The developers – Guerrilla Games – have gone all-in for marketing the Horizon Forbidden West’s upcoming DLC – Burning Shores. The DLC is set to launch on April 18th, exclusively for the PS5.
The fans were introduced to “Waterwing” on March 30th via one such marketing strategy called the “Meet the Machines” series on Twitter. While the shots are mostly scenic, it shows that the Waterwing can swim underwater and fly, sparking speculations that it might have one or two combat features to help Aloy fight underwater.
The new inclusion would allow Aloy to transition between environments swiftly and travel at unprecedented speeds in the game. It has yet to be confirmed if Aloy is set to be a more competent combatant underwater with this mount.
The original Horizon Zero Dawn had relatively simple traversal mechanics. It was simple at heart, with Aloy able to climb cliffsides via predetermined ledges and mount overridden machines like the Broadhead to travel faster.
The Horizon Forbidden West promised to improve on that and more, giving Aloy more options to travel, including swimming using a Dive mask and flying amongst the clouds with Sunwings, and gliding down just as gently with the Shieldwing Glider.
Since the little snippet of the video shared with us shows Aloy only flying around, it remains to be seen if the Waterwing has any combat abilities. It should be kept in mind that, as of now, only Grounded mounts such as the Clawstrider have combat options, unlike their aerial and underwater counterparts.
This speculation is set into perspective because machines like the Tideripper can strike Aloy underwater. Thus, it would make more sense to give the Waterwing some combat capabilities to help Aloy not only defend herself but also destroy other underwater machines.
Being a speculation, it could change course just as easily. However, the developers, should they find a way, would be killing two birds with one stone if they could make both traversal and combat capabilities work underwater.
The concept could be expanded too, as Aloy could easily ride machines like Snapmaws underwater in Burning Shores or a sequel to Horizon Forbidden West. Thus, Burning Ground is sure to be groundbreaking regarding what’s coming to the Horizon Franchise in the future.
About Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn by Guerilla Games. An open-world, action adventure game, players control Aloy, a Nora hunter who is on a quest to reverse the effects of a strange crimson blight which is infecting the land. Set in a completely new world, Horizon Forbidden West has many new machines, threats and adventures for Aloy.
No Comments on Horizon Forbidden West DLC speculated to bring underwater combat