The latest PlayStation exclusive from Guerrilla Games has arrived, continuing the epic adventure of red-haired heroine Aloy as she enters the territory of the Tenakth tribe known as the Forbidden West. It’s considerably bigger (and better) than its predecessor, to the point where it can almost feel overwhelming when you first arrive in the open world. Luckily, we’re here to help guide you through 10 things he needs to do first in Horizon Forbidden West.
Pick your graphics mode
This is a relatively easy place to start. If you’re playing on PS5 especially, you’ll need to choose between an incredibly smooth frame rate in performance graphics mode or a super sharp image in resolution mode.
If you prefer frame rate, choose Performance. There is a slight hit to image quality, but the game still looks amazingly good. If you prefer to experience the Forbidden West in the best visual fidelity, then you’ll want to opt for Resolution mode. This causes the frame rate to suffer, but
Choose difficulty and pathfinding modes
Things to do first in Horizon Forbidden West
Before you start your adventure, choose your difficulty and Pathfinding modes.
While the former is relatively straightforward, although there is a ‘Custom’ difficulty option that allows you to adjust a variety of settings to tailor the challenge to your skill level, the latter is a bit less clear for what it does.
The ‘Explorer’ option will force you to rely more on simply exploring your environment to discover where in the world you are supposed to go to reach your goal. You can carve your own path through the Forbidden West without the AI ??holding your hand, perfect for the open world gaming experience for players.
The ‘Guidance’ option will cause objective markers to appear frequently on your HUD, almost giving you a breadcrumb-like trail to follow to your next objective. Which one is right for you depends entirely on your personal preferences.
The good news is that you can change both the difficulty and exploration mode at any time, so if your first choice isn’t right for you, don’t panic. You won’t have to start over and lose all that progress.
Come through the opening missions
Horizon Forbidden West’s opening hour is heavily focused on connecting the events of Horizon Zero Dawn with the adventure you are about to begin in Forbidden West. It’s a lot more linear than the rest of the game, but they do an excellent job of getting you familiar with the world.
That said, the real heart of the experience comes after the scene has been set, so we wouldn’t worry too much about trying to explore every nook and cranny until Aloy made her way to Chainscrape. Even then, this open area you’re in can easily suck up over 10 hours of your time… and that’s just the beginning of the map.
Soak up your surroundings in photo mode
Things to do first in Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Forbidden West is absolutely beautiful. In other very obvious news, water gets wet.
While you almost certainly won’t need convincing to take some stunning photos on your adventure through the territory of the Tenakth tribe, it’s worth spending some time in your first few hours to familiarize yourself with the various settings at your disposal.
That way, when a sight really takes your breath away, you can adjust the image in photo mode to create a perfect memory of your time with Aloy in the Forbidden West.
Check out the skill trees and plan your purchases
Forbidden West isn’t just getting bigger and better on the machine, map, and quest front. It also increases the set of skills available to unlock for Aloy as you level her up and complete quests.
There are six different skill trees (Warrior, Trapper, Hunter, Survivor, Infiltrator, and Machine Master) that allow you to really tailor Aloy’s strengths to your playstyle. If you’re a big fan of using machines to your advantage, then the Machine Master skill tree is the one for you. Do you prefer to take out your enemies from afar? Then the Hunter skill tree, with its ranged weapon techniques, Valor Surges, and passive skills, is where you’ll want to pour your points.
While skill points will come to you quickly, you’ll want to plan which skills you want to get first to get the upper hand in the early hours.
Experiment with weapons to find out what works best for you
Things to do first in Horizon Forbidden West
As great as Aloy’s bow is, it’s not the only thing she has at her disposal to take down the various machine and human enemies that might stand in her way.
If you like to get up close and personal, there’s the Spear, which can be used for fast and heavy melee attacks, as well as a new blast option that can be combined with your ranged weapons for a devastating blow. to your target.
Then there are options like Tripcaster and Sling, which you’ll be able to get quite early in your adventure. These are great for dealing high amounts of elemental damage, something you’ll want to use as it can help machines run less effort, especially when combined with using your Focus to pinpoint weaknesses.
There are plenty of other weapons that you’ll have the opportunity to add to Aloy’s arsenal as you progress through the game, some of which lend themselves better to certain playstyles. Experiment with them as you make them find your perfect picks to equip your weapon wheel.
Get used to your Pullcaster and Focus
Your Pullcaster will become an incredibly important part of Aloy’s arsenal in Horizon Forbidden West. It allows him to grab onto special yellow dots on walls and in the environment, as well as attach to and pull objects that have a blue X-beam on them.
This can be used to clear debris or move a beam to a new position so you can climb onto it.
Your Focus, on the other hand, is something you’ll be familiar with from Horizon Zero Dawn, but it’s still incredibly useful for finding data points, identifying weaknesses in the various machines you come across, tagging enemies or parts of enemies, and detect resource caches and more. By pressing and holding R3 you will be able to freely look around with the Focus, perfect for reading those data points or scanning machines.
However, if you just press R3, your Focus will rapidly pulse your environment, revealing resources that can be picked up, as well as areas that you can freely climb, on cliffs or buildings, with yellow x’s and lines.
Visit Campfires to save and unlock fast travel points
Things to do first in Horizon Forbidden West
You can only manually save your game in Horizon Forbidden West at a campfire, so be sure to visit them whenever they appear on your compass at the top of the screen and on your map.
Campfires also allow you to fast travel between two discovered campfires for free, instead of having to use a Fast Travel Pack consumable that you would otherwise use. While it’s a joy to explore the world, it’s sometimes helpful to be able to get somewhere quickly, especially with the size of the map.
Get reading through that lore
The world of Horizon Forbidden West is steeped in lore. Guerrilla Games has created an absolutely fantastic world and the more you delve into the various data points and thoroughly explore the conversation options with the NPCs, the more fascinating it becomes.
It’s an incredibly detailed and believable world, and if you’ve fallen in love with the world, this is your way to immerse yourself further in it.
Take on the challenges of Hunting Grounds or learn more techniques in Melee Pit
Things to do first in Horizon Forbidden West
When you reach Chainscrape in the canyon after the opening section of Horizon Forbidden West, you’ll be able to head to the local Melee Pit.
These allow you to learn new melee techniques and also improve your melee skills, in case you’re having a hard time mastering Aloy’s spear.
Proceed a little further through the canyon and you’ll eventually come across a hunting ground. Take on challenges here to earn medals which can then be exchanged for some of the best weapons in the game later on.
They’re also just a fun little test of your combat skills, so go ahead and take some time out of Aloy’s incredibly important mission and kill some machines for your own enjoyment. All work and no play make Aloy a sad savior from Sundom.
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks, you can head over to our wiki or check out more of our coverage on the game below.
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