Horizon Forbidden West boasts improved traversal and climbing mechanics

Horizon Forbidden West boasts improved climbing and traversal mechanics, it's been revealed.

The new details come courtesy of an IGN preview, where the outlet got to sample four hours of new gameplay in Horizon Forbidden West. In particular, the new preview points out that the climbing mechanics of the sequel are a big improvement on 2017's Zero Dawn, featuring much more rocky terrain that protagonist Aloy can scale with ease.

This ultimately brings Forbidden West closer to that of an Assassin's Creed game, the new preview notes. If you found Aloy's handling of environments to often be clumsy back in the original game, then the thought of scaling walls, branches, and cliff faces far quicker in Forbidden West is no doubt music to your ears.

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In fact, we can see some of these overhauled mechanics in action in the leaked footage below. We can see Aloy scaling rocky ridges, using rapid ziplines, and even latching onto enemies with a grappling hook in the gameplay segment, as well as using the paraglider-like item that we've previous seen in past gameplay demoes.

All of this has Horizon Forbidden West shaping up to be a far more smoother experience when you're out in the open world. Guerrilla's forthcoming sequel launches in under a month from now on February 18, for PS4 and PS5 alike. Just earlier today, we learned that it'll feature an absorbing minigame similar to Warhammer, where Aloy ventures around to collect pieces to use for battle.