Guerrilla Games has unveiled a new look at the open world design of Horizon Forbidden West in a brand new blog post, ahead of the game’s launch.
While the full release of Horizon Forbidden West is still a few months out, Guerrilla Games seems happy to keep us wanting with the release of some new imagery and detail surrounding the wider world that Aloy is set to explore. During an official blog post, Espen Sogn, Lead Living World Designer at Guerrilla explained how the different teams at the studio pulled together to turn the open environments from a big back backdrop into an inhabited world. With a focus on intent, Sogan explains;
“When you walk through the Forbidden West, everything should feel like it belongs there. The Living World team at Guerrilla works on aspects of the game that make the world feel authentic and alive: the tribes, the settlements, and the people within them. There’s an intention behind everything we place within the world.”
The remainder of this lengthy post covers contributions from a number of teams leads in Guerrilla, detailing everything from the way NPCs move as a crowd, to their attitude, and a deeper exploration of an Oseram outpost where a great deal of this work comes together.
If you catch up on the post, there’s a further glimpse into the way NPCs like Stitchers, Hunters, Herbalists, and Cooks all interact and reflect their societies. Many of their actions and options might be familiars but it seems Guerilla is set on making them fit each part of Forbidden West in their own way.
For anybody looking to hold out and go in completely blind, Horizon Forbidden West should be here soon. The sequel to the phenomenal Horizon Zero Dawn is set to venture out into the undergrowth to save humanity again when it arrives on PlayStation 4 and Playstation5 on 18 February 2022. Rather than get too deep into the details and spoil any future enjoyment, we’re going to just leave a link to the official post and let you decide if you want to venture into Chainscrape outpost yet.
