Horizon Forbidden West seems determined to expand on its predecessor in a lot of ways. Horizon Zero Dawn had a breadth of mechanics when it came to interacting with its machines, from overriding them to targeting their elemental weaknesses to choosing the best weapon for dealing with them. Even so, Horizon Forbidden West brings in special attacks for Aloy and new weapons that'll help her fight new machines in a corner of the post-apocalyptic United States that's unknown to her. Horizon fans have a lot of reasons to be excited about the sequel considering all the new features Guerrilla Games has come up with.
One wonders in particular how Guerrilla might use overriding machines in Horizon Forbidden West. The extended gameplay trailer from earlier this year showed that Aloy can still override machines and use them as steeds, so maybe there are new types of steeds available to her. Maybe Aloy can finally tame a flying machine and take flight herself—not unlike how Link has a winged steed in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Although Link's Loftwing was extremely innovative for the Zelda series, it left some things to be desired. Maybe Guerrilla Games will take some notes from Skyward Sword and improve on its idea in Horizon Forbidden West.
The Pros and Cons of Skyward Sword's Loftwing
Flying around the sky of Skyward Sword definitely had some upsides. The Legend of Zelda is no stranger to large maps that Link needs some help to traverse. Whether it's Epona ferrying Link around Hyrule or the King of Red Lions carrying Link across the open sea, Link has had plenty of helpful vehicles in his days. Even so, flying in Skyward Sword added new layers of depth to travel. Loftwings were more than a game mechanic; they tied into the game's lore and helped flesh out the world. The three-dimensional aspect of flight also added some skill demands of players that a horse or a boat could never replicate.
However, in other ways, Loftwings and flight left something to be desired. Skyward Sword's Loftwings were a little awkward to control, especially in the original version on the Wii, where players had to tilt and shake the Wiimote all over the place to direct Link's Loftwing, which could be pretty unresponsive at times. The slow Loftwing controls were especially inconvenient when Link got attacked or needed to hurry up while flying, adding a lot of unnecessary frustration. Many fans also felt that, although Skyward Sword's sky is mostly intended as a hub for the game and not the main attraction, Nintendo could've added more to see and do while flying around.
Skyward Sword's flight mechanics boil down to an excellent idea with noteworthy imperfections. Link's Loftwing was a charming companion appropriate to the world of Skyward Sword that just didn't have the polish necessary to consistently delight fans. That's why games like Horizon Forbidden West should take a crack at flying steeds. Skyward Sword HD's Switch release put Loftwings on the minds of video game fans, so now would be a great time for Guerrilla Games to give Horizon fans a flight mechanic that compares favorably to Skyward Sword's mechanics.
Horizon Forbidden West Should Reach for the Skies
Horizon Forbidden West's gameplay reveals may have teased a fun new electronic glider in Aloy's possession, but that shouldn't be the end of her flight options. Trailers and images from the game make it clear that there are flying machines resembling pterosaurs in the Forbidden West. They certainly look big enough for Aloy to mount, too. If Glinthawks return in Horizon Forbidden West, then Aloy would have a couple of good options for flying steeds. So long as she has a tool or weapon to ground these machines with, Aloy could override them and take to the skies.
Flying mounts would be a huge boon for Horizon Forbidden West's exploration. For example, sneak peeks at a dilapidated San Francisco imply there will be plenty of vertical exploration, sure to use Horizon's climbing mechanics. However, it would make sense if even Aloy can't climb some of the buildings in their current state. Instead, once Aloy learns to mount flying machines in Horizon Forbidden West, players could fly up to the tops of skyscrapers in search of rare treasure and collectibles, rewarding players for exploring city ruins in more ways than one.
Flying mounts add a lot of interesting possibilities for Horizon Forbidden West's combat as well. Aloy could learn to shoot arrows from atop a flying steed like how she can learn to shoot from the back of a grounded steed in Horizon Zero Dawn. Balancing that type of combat wouldn't be too difficult either. So long as the Forbidden West's grounded machines have at least one ranged option to exchange fire with Aloy, she wouldn't have the permanent luxury of attacking enemies from beyond their reach. After all, if projectiles or other flying machines destroy Aloy's steed, she might have to glide down to an awfully disadvantageous position.
Spreading Aloy's Wings in Horizon Forbidden West
Admittedly, flying steed in Horizon Forbidden West would introduce some other issues for Guerrilla to resolve. Flying steeds would mean Aloy could cover a lot of ground very fast, which might put a lot of stress on players' consoles to render the game's map incredibly quickly. The PS5 might not have too much trouble keeping up with Forbidden West's demands, but rendering so much detailed terrain might be a burden to the PS4. Even so, Guerrilla Games might find workarounds for technical drawbacks like this. It might be possible to reduce rendering detail in some way while flying so that Horizon Forbidden West doesn't underperform on the older PlayStation model.
So far, Horizon Forbidden West looks like an adventure focused on Aloy applying her broad skill set and extensive life experience to a new problem in a new place. She may not know everything about the Forbidden West, but she knows a lot about both machines and people. She'll adapt her knowledge to both things, resulting in new approaches to new experiences. Ideally, this includes overriding and mounting more types of machines; after all, there's a lot for Aloy to gain from learning to fly. Horizon Forbidden West's many new mechanics certainly foretell other elaborate new ideas from Guerrilla, theoretically including flying mounts.
Horizon Forbidden West reportedly releases in 2022 for PS4 and PS5.