Horizon Forbidden West is looking extremely promising, even just in its initial reveal trailer. Lots of new additions to the Horizon formula and world are being added, and the core loop of fighting giant mechanical monsters is as cool as ever. One notable thing being added is the ability to swim underneath water, giving players an eyeful of some of the most beautiful and exotic environments the game has to offer. There’s likely going to be a fair number of aquatic monsters, too, and all of it should run great on the PS5.
However, this may not be the feature it’s hyped up to be. Horizon Forbidden West will continue to be a land-focused game, and its gameplay will likely follow suit. The impact of some areas that support swimming will likely be minor, and mostly just to break up the pace of exploring the rest of the world. Forbidden West has a lot going for it, but underwater exploration is not going to be a main selling point.
Under The Sea
Water levels are often maligned in video games, as everyone remembers The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's water level. Whether it's for some non-functional game design or just for changing the physics into something different from the norm, they tend to restrict players in unpleasant ways and drag down the experience. Modern AAA titles have gotten better with this, having segments either designed around wading or swimming through water, implementing better control schemes and game feel for swimming, or just for making them unimportant and thus easily glossed over. Chunks of Horizon Forbidden West’s map will likely only be accessible through swimming, but there’s a good chance they will never be the focus of anything more than a couple of heavily scripted setpieces.
There may be challenges, collectibles, or the aforementioned story moments, but it’s not as if Forbidden West is going to take place underwater. Horizon’s developer knows the history and challenges of implementing underwater environments in games, and despite swimming and seaside areas featuring prominently in the game’s reveal trailer, they ultimately won’t amount to much in the grand scheme of the game. Regular bow combat will be somewhat difficult to adapt to an underwater setting, so players probably won’t be forced to fight many aquatic enemies. Besides, in most parts of the map, players will be more likely to just find a stream to cross than a lake or swamp that ask to be navigated. For all the hype given to watery environs, underwater exploration probably won’t be a big deal.
Trawl The Briny Depths
Still, that doesn’t mean that swimming can’t be a nice distraction when it appears. Aloy is shown with a rebreather of some sort, so time spent underwater can be a continuous experience full of discovery. The presence of seemingly hostile machines indicates that stealth and/or combat will be a part of the experience, so the underwater sections will be built out to a reasonable degree, even if they still won’t be a replacement for regular gameplay. Not to mention, even if there aren’t a lot of underwater structures and they’re mainly localized to a couple parts of the map, it will still be a thrill to swim into them.
Underwater gameplay, when done right, can be not only inoffensive but enjoyable. It serves as a break from the usual land-based traversal and fighting, and depending on the game, players can freely explore multiple different depths at will, without the need for a wall to use for parkour. Horizon Forbidden West’s underwater exploration will certainly enhance the game’s alternating natural and unnatural beauty, though no one should expect it to take up too much of their time.
Horizon Forbidden West is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4 and 5 in late 2021.