State of Play Reveals 14 Minutes of Horizon Forbidden West PS5 Gameplay

Sony and Guerilla Games showed off the first Horizon Forbidden West gameplay during the latest State of Play.
Sony and Guerilla Games showed off the first Horizon Forbidden West gameplay during the latest State of Play.

It’s been almost a year since we’ve heard much of anything about Horizon Forbidden West, the much-anticipated sequel to Guerrilla Games Horizon Zero Dawn. The game was first shown during Sony’s June 2020 Future of Gaming event before getting a 2021 release window a few days later.

Recommended Videos

It then promptly fell off the proverbial news radar. But during today’s State of Play presentation, fans of the series finally got a new look at the upcoming action RPG. The State of Play kicked off with Director Mathijs de Jonge introducing 14 minutes of Horizon Forbidden West gameplay captured on the PlayStation 5. 

The gameplay trailer starts with Aloy on a mission to find Erend in the ruins of San Francisco. Though the gameplay shown seems to be at some point in the mid-game  Aloy has at her disposal a number of weapons and gadgets  some later narrative elements point to it potentially being earlier in the campaign.

It’s possible that progress could carry over from Horizon Zero Dawn, but that’s purely speculation and has, in no way, been even talked about by Guerrilla. 

Either way, Aloy makes her way through the lush tropical forests now surrounding San Francisco and down to the coastline shown in the previous reveals. As she comes across raiders and some vicious machines, a fight inevitably ensues.

It kicks the trailer into high gear, showing many of the game’s mechanics in action, such as free climbing, swimming underwater with a dive mask, and stealth combat. There’s also a hang glider, special weapon ability power surges (supers, essentially), a grappling hook, and the tremendously terrifying Tremortusk. 

Honestly, it might seem lazy to say, but it’s just much better to watch than to read about. Check out the full 14 minutes below. 

After the gameplay reveal, Forbidden West Narrative Director Ben McCaw followed up with a bit of narrative context for the game. Unfortunately, aside from briefly talking about the plague that’s set to consume the land and be the centerpiece for Forbidden West‘s story, McCaw didn’t share too much more information. 

There was no release date or updated release window shared. McCaw shared in a PlayStation Blog post summarizing the gameplay footage that Guerilla hasn’t quite settled on a release date, saying “We don’t have an exact release date yet, but development is on track and we’ll have an update for you very soon.”

Horizon Forbidden West will be releasing on PS4 and PS5 when it does launch. It’s one of our most-anticipated games of the year, and it looks to be shaping up quite well. We loved Horizon Zero Dawn when it released for the PlayStation 4 back in 2017, calling it “primal futurism at its finest.” Stay tuned for more on Horizon Forbidden West throughout the year. 

related content
Read Article Cute Meets Creepy in This Free Animal Crossing-esque Horror Game
Bunny in front of rental house
Read Article Enshrouded 2024 Roadmap Includes Server Portals, Pets, Weather Systems & More
Read Article New Helldivers 2 patch cuts down on Charger and Bile Titan spawns, reworks the “leg meta”
Helldiver standing in front with full gear and weapon
Read Article Fortnite Temporarily Disables Two LEGO Game Modes with v29.00 Update
players building raft in LEGO Fortnite Raft Survival
Read Article Everything Announced in the Xbox Partner Preview
Related Content
Read Article Cute Meets Creepy in This Free Animal Crossing-esque Horror Game
Bunny in front of rental house
Read Article Enshrouded 2024 Roadmap Includes Server Portals, Pets, Weather Systems & More
Read Article New Helldivers 2 patch cuts down on Charger and Bile Titan spawns, reworks the “leg meta”
Helldiver standing in front with full gear and weapon
Read Article Fortnite Temporarily Disables Two LEGO Game Modes with v29.00 Update
players building raft in LEGO Fortnite Raft Survival
Read Article Everything Announced in the Xbox Partner Preview
Author
Jonathan Moore
Jonathan Moore is the Editor-in-Chief of GameSkinny and has been writing about games since 2010. With over 1,200 published articles, he's written about almost every genre, from city builders and ARPGs to third-person shooters and sports titles. While patiently awaiting anything Dino Crisis, he consumes all things Star Wars. He has a BFA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Creative Writing focused on games writing and narrative design. He's previously been a newspaper copy editor, ad writer, and book editor. In his spare time, he enjoys playing music, watching football, and walking his three dogs. He lives on Earth and believes in aliens, thanks to Fox Mulder.