Horizon fans are now less than two months away from the release of Horizon Forbidden West on PS4 and PS5, and this means more and more news, trailers, and the like in the build-up. Recent weeks have seen new enemies like the Slitherfang shown off and a reportedly massive file size leaked from the PlayStation database.
More and more continues to pour in, including new details regarding Horizon Forbidden West’s skill tree. It’ll function likely most skill trees in video games, but interestingly enough, Horizon Forbidden West’s skill tree sounds massive and gives players a lot of choice in its approach.
Primarily, there are six different playstyle paths found in this skill tree. These include the Warrior tree, which focuses on melee attacks and skills; the Trapper tree, which focuses on trap-oriented skills; the Survivor tree, which focuses on health and resource skills; the Infiltrator tree, which is focused on stealth options in Horizon Forbidden West; the Hunter tree, which focuses on Aloy’s ranged abilities, and finally, the Machine Master tree focused on hacking and machine-oriented abilities.
Players can certainly go down a full tree like the Infiltrator or the Hunter, should they so choose, but most importantly, the game does not force them into one—allowing players to mix and match skills. There are a total of 20-30 skills per tree at that. Each tree does have its own unique Valor Surge move in Horizon Forbidden West, though.
These skills work much like other skill trees found in video games, but with some added effects and changes. Aloy’s outfits in Horizon Forbidden West, for example, can improve and boost certain skills, while weave boosts are also capable of pushing some skills to their limits. It’s also been revealed that some high-level armor can raise skills up to 300%, meaning each loadout and kit will require some planning on behalf of the player.
As exciting as all of this sounds, there’s one key question that seems to go unanswered. Some video games require players to find items or use a specific currency to reset skills, as they change their playstyle or to perfect an endgame build—things along those lines. Horizon Zero Dawn didn’t have this feature, but given how expansive Horizon Forbidden West appears to be, it’ll be interesting to see the approach here. Fans could get all 84 skills in the first game, but there are a lot more here to unlock.
Horizon Forbidden West releases February 18 for PS4 and PS5.
Source: Game Informer (via Reddit)