Crossing paths with wondrous and terrifying new machines and taking them on in combat is one of Horizon’s biggest draws, and it looks like Horizon Forbidden West is making exciting promises on that fronts. Guerrilla has revealed a number of new machines that will be featured in the game, while there are likely going to be several more that haven’t yet been revealed. Here, in the lead-up to the game’s launch, we’re going to take a look at all the new machines that have been revealed so far, and all the details that we know about them.
SLITHERFANG
Let’s kick things off with what’s probably the coolest new machine to be revealed for Horizon Forbidden West. The Slitherfang is a massive, towering mechanical cobra, and based on what we know about it so far, it’s going to be quite the formidable foe. It can swipe at you with its tail, shoot out streams of acid at you, fire off electrically charged projectiles, and stun you for short durations. Hell, it can even use its massive body to wrap itself around buildings and ruined structures.
CLAWSTRIDER
The velociraptor-inspired Clawstrider might not be the biggest machine we’ll encounter in Horizon Forbidden West, but if its appearance is anything to go by, it won’t be a pushover in the slightest. Clawstriders will be found in packs, and promise to be fast, aggressive, and agile. With their quick movements and leaps, they’re going to be hard to pin down, while players are also going to have to deal with their vicious vicious melee attacks using their tails, claws, and probably the chainsaws on their jaws. It’s also been confirmed that Aloy will be able to override Clawstriders and use them as steeds.
ROLLERBACK
We’ve seen a couple of glimpses of the Rollerback so far, and we know what it’s going to be called, but Guerrilla hasn’t said an awful lot about this new machine. Similar to pangolins in appearance (only significantly larger), Rollerbacks have thick metal plating on their backs, and huge cargo containers reminiscent of Horizon Zero Dawn’s Behemoths. We know that in combat, Rollerbacks like to roll into balls and flatten anything in their path, and can also repair their aforementioned armour plating, so encounters against them should be interesting.
TREMORTUSK
This was one of the first new machines to be revealed for Horizon Forbidden West, and it’s not hard to see why. Tremortusks are massive mammoth machines, and with their tusks, hulking size, and the fact that their overriden variants can be ridden by human combatants like ancient war animals makes them instantly visually impressive. Tremortusks can charge at players and even knock down trees in their path, shoot at you with canons, use their tusks at flamethrowers, and, of course, have heavy armour plating that makes them more than a little durable. These will probably be some of the deadliest machines in the game.
SUNWING
Unlike a couple of machines that we’ve discussed so far, Guerrilla hasn’t revealed a great deal about Sunwings. Of course, Horizon Zero Dawn didn’t have an awful lot of flying machines, so the addition of another one of those is certainly a welcome one. How frequently we will encounter them in the game, what their behaviour is like, or how threatening they will be in combat scenarios- all of this remains to be seen.
TIDERIPPER
Underwater sections are one of Horizon Forbidden West’s major new additions, so it makes sense that the game is going to have some new aquatic machines to contend with as well. Not a great many of these have been revealed so far, but we do know that the Tideripper is going to be one of them. We know very little about this machine so far, especially when it comes to how it will behave in combat, but we have seen at least a couple of short glimpses of it here and there.
SHELLSNAPPER
The Shellsnapper was another one of the earliest new machines to be revealed for Horizon Forbidden West, and considering its distinctive visual design, it’s easy to see why Guerrilla chose to show it off early. Essentially a monstrously huge mechanical snapping turtle, the Shellsnapper tends to hide itself in swamps and bodies of water, often for so long that its outer shell becomes covered with foliage. In terms of its offensive capabilities, it’s clear that the machine is going to be able to use its extendable neck, surprisingly agile leaps, pressurized water canons, and who knows what else to good effect in combat.
CLAMBERJAW
The baboob-inspired Clamberjaw has the potential to be one of Horizon Forbidden West’s most interesting new machines, based purely on its excellent visual design. Guerrilla has said that these simian machines will attacks players in packs, and will be fast, fierce, and agile. In addition to deadly melee swipes with their claws and tail, they will also be able to clamber up walls and strike at Aloy from a distance with projectile attacks. In other words, they have all the right elements in place to put up quite a challenge should you ever decide to take them on in combat.
BRISTLEBACK
Bristleback is another one of Horizon Forbidden West’s new machines that we know very little about. We do know that these large machines are based on warthogs and have large tusks that can be used as weapons, but beyond that, details are sparse. We’ve only seen a couple of short glimpses of the Bristleback in trailers so far, with one scene in particular showing members of Regalla’s rebel Tenakth faction subduing and overriding a Bristleback, so there’s clearly plenty about the machine that we probably won’t learn until we encounter them in the game ourselves.
BURROWER
Burrowers are essentially new variants of Horizon Zero Dawn’s Watchers that also have aquatic capabilities. With designs based on otters, Burrowers are small machines that travel in packs and can also move through water. If they sense a hostile presence, they alert other, more aggressive machines around them with high-pitched sounds, and they are, of course, capable of dealing out some of their own attacks as well. A Burrower’s most interesting trait is the ability to burrow deep into the ground, as its name suggests, and then pop back out in unexpected places.