Horizon Forbidden Westimproves uponHorizon Zero Dawnin a number of ways, and its clearest improvements are all regarding Aloy’s moveset and equipment. Aloy may not be able to traverse nearly any surface with a stamina wheel like inThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but there are far more surfaces that she can scale with relative ease. Aloy’s Shieldwing, Pullcaster, Igniter, and Diving Mask are all foundational additions in gameplay, leaving one area left for aHorizonsequel to branch out further:Horizon’s override mechanic.
Overriding allows players to temporarily ‘mind-control’ certain machines, and inHorizon Forbidden Westthat mechanic takes a considerable step forward. Overriding is important for a number of reasons, with quicker traversal throughout the open world being a huge incentive. This mechanic overrides machines whose data have been downloaded fromHorizon’s Cauldrons, and while some machines can be mounted and rode around, Override still has a long way to go. In a sequel, it would be fantastic to see the Override mechanic relinquish full control of a machine to the player.
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Horizon’s Override Mechanics Are Underutilized
Horizon Zero Dawnintroduced the Override ability as a simple mechanic that let Aloy ride certain machines and caused them to attack hostile machines nearby. This is always helpful as a decoy tactic, in order to take attention away from the player while they are on a tough hunt.
InHorizon Forbidden West, though, the player can use Targeting Hunter Arrows to explicitly select a machine for their overridden machine to attack. This required players to not only have the Targeting Hunter Arrows, but also have an overridden machine that they could send after their target, making it less of an effective means of combat. The player can also choose whether they want their overridden machine to be defensive or offensive. Mounts took their own leap forward whenHorizon Forbidden Westintroduced its flying Sunwing mount.
Horizon Forbidden West’s Burning Shores DLC now introduces the Waterwing, which is a flying mount that can also be ridden underwater. This addition alone could demonstrate that machine overrides and mounts are a huge priority for theHorizonfranchise’s future. If so, it would be wonderful to see Overrides give players more of an immersive control over the machines that players choose to commandeer.
Horizon’s Overrides Should Allow for Full Machine Control
It would be remarkable ifoverriding and mounting a Frostclawresulted in the player being able to thrash around as the mechanical bear with fluid movement and its own attack controls, for example. If each machine creature had its own Override moveset, choosing to override and mount machines in the wild would become an extremely viable means of combat when trying to take down any machine.
Emulatingthe Wirebug mount mechanic inMonster Hunter Risesomewhat, this could be a great way to get free hits on bigger threats with machines that players have unlocked an Override for. Taking this concept a step further, it would be neat to have machines be temporarily playable even without mounting them, as if Aloy’s Override was commandeering them remotely and abiding by her programming for a short time.
Regardless of what theHorizonfranchise adds, improving the Overrides and mounts would be the next best step it could take. It will be interesting to see what other potential additions are introduced aside from the Waterwing in the Burning Shores DLC later this month.
Horizon Forbidden Westis available now on PS4 and PS5.
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