It's been a bit of a wait, but the 20 minutes of Horizon: Forbidden West gameplay revealed during today's Sony State of Play were absolutely worth it. Guerrilla Games has been hard at work on the highly anticipated sequel, and it shows. Aloy hasn't lost her edge at all in the intervening time since Horizon: Zero Dawn was released more than four years ago. In fact, her skills, her tech, and her heroism are in better shape than ever.

Horizon: Forbidden West will see Aloy off on a new journey through a devastated America, mainly showcasing the Pacific Coast and a post-apocalyptic San Francisco. That was a portion of the gameplay featured in today's footage, which also included a brief but beautiful underwater section, plenty of combat against machine-animals, and all-new threats for the brand-new sequel. Plus, some surprise returning players from the first game made much more than a cameo appearance. You can watch the gameplay below and read on for our breakdown of everything we saw.

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Mathijs De Jonge, game director at Guerrilla Games, introduced 20 minutes of gameplay featuring a very confident Aloy rescuing Erend from Raiders. That's right! Erend's back and already in trouble. These new enemies are part of a rebel faction of the Tenakth tribe who have gained control over the machine-animals. Yep, the one thing that set Aloy apart from many of the human antagonists in the first game has now been leveled off. Luckily, she still has some incredible weapons, tech, and skills that give her the edge. These include:

  • Focus Scanner - Highlights climbing handholds and grapple points
  • Pull-Caster - Acts as a sort of grappling hook to rapidly zip to said x-shaped grapple points
  • Shield-Wing - A very cool hologram glider; this will draw comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for sure
  • Diving Mask - Allows you to stay submerged without worrying about oxygen gauges; explore at will!
  • Like the first game, Aloy can also override machines to use as mounts ... but so can Raiders
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Image via Guerrilla Games

As far as weapons go, Aloy has her spear for close-range combat with a wide range of combos, including surges that can charge up and knockback even the strongest enemies; keep an eye on the purple gauge, which is tied to this surge meter. Aloy's slingshot now features adheisive grenades, but she also has a launcher for firing exploding spikes, smoke bombs to blind enemies, and powerful weapons that can be knocked off of enemies.

Some of those machine enemies include Sun-Wings, Claw-Striders, Burrowers, and Tremor-Tusks, all made more dangerous thanks to the rebel Raiders who can control them. But it's the epic and massive Tremor-Tusk who features heavily in this footage. Think the Lord of the Rings Oliphaunts, complete with a primitive and rickety structure built on their backs for the Raiders to ride. (And mix it with a dash of Dino-Riders because, honestly, this game is the closest I'll ever get to seeing that classic cartoon get rebooted.) Aloy does her best Legolas impression here to take down the Tremor-Tusk in style.

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Image via Guerrilla Games

It's a good thing she does, too. Turns out that Aloy sent Erend on a mission for a strange device, one that first appears to be a map of the surrounding Pacific Coastline, but apparently summons (or signals?) some sort of epic storm. What comes after that, well, we'll have to wait to see more!

Check out nearly 20 minutes of Horizon: Forbidden West gameplay below and "Join Aloy as she braves the Forbidden West, a deadly frontier that conceals mysterious new threats":

Look for Horizon: Forbidden West on the PS4 and PS5 later this year.

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