With improved traversal mechanics, better melee combat, a completely redesigned skill tree, and more, Horizon Forbidden West is shaping up to be quite the sequel, as it looks to build on the solid foundation laid down by its predecessor. We got to see many of these improvements in action during the game’s recent gameplay deep dive, and one thing that was hard not to notice was the destructibility of various objects in the environment when Aloy took on a Tremortusk. So does this mean the sequel is putting a bigger focus on destructible environments.
Well, yes and no. Hardware Zone posed the question to game director Mathijs de Jonge in a recent interview, who explained that though there is some destructibility in the world, the game isn’t going for “full-scale destructibility.” Things such as rocks, trees, and small ruins can be destroyed during combat, but don’t go in expecting a world that you can completely dismantle from top to bottom.
“This is what we call a set piece,” de Jonge said, speaking about the Tremortusk fight in the recent gameplay debut, “and we have quite a few of those scattered around the game throughout the open world, in quests and certain scenarios. We also have destructibility in terms of trees and rocks, and other smaller ruins. So yes, absolutely. There’s more destructibility throughout the game, but this is a really big world, so we’re not going for full-scale destructibility. That’s not what the game is about. We do have places to show off how powerful the machines are, where they can crash through trees or through walls. However, it’s not like the entire world can be destroyed.”
Horizon Forbidden West is in the works for PS5 and PS4. The open world action RPG is in the final stages of development, but though it is on track for 2021 launch, Sony doesn’t want to firmly commit to that launch date just yet. It’s also been confirmed that on PS5, the game will have a 60 FPS performance mode.
