Horizon Forbidden West: 10 Best New Gameplay Abilities

5. Take To The Skies With The Shieldwing

horizon forbidden west
Guerrilla Games

Going hand-in-hand with Forbidden West's new emphasis on climbing is the Shieldwing.

This new item will allow Aloy to take to the skies in a way that just hasn't been possible previously, and it essentially functions as a glider made out of advanced technology. It's got more than a whiff of Breath of the Wild about it, and we've already seen in multiple gameplay presentations how the Shieldwing really mixes things up - particularly in combat - and allows Aloy to add vertical strategy to her already deadly arsenal.

Funnily enough, the Shieldwing was actually originally planned to be in Horizon: Zero Dawn, but was cut from the final game for undisclosed reasons. We imagine it would have been less effective in the original game though, due to the lack of vertical climbing surfaces.

It'll be interesting to see if the Shieldwing unlocks very early on in the game or if you'll have to wait quite a bit to use it.

Contributor
Contributor

Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.