It’s always important that a sequel to a game isn’t just a rehash of the first one. Sequels have the power to look back on their predecessors, determine what worked and didn’t work, and make improvements to the mechanics that define the franchise. Not every sequel does something like this, but those that doggedly try to improve themselves are always fondly remembered. One of the highest-profile sequels on the horizon right now is Horizon: Forbidden West, the next chapter in Aloy’s adventures after the acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn. There are tons of fans eager to see what Guerrilla Games does with this high-tech post-apocalyptic world next.
So much of the gameplay in Horizon Zero Dawn revolves around high-octane combat with human warriors and mighty machines alike. What makes combat exciting is how many options Aloy has when it comes to approaching any given battle. She can acquire all kinds of elemental arrows, various weapons, and melee techniques that make combat stylish and exciting. However, there’s one playstyle that Aloy could learn more about: stealth. Although visibility is an important mechanic, she only has so many ways to sneak around enemies. Taking inspiration from games like Assassin’s Creed could really improve Horizon: Forbidden West‘s skill tree.
Stealth is definitely important to Horizon: Zero Dawn. In the game’s prologue, players immediately learn how to navigate patches of tall grasses to slip past enemies unseen. Once players get into the meat of the game, they can pick up a few ways to capitalize on stealth too. For instance, there’s a couple of ways to achieve stealth takedowns after successfully drawing enemies nearby with rocks or a lure call. There’s also the Silent Drop skill, letting players drop from heights without drawing attention to themselves, and the Quiet Sprint for silently navigating around enemies.
The problem with these options is that they start to boil down to a relatively repetitive style of stealth gameplay. If Aloy wants to be quiet while executing takedowns, she’ll have to repeatedly lure enemies to her location, then perform a silent strike. It’s fairly efficient, but for the stealth minded player, it can easily get boring to only have one option for stealth kills and little in the way of sneaky movement abilities. That’s why Horizon: Forbidden West should expand on the Prowler tree by making it focus more intensely on Assassin‘s Creed style stealth techniques adapted for this post-apocalyptic world.
Sometimes Aloy is called upon to destroy an alarm in a bandit camp before the fighting starts. In a situation like that, it would be great if Aloy had the means to disguise herself or similarly blend in with the crowd in the way so familiar to Assassin‘s Creed. That would give players the option of trying to take down the alarm with arrows or sneaking up to it to destroy the camp from the inside. Further abilities could be techniques for reducing visibility by finding last-ditch hiding places or some sort of camouflage technique that would let Aloy hide in the wild when there isn’t grass nearby.
Frankly, it would be interesting to have more hiding places that don’t require skill points to unlock. Perhaps the Forbidden West will introduce new types of greenery that Aloy can navigate through. In this unknown frontier, Aloy might have to rely a little more on stealth than brute force or knowledge, getting the jump on the powerful machines that the Forbidden West is rumored to hold. Whether it’s actually more dangerous out there or not, though, Horizon: Forbidden West could really improve on the first game by letting its roguishly inclined players have more tools for stealth-based gameplay.
Horizon: Forbidden West releases in 2021 for PS4 and PS5.
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