be feasible to balance.
Perhaps most importantly, expanding on Horizon Zero Dawn's original parkour will help capture the feeling of adventuring into the unknown. Players don't know what to expect of the mysterious Forbidden West, so they want to be encouraged to explore every nook and cranny of the territory. Encouraging players to climb to places they never could've reached in Zero Dawn will really help Forbidden West stand apart and remind players that they're entering the unknown.
Horizon Forbidden West releases in 2021 for PS4 and PS5.