Early into the marketing for Guerrilla Games' Horizon Forbidden West, one major focus was how much more capable Aloy was of exploring her environment. Its predecessor Horizon Zero Dawn featured a solid open world, but one with fairly restrictive exploration. Forbidden West promised new means of traversal like swimming off the coast of San Francisco's post-apocalyptic ruins and flying atop Pterodactyl-styled machines called Sunwings. Most notably, Forbidden West seemed to take cues from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by offering Aloy a glider.
Breath of the Wild was a groundbreaking game, garnering mass acclaim upon release in 2017 and inspiring titles like miHoYo's Genshin Impact. Aloy's Shieldwing glider is a clear example of Nintendo's achievements leading to innovation at other studios, serving a very similar role to Link's paraglider that allows him to escape Hyrule's Great Plateau. However, Horizon Forbidden West could have also included its own take on Revali's Gale, a popular Breath of the Wild skill that synergizes well with Link's paraglider.
Horizon Forbidden West's Mad Max-Style Gauntlet Runs Deserve More Attention
After leaving the aforementioned Great Plateau, Breath of the Wild players can theoretically run straight to Hyrule Castle and battle Calamity Ganon. This freedom is part of the reason for its acclaim, though a traditional playthrough sees Link visit Kakariko Village to begin his quest of freeing all four Divine Beasts. These quests bring Link to the homes of Hyrule's major races; the Zora, Goron, Rito, and Gerudo; and ultimately the Divine Beasts strike the final boss to cut its health in half.
However, one of the main beats underlying each Divine Beast is Link setting the souls of his former
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