Horizon: Forbidden West - Beginner's guide with tips for a relaxed start to the game. We make it easier for you to get started in the gigantic game world of the new Horizon spin-off. Besides new special tools, there is also a huge skill tree for different play styles. In this beginner's guide, we'll tell you how to plan your journey to the Forbidden West and what you should pay special attention to.
This is an article from our content partner "PC Games". Here you can find the original article by author Maik Koch.
Horizon Forbidden West - Ten tips for beginners to get started with the game
Get ready for Aloy's journey to the forbidden west with these 10 tips.
1. loot for ammunition and health, hunt
2. use sneak and silent strike
3 New skill trees, new play styles
4. use focus for machine parts and weak points
5. courage thrust as a combat booster and more
6. check weapons and armor at merchants
7. worthwhile side missions with green exclamation points
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With our beginner's tips for Horizon: Forbidden West, we gently guide you into Aloy's new adventure in the forbidden west. We shed light on the new mechanics such as the courage shot, the new special tools and more. For newcomers, Horizon: Forbidden West offers a video review of the events in the predecessor Horizon: Zero Dawn in the start menu under Extras. Those who are familiar with the first game will immediately find their way around Forbidden West. Aloy once again climbs long necks to uncover a part of the game world's map. The use of the focus also works exactly like in the first part. With these 10 tips for beginners, Aloy's journey to the west will be a breeze. By the way: We also recommend our review of Horizon Forbidden West. Here you'll find all the strengths and weaknesses of the new PS5 and PlayStation 4 adventure. What tips can you recommend for beginners? Leave us a comment below this article in the corresponding section.
During your excursions in Horizon Forbidden West, you will encounter both human adversaries and hostile machines. Once you have killed a large number of enemies or even a mission objective, don't rush out of the area. Rather, press R3 briefly to search through machine remains or eliminated enemies. Take everything you can carry with you. You can sell the valuables at merchants, machine parts are needed for weapon or armor upgrades. Animal products are also needed - similar to the first Horizon spin-off. You'll have to hunt wild boars, raccoons and more to increase Aloy's carrying capacity for ammunition or raw materials. Also, collect rainwood in passing to craft ammunition for your bows. Healing berries should also always be collected to provide healing in battle.
Schleich-Angriffe sind meist tödlich und sparen Munition und unnötige Gegneransammlungen. Source: pcgames.de
Before you stumble into a horde of machines or a bandit camp, investigate the area. Tall grass gives you the opportunity to sneak undetected. Use your focus to mark the paths of machines so you can take them down skillfully. As soon as enemies approach you and you linger in the tall grass, take them out with a silent strike (R1 button). This primarily prevents other enemies from noticing you. It also saves you ammunition. Later in the game, tougher machines and bandits await you. For this, you level up the skills in the skills menu under Intruder. Among other things, you can also strengthen your silent strike here. Alternatively, you can use booby traps, smoke bombs and more to deal damage undetected while sneaking around. Later, you can use the sniper bow to take out unpleasant enemies from cover.
Neue Skilltrees für unterschiedliche Spielstile Source: pcgames.de
Unlike in Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West offers significantly expanded skill trees. You'll find a total of six in the skills menu. While "Warrior" and "Hunter" improve your active combat skills with spear and bow, "Trapper" and "Survivor" let you invest skill points in improved traps and healing. Machine Master strengthens your override abilities, and Infiltrator improves stealth and sneaking. Especially the stealth mechanics develop Aloy into an almost unbeatable warrior. You'll gradually take out enemies unnoticed, without attracting much attention. If you want to level up the melee combat, use Warrior. Unlike in the first part, the spear offers much more possibilities. At the beginning, you can also use the concentration with the huntress tree. Here you may additionally tap R3 when aiming with L2 to slow down time and thus aim more accurately.
Scannt die Maschinen mit eurem Fokus für Schwachstellen und Maschinenteile. Source: pcgames.de
Simply shooting at random won't get you anywhere, especially in the fights later in the game. To effectively eliminate machines, hold down R3 and scan them. This reveals specific weak points as well as the individual machine parts. You will find acid containers on the backs of the thornbacks in the horror. If you target exactly these parts with acid ammunition, you will not only damage the containers. The acid inside explodes and kills the machine. For example, you can set fire to Lohe containers to eliminate such machines quickly and effectively. In your focus, you can also mark individual machine parts in order to specifically cut them off. For some quests or even for upgrades of weapons or armor, you need specific parts that may be destroyed in a kill.
Nutzt den Mut-Stoß als Booster für harte Kämpfe. Source: pcgames.de
In the skill trees, you'll find core skills that require you to learn three skills. This unlocks the so-called Courage Strike. In the "Huntress" tree, for example, you will find the Courage Strike Ranged Master. This gives you +50 percent ranged damage in combat, as well as 5 percent health regeneration per hit dealt with the bow. You build up courage by removing components from machines, shooting at weak points, or defeating enemies. Later skills unlock more ways to fill the courage bar in the bottom right of the HUD. To use the Courage Strike when the bar is full, hold down L1 in battle and tap R1. Now you'll use the perk for a certain period of time. Other skill trees offer more courage strike skills. You can change them at any time. Be sure to try them out here.
During your travels through the areas, you will always discover merchants or armor makers in settlements or towns. You should definitely check out what they have to offer. Take new weapons and armor - if the capacity of your loot bags allows it. Especially with bows, grab a sniper bow for stealth kills and also look out for bows for elemental damage. For example, some machines are particularly vulnerable to fire or frost damage. For example, you can use a fire bow to ignite lohe containers in bandit camps. By the way, you can reinforce armor and weapons with fabric and coils, respectively. Note that coils for elemental damage can only be attached to bows that support this type of damage.
Löst die Aussichtspunkte und Reliktruinen mit abwechslungsreichen Rätseln. Source: pcgames.de
In new settlements you will also find green question marks on the map of the game world. Here you can pick up side missions that trigger worthwhile loot, weapons or events. In Kettenkratz, for example, you'll find a quest with Delah and her sister Boomer. Help them and Aloy will receive explosive sticks to throw at enemies in combat. Once you arrive in a new town, you should definitely take a break from the main quest. In Kettenkratz, for example, completing the mission around the suddenly appeared thorny ridges led to the fact that at the end the results of all side quests led to the fact that there were "personnel changes" in the settlement. We won't reveal more at this point. Adventures away from the main quest are always worthwhile in Horizon Forbidden West.
While there were still simple viewpoints in Zero Dawn, you'll find a significantly improved feature in Forbidden West. For example, at the Relic Ruins in Forbidden West, you scan a decaying cell tower. This projects an image in Aloy's focus, which you now have to match with the surroundings. To do this, simply look where the picture was taken exactly. A short distance upstream there is a dilapidated bridge where the shadowy image fits. Search the relic ruins shown here and get the relic. In the game world you will find such ruins again and again, which are connected with small environmental puzzles and climbing interludes. You should definitely take the ruins with you to retrieve good loot as well as the relics.
As soon as you leave for the forbidden west, the long necks known from Zero Dawn are waiting again. If you climb and bridge the giants, you unlock parts of the map and Aloy gets environmental data played on her focus. In Horizon: Forbidden West, there are a few small climbing puzzles at the long necks that you have to solve first. The best way to unlock the long necks' route is to use the focus. Also make sure that there are no other machines in the climbing area that could interfere with solving the puzzles. Now look for a high point in the environment from which Aloy can jump onto the longneck. If necessary, use the paraglider to cover greater distances.
Already in the tutorial of Horizon Forbidden West you will find the train launcher as one of the special tools. This tool will help you climb and solve environmental puzzles. You'll also be able to pull loot chests towards you in unreachable places. Later on, you'll also find a glider that lets you soar through the air and comfortably cover long distances from elevated points in the game world. For new special tools, simply continue playing the adventure's story missions. As you get new tools, new secrets will open up in areas you've already visited.
